(Some zoophiles don't have sexual contact with their animals. It depends on the person.)

First, a few assumptions:

• Libido is just chemicals. It doesn't have feeling about what you are attracted to.
• Humans are animals. (Previously, due to religious feeling that humans are not animals, zoosexuality was seen as bad, because it defiled human purity. However, I am nonreligious.)

I was formerly against it because I think that animals aren't self-aware enough to give consent

Check out Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation. She delves into the thought processes of animals and shows how they are visual thinkers (similar to autism).

From a evolution point of view, I think interspecies mating exists to increase diversity (horse + donkey = mule, however, mules are sterile). Nature can be cruel, but this does explain why some have these feelings.

My personal philosophy is liberty, yet I follow the Harm Principle. I truly care for animals and am a vegetarian, however, I do understand why people eat meat. Life sucks. It's just how things are. But, by showing a person or animal love (doesn't have to be physical), I think we can make this a better place.

http://www.zeta-verein.de/en/zoophilia/zeta-principles/

This is large topic and there are research papers out there. Hope this helps.

Thanks for coming by. If you're curious about this topic in general, there's an excellent tumblr where people can ask questions and get them answered.

As for your two questions: regarding consent, it's all a matter of definitions. At its roots, consent means with feeling, or when two creatures have similar feelings about a situation and act together based on them. When people viewed animals as mere machines or as too simple-minded to care about anyone else, it may have been fair to say that they couldn't feel like human beings and thus could not consent. But now that we know more about how animals think and feel, and how the differences with us are more of a matter of degree than anything fundamental, it's hard to make that argument. Both we and other mammalian species feel lust, social attachment, and arguably in some cases intense romantic love. Add in domestication, which involves breeding animals to respond positively to people and making them more eager to breed in general, and we have a recipe for dogs and horses (among others) sometimes feeling this way toward humans. If some of us (zoos) feel the same way, and we can communicate these feelings with each other, then we can develop consensual relationships to the extent animals can consent to anything.

Of course, I realize that standards of consent change depending on the situation, and a more stringent standard of informed consent (originally used in courtrooms and doctor's offices) is often applied to sexual situations. This requires people to not only feel the same way, but also have some understanding of the consequences of their actions, though how much understanding is required in a given situation is debatable. For humans, this makes sense: risks of disease, pregnancy, and complex psychological and social effects make it a good idea to weigh these things out rationally rather than relying on our emotions completely. But with animals, many of these risks are diminished, with certain other risks like social stigma more properly attached to letting others know of the act than the act itself. In light of that, and without seriously upgrading the status of animals in society, informed consent seems inappropriately strict as a standard and prevents pleasurable and mostly harmless activities as a result.

As for why I'm attracted to animals... I think that's a little different for everyone. There's a psychological theory called "Exotic Becomes Erotic" which I think might be extended to explain the existence of zoosexuality. I'll share my case to illustrate: I was born with a mild form of autism which, in essence, made me less interested in people than most people around me seemed to be. I was, therefore, rather aloof as a child, though I did occasionally have crushes on girls. But I didn't feel terribly strongly about either my gender or the other in terms of developing friendships and playmates. I felt extremely different from others of my age, to the point of failing to understand anything they did, so I would often spend time away from them, with adults or with animals like dogs. I should also mention that for a brief period during childhood (maybe ages 7-9) I was a little scared of dogs; there wasn't a phobia, but I was uncomfortable with how open and physical they tended to be. As I developed into puberty, I began wanting to get closer to dogs despite my anxiety, eventually lying with my aunt's black lab under my table. We stared into each other's eyes, and then kissed, and finally everything clicked, and I became fully attracted to him, wanting to know more.

There may be other factors of course (intense religiosity and guilt because of it, social missteps in childhood, etc.), but that theory probably describes a lot of zoos very well.

Good comments so far. Kynophile's exposition on consent is great, so I'll only add this: one of the reasons that people seem to have such a problem with animals consenting is that they tend to think of them as analogous to human children, and some frequently made comparisons serve to reenforce this (stuff like "a trained attack dog is like a three-year-old child with a gun"). But an adult animal is just that: a physically, emotionally, sexually mature adult of their species. And those animals, unlike human children, will normally have (or refuse to have) sex with each other. So if they decide to have sex with a caring human instead, how is that going to mentally or emotionally harm them? (as to physical harm, it's up to us to make sure they're not hurt).

As to why I'm attracted to animals, I'm rather heavily introverted and had virtually no close friends growing up. Being around dogs was easy, though, and the fact that dogs don't have the same sorts of social expectations as humans do really drew me to them. So, when I got to the sexually curious age, the family dog was my closest friend, and things went from there.

Welcome! Firstly, let me thank you for choosing to broaden your views at all, and /r/zoophilia of all places. I hope I can provide you with some insight into your queries.

Can animals give consent? Nonverbally, I believe so. Each animal species has its own traits that a zoo interested in that species would need to learn to recognise. Dogs are my primary interest, and females exhibit a common behaviour to indicate their consent. They stand with their weight evenly spread and lift and hold their tails on an unusual angle to the side, most often around 30 deg. It is held with a tension that is not seen at any other time from a dog, and is thus unique to consent.

As to why I'm a zoophile... I don't know. Why are you attracted to what you are? They're certainly romantic and sexual feelings, which makes it chiefly a sexuality. Psychologists are still determining what determines sexuality, and perhaps someday we will know. For now, it is a strange mystery.

Thank you again for choosing knowledge over ignorance. I wish you the best on your venture for truth.

Focusing a bit of what's been said already into my opinion... people seem to have no trouble knowing when their dog wants to be let outside, or wants to play with a toy, or wants to be left alone for a while. Animals express their interests all the time, and humans even acknowledge this by using the word want to describe those behaviors.

What is it about sex, then, which uniquely sets it aside as requiring human-level, legal, speakable/writable consent to want? It's one of the most basic activities for animal life, but only humans are allowed to form and display and act on interest in it?! Lots of mating videos suggest otherwise. :)

The argument of "it's no worse than some other thing we do" doesn't sit well with me. Not only does it sell animals short, it falsely associates sex with something negative. Particularly, I find the phrase "getting screwed" a little insulting. That is not at all what it is about.

Lots of people admire certain animals, or hug and kiss their pets. For some people, that admiration, love, bond, call it whatever - and of course appreciation for physical beauty - just extends a little further.

Hi there! Thanks for stopping in and asking :) Speaking for a lot of beastial women, I'd first like to point out that we are some of the biggest animal lovers out there. So just a few things to point out from my own perspective and all of these are things I've also seen others explain/confess.

1. Beastiality provides people with another connection to an animal that isn't the same as when it's with a human. It's not just about sex, but there's a frisky foreplay that comes along with it, and snuggling, a lot of patience, training, etc. A bond forms that involves sex, but isn't focused solely on that. It allows humans to be very close with their animals and build an emotional connection that can't be destroyed so easily as humans throw away comparable emotional bonds.
2. From a sexual standpoint, male animals are naturally very dominating. To many women (myself include) that's a huge turn on. We like to be dominated and taken over and this is what animals do solely from instinct. Part of the fun of beastiality is that it's something no animal does need to be trained on. We might need to guide them a bit and help them understand how to do what they're already trying to do, but fucking is something they do strictly through instinct. This is another thing that makes it almost sexier than it can be with a human. Humans have sex for a large variety of reasons. For animals, it's solely a sexual need that they want fulfilled. That's it.
3. As I pointed out up top, we're definitely some of the biggest animal lovers coming from a totally non-sexual standpoint. You'll find that most people with experience in beastiality will stress the importance of safety (possibly more so for the animal). Though there are many similarities with humans, animal anatomy is still different and so zoos are responsible for doing their research and knowing how to conduct that side of business as safely as possible. Also, one of the first questions any zoo-curious person seems to ask is how they can do x, y, or z without harming their pet and in a way that the animal will also enjoy. For us, it's important that the animal also be satisfied and happy by the end :)
4. Now, to just answer your initial question - to me beastiality is hot because it's raw need being fulfilled. It's just two horny creatures allowing desires to take over and have at it. No need to worry about pregnancy or STDs (as long as this pet isn't being shared with someone that has an STD). No need to worry about loyalty or what the other half of the duo is thinking about. No need to be self-conscious. It's just raw desire and furiously fast fucking from an animal that only wants to do just that.

Why do you bear an attraction towards humans?

Animals can consent, you just have to read their body language to know if they are "in the mood". Mares for example will lift their tail and "wink".

Hey there /u/TheWandererofReddit, glad we could be your first stop on this journey. In the spirit of being welcoming instead of defensive, I'll try to answer your question without getting into the ethics of consent or the inner workings of human psyche (Unless you really want me to).

So, why do I find animals attractive? I find them attractive because I'm more emotionally open with them, and I feel that they're more emotionally open with me. We tend to be able to read each other, if that makes sense. My whole life, even before I cared much about sex, I was able to bond with animals much more readily than with other humans.

Now, with that in mind, it doesn't mean I dislike my own species. I can still like humans, and there are many who I'm very glad to have in my life. But I've tried dating, and for that deeper, purer connection, I've only ever felt it with my equine sweetheart.

As you've probably seen in this thread, not all zoophiles are interested in animals for the same reasons, and we all have different experiences. As much as we might seem to stick out from the rest of society, we are still people, no matter how much others might say otherwise.

Have fun on your journey /u/TheWandererofReddit. There are many interesting communities around here, and I wish you the best in getting to know them.

Wow I didn't really expect to see a this much of replies! I'll tried to answer to them to the best of my ability.

Why is unknown for us, to an even greater extent than it is unknown for homosexuality.

As for what turns me on about animals, I'm not sure because every time I think I find a pattern, it seems to change. Big and powerful, yet friendly; nuzzling, licking, swishing or wagging their tails; long noses and fur and fuzz — all those things and more seem to be part what turns me on.

For the ethics, I chose not to act at the moment, partly from a monogamous relationship with a human, but also because I don't believe my theory of mind for non-humans is sufficient. I am highly confident that some specific dogs can demonstrate both enthusiastic consent from their behaviour, and I am also reasonably confident that there is no risk of those particular dogs meekly tolerating undesired contact — there isn't grey area between "yes" and "no" for the ones I'm thinking of. I also believe with evidence, but don't think I can be confident yet, that the enthusiasm I saw was not drawn from desperation of lack of opportunity with their own species; they had opportunity with their own, but didn't seem to chose it.

As far as the 'why' of my zoosexuality, I think it was something I was born with. I had a good childhood, wasn't introverted or shy (I'm way more introverted these days than I was as a kid), and didn't even have anything besides fish and gerbils as pets until I was a teenager. No one I knew had large dogs or horses (or any of the other species I'm attracted to) and I didn't interact with animals very much on a regular basis. So if we're talking "nature vs. nurture" for me personally, I think it has to be nature. Nothing in my childhood or upbringing seemed to "encourage" me towards being attracted to animals, so it must be something that was already there. I'm also attracted to species I've never even seen in person before, so there's no way those attractions could've been influenced by past experiences.

Someone else mentioned the Ask a Zoosexual tumblr, if you're interested here's mine as well. I have a tag going for resources and articles about zoophilia, and publish answers to questions/messages people send in. Thanks so much for approaching this with an open mind, that's always awesome to see.

I am not a zoophile, but I am an ally and I support zoophilia. The way I say it in the majority of cases the animal does indeed enjoy the sex with the human (and why wouldn't they? They do not see sex as special like humans do, it is just something that feels good if done right), so it would not make sense for me to be against them. As long as the animal is happy and the human is happy, I see no reason to care what they do behind closed doors as they say.