Bestiality
practice of sexual activity between humans and non-human animals, criminalised in many jurisdictions and of dubious ethics
Bestiality (en ) refers to cross-species sexual activity between humans and non-human animals. While the two terms are often used interchangeably, it differs from zoophilia, which describes sexual attraction towards animals but not the act. Due to the lack of research on the subject, it is difficult to conclude how prevalent bestiality is.
Terminology
Occurrence
The Kinsey reports of 1948 and 1953 estimated the percentage of people in the general population of the United States who had had at least one sexual interaction with animals as 8% for males and 5.1% for females (1.5% for pre-adolescent and 3.6% for post-adolescent females), and claimed it was 40–50% for the rural population and even higher among individuals with lower educational status. Some later writers dispute the figures, noting that the study lacked a random sample in that it included a disproportionate number of prisoners, causing sampling bias.
By 1974, the farm population in the US had declined by 80 percent compared with 1940, reducing the opportunity to live with animals; Hunt's 1974 study suggests that these demographic changes led to a significant change in reported occurrences of bestiality. The percentage of males who reported sexual interactions with animals in 1974 was 4.9% (1948: 8.3%), and in females in 1974 was 1.9% (1953: 3.6%). Miletski believes this is not due to a reduction in interest but merely a reduction in opportunity.
Nancy Friday's 1973 book on female sexuality, My Secret Garden, comprised around 190 fantasies from different women; of these, 23 involve zoophilic activity.
A 1982 study suggested that 7.5 percent of 186 university students had interacted sexually with an animal.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bestiality” is practice of sexual activity between humans and non-human animals, criminalised in many jurisdictions and of dubious ethics. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bestiality, practice and sexual, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bestiality” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.