Sexual intercourse with dogs, horses & Co.

Kurzübersicht: zoophilia

What is zoophilia? The attraction to animals is classified by experts as a sexual disorder. There are different forms of zoophilia, sexual acts with animals do not always occur.

Treatment: After a correct diagnosis, zoophilia can be treated with psychotherapy or medication.

Is zoophilia a crime? Since 2013 there has been a paragraph in the Animal Welfare Act (TierSchG) in Germany that prohibits sexual acts with animals. Violations are considered administrative offenses that can be punished with a fine.

There have always been people who deviate from the norm, all over the world and in all walks of life. In the area of ​​sexuality, too, there are many people who live far from the legal and/or social norm. Among other things, people who fall in love with animals, so-called zoophiles.

Article content at a glance:

Zoophilia or sodomy: Which term is the right one?

Many know the sexual contact with animals under the colloquial and no longer current term sodomy. Until a few years ago, this included all sexual practices that were not intended for reproduction. In addition to anal sex or oral sex, sodomy also meant, for example, sex between two men. Nowadays, experts use the term zoophilia (also: zoosexuality) for relationships between humans and animals that go well beyond normal affection.

They use it to describe people who find animals sexually attractive. Similar to interpersonal relationships, factors such as appearance, gender, availability, character also play a role here – plus the animal species. If people live in a relationship with an animal, sexual practices such as penetration do not necessarily occur. However, the desire to do so is very strong among zoophiles, which is why they often give in to it.

What is zoophilia and how is it treated?

Zoophilia is a so-called paraphilia. Psychologists use this to describe sexual tendencies that deviate significantly from the norm. If those affected are affected by this different tendency and/or they or others have suffered from it for at least six months, their paraphilia has an illness value. Experts like Lydia Benecke, a criminal psychologist specializing in violent and sexual crimes, then classify it as a paraphilic disorder.

Paraphilic disorders can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). If necessary and desired, the inclination to sex with animals is included

• cognitive (detecting deviant behavior),

• aversive (connecting deviant behavior with negative stimuli) psychotherapies

• and drug therapies.

Possible causes of zoophilia

Since there are hardly any studies on zoophilia, the causes are not entirely clear. Possible reasons why some people are attracted to animals include:

• Trouble building healthy relationships with people
• no desire for intercourse with a human being, or that desire was lost

Love, lust, torment – different conceptions of zoophilia

In general, zoophiles reject violence against animals and instead see them more as equal partners. However, the attitudes of those affected differ:

• For some, a close emotional bond with the animal is a prerequisite for legitimizing sexual acts between humans and animals.

• Others have a less close emotional connection with the animal but follow the code of honor of ZETA – the official mouthpiece of zoophiles.

Zoophiles differentiate themselves from other groups:

• Bestiality: The people have no emotional interest in the animal, just a purely sexual interest and see it as an object or sex toy.

• The zoosadist: This refers to people who satisfy their sexual needs through animal cruelty.

Dog is the most popular animal among zoophiles

Previous studies have come to the conclusion that men have more zoophilic tendencies than women. Overall, around five to eight percent of the population is affected, with experts estimating the number of unreported cases to be significantly higher.

Most people prefer dogs, followed by horses: these two species account for a total of 75 percent of zoophilic contacts. Third are cows. Some animals show emotions during sexual contact – these can be traced back to the hormone levels, the experiences and conditioning of the animal, among other things.

How do animals say “yes” or “no” to sexual acts?

When two people have consensual sex, they consent to each other at a presexual point in time. This usually happens non-verbally through gestures, touches or looks. So how do zoophiles know if their animal wants to have sex or not? in one Interview with the “taz” from 2012, a zoophile explains: “An animal can show very precisely what it wants and what it doesn’t want.” They want to recognize their “yes to sex” through non-verbal signals from the animal.

However, this method has been criticized because the signals can be misinterpreted, the animal simply submits to a hierarchical order (dogs in particular), does not know how to defend itself, fears punishment or has been trained accordingly. Therefore, zoophiles cannot know with 100 percent certainty whether their animal enjoys the sexual activity. They also cannot say for sure whether they feel pain or suffer from the practices.

Sex with animals – legal situation in Germany

Until 1969, Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code criminalized “unnatural fornication with animals”. Then the paragraph and thus the criminal offense of zoophilia was deleted. It was not until 2013, more than forty years later, that a similar law found its way: According to § 3 of the Animal Welfare Act (TierSchG), it is forbidden “to use an animal for one’s own sexual acts or to train or make it available for the sexual acts of third parties and thereby to to force inappropriate behavior.” This means that zoophilia is punishable, but in contrast to the previous version, it is only an administrative offense that can be punished with a maximum fine of 25,000 euros.

Not species inappropriate: The views of zoophiles

Many zoophiles do not feel addressed by the law, as ZETA explains on its website. Because it would only target people who sexually abuse their animals and thereby force them to have sex, for example. Zoophiles, on the other hand, would not inflict violence on their animals, nor do they see them subjected to coercion when it comes to sexual acts between animals and their human owners. Therefore, in their eyes, it is not a question of animal abuse.

They also believe that intimate interactions between different species are not anti-species. You are referring to one Article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which reports on interspecies sexual intercourse, among other things, in the history of mankind. However, the text was always about closely related animal species, such as humans and gorillas, both of which belong to the great ape family. On the other hand, there was no mention of completely different species such as humans and dogs.