Basic Types of Sexual  Behavior

4. Sexual Contact with Animals

An Uncommon Behavior

Animal-human sexual contact. Shown here is a rock carving from China, Guangxi province, ca. 1500 BC (Courtesy China Sex Museum, Tongli, China)

Today, after exhaustive studies of the statistical frequency of human sexual contact with animals, it seems rather odd that eminent religious, legal, and psychiatric authorities should ever have bothered to pay any attention to it. We now know that this type of sexual activity is actually very uncommon. It is quite rare among men, and even rarer among women. In short, it is of no real social significance. We therefore have to assume that its strong social condemnation originally served only certain symbolic religious purposes.
It is likely that, in the future, the legal and medical authorities in our society will be much less preoccupied with sexual contact between humans and animals. After all, as long as the animal is not hurt or mistreated, there is no need for social interference. It is also unreasonable to attach psychiatric labels to isolated attempts at such contact. Only men and women who always prefer animals to human partners can really be considered sexually maladjusted. In this case, as in all other cases of sexual behavior that are experienced as confining and compulsive by the individual, professional help may very well be recommended.
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