Quote of the day, the bestiality edition

[kat_lair]

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“Interspecies sexual assault is the product of a masculinity that sees women, animals and nature as objects that can be controlled, manipulated and exploited. Listen only to some of the sexist language that prepare the way for bodily sexual assault […] When a man describes women as ‘cows’, ‘bitches’, ‘(dumb) bunnies’, ‘birds’, ‘chicks’, ‘foxes’, ‘fresh meat’, and their genitalia as ‘beavers’ or ‘pussies’, he uses derogatory language to distance himself emotionally from, and to elevate himself above, his prey by relegating them to a male-constructed category of ‘less than human’ or, more importantly, ‘less than me’." (Beirne, 1997: 327)

Full Ref:
Beirne, P. (1997). Rethinking bestiality: towards a concept of interspecies sexual assault. Theoretical Criminology 1, 317–340.

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Comments

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

That sounds like the exact opposite of fun.

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Research for a lecture on animal sexual abuse. Need brain bleach. Considering whether to open the can of worms things like animal play as a kink (without actual animals) like furries, puppy play etc would be... Maybe not.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Might be easier just to get onto the blanket "i don't like it isn't sufficient for moral condemnation" that you were doing for the other stuff tbh (puppy play, I mean, not dogfucking).

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

I have vague ambitions to start with mythological context of bestiality and variable social reactions but we'll see... But yeah, the point about distaste not equating immorality is one I always make. There's a really interesting social philosophy article I came across that critically examines the reasons why we would condemn bestiality but it'll be beyond the second year students I'm pretty sure.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

ooh, i'd like a precis of said article if you think it wouldn't be beyond me?

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

I followed most of it though I had to look up some words :D I can email the whole article to you tomorrow if you like.

[trialia]

Mm... I have to say the concept of consent between species that don't communicate in an understandable way is a major issue with me so far as bestiality-as-kink is concerned, largely because it intersects with the idea of rape as kink which, if we're talking consensual rape fantasy, you can argue shows that if non-consensual rape isn't legal due to the harm it causes, then probably/possibly bestiality shouldn't be either unless a definite form of consent from animal species can be confirmed - I don't want to get further into this right now, but you take my point, yes?

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Oh I get your point perfectly and consent is of course a major issue here. The term 'animal /interspecies sexual abuse' has actually gained use over the last fifteen years or so. Argument going that bestiality should in fact be considered comparable to sexual assault against adults or children due to, and I quote, "(1) human-animal sexual relations almost always involve coercion; (2) such practices often cause animals pain and even death; and (3) animals are unable either to communicate consent to us in a form that we can readily understand or to speak out about their abuse." - So you see consent crops up. The social philosophy article I referred to in the above conversation made some interesting philosophical arguments about whether we should apply the criteria of informed consent to animals who will never be capable of it etc - happy to send it to you too if you want some 'light' reading, lemme know.

[pushkin666.livejournal.com]

The thinks you have to research for your students!

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

One of the veterinary journal articles had pictures. :(

[pushkin666.livejournal.com]

See this is one of the reasons I stopped subscribing to the BUAV because they sent me magazines of animals being tortured in the name of science, and I was all like "I know - you don't need to send me pictures!"

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Yeah RSPCA is doing the same at the moment and I'm like no, I already donate monthly, I do not want to read or see this.

[avictoriangirl]

Don't forget the phrase, "Chasing tail". :P

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Ah yes...There's some interesting philosophical arguments about how taboo against bestiality has nothing to do with protecting animals and everything to do with maintaining definitional limits of humanity.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

The consent issue is, to me, paramount. Even for those who argue that some animals give a kind of non-verbal consent, the same 'rules' apply to animals as to children i.e. their consent is not valid. Nor can anyone, even an adult human, legally consent to gbh, so the fact that the animals can suffer badly adds weight to that. To add other arguments to the 'debate' is, to me, just an attempt to cloud the issue, in much the same way proponents of paedophilia do.

There's a passage in Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi where the author quotes an argument by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about who is allowed to eat chickens that have been used for sex..... Basically, he restricts consumption to those at some kind of remove from the sex act.....

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Nod yeah, it's the consent issue that people will hopefully arrive at. What was interesting about some of the articles was the point they made about how the taboo about bestiality isn't about protecting animals but about defining the limits of humanity, our distinctiveness and elevated position, reflecting the Judeo-Christian anthropecentric worldview... Which yes, condemned the involved animals to death alongside the human. Both often got hung and burned...