in my ethics class we're going over animal rights. i was thinking about bestiality. and i think that morally, and possibly legally, it should be permissible. so besides that it's gross, wat's wrong wit bestiality? if you're one that doesn't think animals have rights, then you might not object to bestiality at all. but if you do, you wouldn't want the animal's rights to be violated. and if you sexually violate an animal, you're also violating its rights. so basically, raping an animal would be morally bad. it should then follow that consensual sex with an animal is not wrong. but how do you kno if the animal is consenting? i think that in some cases it's actually pretty easy to tell. for instance: a dog starts humping you and you take off your clothes and position yourself for him. if he mounts you without any sort of arranging from you, then obviously the dog wanted to have sex wit you. obviously too, you gave consent as well, as you, by your own free will, took off your clothing and did not stop the penetration. so in this case, basically, you're good to go.
now, i don't kno much about animals. but i think it's the male that does the mounting and not the female. i also think that it's usually from behind (legless animals, i don't know). so of course, the above illustration only works when you are being penetrated. but if you wish to be the penetrater (engage in "active" sex, if you will), then knowing if the animal consents will be harder. some animals, when in heat, have signs; changing color, making specific noises, emitting certain odors. if you kno and understand these signs then you're on your way. it's important to remember that wit humans, if a couple starts having consensual sex and mid-way one changes their mind and informs their partner, if the partner continues, then it becomes rape. so in order to ensure that this does not happen wit an animal, one should probably take the precaution of only having sex in an open area where, if for any reason the animal changes its mind, it can simply walk away from you. you should also be careful to never hold onto the animal in such a way that it cannot break away from you if it wanted to.
another thing to note. some humans have a concept of "statutory rape." this is where a person under a certain age is legally unable to give consent to sex. so if you are over that age, you cannot legally have consensual sex wit someone under that age. i think in america that age is 18. that is an arbitrary number tho. i think it has something to do wit how at that age a person should be mentally, physically, and sexually mature. i think the same should apply to animals. therefore, you cannot have sex wit puppies, even tho it seems to be consenting. because at that age, it probably knows not wat it does.
so to sum up. i think that bestiality should be morally permissible. but only in certain cases. ie, when you are absolutely sure that to both parties it is consensual and only if the animal is "mature."
disclaimer: i have not, and do not wish to, participate in any form of bestiality. i simply do not morally object to all instances of it. i do, however, object to it because it's freaking gross.
2 comments:
sorry, i never gave you your comment!
bestiality is still gross. tho you bring up a good point of the animal consenting... sick mental pics...
from rob - May 22 2007
Sorry about the late response. I know I said I intended to so here it is. It's not very long but just a thought from my end.
Like I mentioned before, it sucks that I agree with you most of the time. You bring up good points about being able to deduce "consent" if the animal acts first. Or if there are visible indications about being ready for some action.
One subject that I think should also be taken into consideration is intent. Some animals may display certain behaviors or traits that could indicate that it wants to have sex, but a lot of animals don't have sex for the pleasure (some animals might even think having sex is excruciatingly painful(k-pax comes to mind)). So certain animals, be it the mounter or mountee, might just be "consenting" because they want offspring or want to keep their species going. This inter-species sex definitely won't be generating any baby animals soon, making it seem (in a way) that these animals are being cheated out of their reasons for agreeing to sex. That begs the question, "how do we know if animals are having sex because it feels good or because of other reasons?", which I think should absolutely be answered as well before any bestiality can be condoned.
And on the topic of "statutory rape," the reason we have the 18-year old age limit is because in general humans are stupid and irresponsible. 18 is an arbitrary age that was decided as, what I assume is, a time when a person would be mature enough to know what is involved in sex, knows the responsibilities of it, and potential consequences. Animals, on the other hand, don't particularly need those conditions met. Sure, you wouldn't have sex with a puppy but a puppy probably hasn't had those urges or instincts developed. But once they have come to fruition, I think it's safe to say that the animal is ready. I mean back when we were cavemen and cavewomen, we were probably having kids in our teens in part because of our short life span but also at that point we had a primal understanding of what was involved in taking care of offspring. We might have even been having sex before that but we couldn't have kids because our bodies weren't fertile yet. Of course, all of this is taking into consideration where both intent and consent are factors in deciding if sex is okay. Is a mature but still very young dog ready to copulate? Probably if it can consent and knows what it's doing. Age shouldn't matter, really, which was probably your point.
Post a Comment