autism and zoophilia. (self.zoophilia)
submitted 2016-04-03 09:36:46 by Condogerd The wag of a tail a lick on the nose.
Hello agin /r/zoophilia.
Suppose ill start by saying I know this sounds incredibly trollish and offensive however it's not intended to be so.
Something popped into my head as I was reading an article about autism pets and developing social skills.
And I was generally curious if there is a large number of people with autism in the zoophile community.
thoughts, comments, concerns ?
I am autistic. I like animals a lot more than humans
Yes.
No joke, I know it's part of the offensive stereotype, but it's true.
To be fair, Marion Nasswetter's thesis (here, in German) tested 100 zoophile men and found them to have average emotional intelligence in general. Interestingly, horse zoos were on average slightly more emotionally intelligent than dog zoos.
That being said, however, I do think that autistic people are more likely to be zoo than the general population. After all, they're over-represented among furries and bronies, two groups with a decent amount of overlap with zoos. That being said, the overwhelming majority of zoos probably aren't autistic; its just a higher percentage than the general population.
I'm asperger.
And I really think there is much more autistic in zoophilia community than in whole population.
It would be great if that didn't become a stereotype.
I think it's pretty safe to say zoophile stereotypes can't really be hurt more then they already are.
True. It's not like I'm telling anyone about this shit in real life, anyway. Who cares if people think we're all autists?
It's not a stereotype, but maybe it's one of the many causes of being zoophile.
I have some social anxiety, but I'm not autistic (my mother had me tested!)
Hm, I can't tell if there's actually a large number of zoophiles with autism in the whole, I've only seen a few zoos who mentioned that they are. Though, I do believe autism might be more common (by percentage) among zoophiles than within a "regular" group of people. But that's just my guess.
I hadn't heard of zoophiles being more likely to be autistic until I saw this thread, but maybe there's a correlation.
I'm not autistic myself. Just a pretty normal guy, tbh.
Aye never have i, and that's why I asked :p
That may be confirmation bias. A lot of people with autism gather on the Internet, so it's not really surprising there is some overlap.
No this really is true, however the Internet is probably the best way to speak with the most amount of zoophiles.
Anyways this isn't going to any statistics chart or anything of that nature the thought just crossed my mind and I was curious of what you guys thought on the subject.
I am not a zoophile but every now and then I show up on this subbreddit. Autistic people are statistically more likely to be any other orientation other than straight. I for example am asexual.
Over the years, I´ve witnessed many members of our community describing themselves as somewhat autistic. As autists do have difficulties with human on human social interactions, perception and evaluation of mimics and body language, it only seems logical to me that a significant amount of autists would turn to animals, emotionally and even sexually. But I can´t say if there is a real cause-and-effect correlation or some folks use/make up this diagnosis to subconsciously justify their sexual interest in animals. " I can´t relate to humans properly, so I´m forced to have emotional and sexual relations with animals" may be the underlying overtone here.
Hans Asperger , the one who gave his name to the Asperger syndrome, describes two forms of autism; one he describes as a development disorder that affects the patient right from birth on and another form he identified as a form of schizophrenia with a tendency to ACTIVELY retract from social interaction into one´s own inner universe.The latter form of autism/pseudo-autism seems to be the prevalent one within the zoo community. Real autists wouldn´t bother too much about getting in contact with others, even via the internet; so I think that many members of the community mistake their anxieties, social phobiae and shyness as autism just because it can also serve as a justification for their uncommon sexuality. Remember that we´re on the internet: the place where women are in reality men, men are kids and kids are undercover cops. ;)
I don´t exclude it categorically that some forms of mild autism do exist in our community, but I think many mistake their ineptness of proper social interaction due to anxieties and shyness as a mental disorder because it´s more comfortable to say "I´m autistic" than trying to overcome their problems.
Another thing we need to take into our considerations: there are many forms of "zoophilia" out there. We have fantasizing manchilds, we have those using animals as a substitute for humans, we have porn fiends, we have lots of pretenders only in it for acceptance and unprejudiced social interactions ("They fuck animals, so they won´t turn me down just because I´m a nutjob") etc...
You see, there´s no easy answer to your question. Many factors play a role, many different types of zoophiles and autists exist. Theoretically, I do see a slight correlation of autism to zoophilia. Autists can´t communicate properly to other humans because they lack the ability to read human mimics and body language and therefore they face problems with information processing and social interaction. Autists may feel more comfortable with animals as the animal body language appears to lack the complexity of human BL....but I´ve also witnessed diagnosed autists mistreating animals in the most severe manner. Autists are not per se better with animals; sometimes being cruel to animals even is a symptom of autism. Animal and human BL both share the same origins; if you have problems interpreting human BL, chances are that you also misinterpret animal BL, but wil not realise your misinterpretations as quick as with humans.
My beliefs are that "autism" seems to be quite common among "zoos" because it seems to be some kind of justification for this specific sexual orientation. Mild forms of autism may exist among zoos, but I doubt that the percentage is anywhat higher than with other specific groups. Only in depth research could give an adaequate picture, but due to the hostility of society and the high repulsion factor involved , scientists shy away from researching zoophilia. Without real surveys and personal interviews, without any chance to validate the data gathered, without the possibility to exclude lies and ego bias, zoophiles remain a foggy and blurred group of individuals.
Aye well said.
sometimes I do stupid stuff that I wonder could stem from being a bit of an autist, but I'm pretty great with other humans so I really dont think I am. I honestly think being a zoo makes human interactions easier, especially with girls, because theres no underlying sexual feelings clouding my thoughts.
I do agree that being a zoo can make interacting with humans easier, especially with the opposite sex. I´ve noticed it myself, women feel comfortable with me. Like with a gay best friend, the whole sexuality/attraction issue just isn´t relevant.
its pretty interesting isn't it. the funniest part is when you can see they cant quite work out why youre not giving them any special attention because they're a girl.
Also I love that iron eye contact you can hold. Your boobs have no power here :P
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Adding a question about psychological issues/treatment to your survey definitely would´ve been interesting...well, maybe next time. ;)
Regarding the "communication with animals comes more naturally to me" argument, I have to say I´ve heard this maaany times from all kinds of zoos. Yet I´m not at all convinced that this statement usually holds real truth and assume that it is more often than not an estimation solely based on self bias. Every owner of animals claims that he/she can "understand" the animal(s), although I´ve seen proof that they aren´t able to even identify the most blatant display of emotions. We all have to remember how easily our own mind plays tricks on us, how quickly we mistake our super ego as our real self. We all desperately want to believe that we are "naturals" when it comes to animal communication as it fits into our self perception as a zoophile. But having sexual interest in animals neither will turn you into an animal expert automatically nor will it build up a resistance against self bias. Too many self designated "zoos" have shown that their "natural communication skills" with animals only exist in their heads to fit their narrative of a "natural born zoophile".
Many claim it, but nly very few are really capable of proving it; at least that´s what I have witnessed in the past. So, I´m always very sceptical when someone claims to have communication skills with animals. Especially with self diagnosed "autists"...I guess they just aren´t aware of the fact that animal facial expressions and body language are way more subtle than their human aequivalents and suffer from the misperception that animals are easier to "read".
Also, I have problems with the term "autism". I believe that some "mental disorders" like ADS are made up and truly not existent; I don´t say this to insult, but to point out how much our world has changed in the last 20 years. Today, we have "helicopter moms", kids raised by television, parents who clearly haven´t grown out of their infantile phase yet,....well, all this "modern media world, post capitalism bullshit" environment the kids are born into. For most parents, it seems to be easier to drag their kids to the shrink instead of admitting that they just are shitty parents, unable to raise their offspring in a healthy and good way. I was born and raised in cold war West Germany; my generation grew up under the permanent threat of total nuclear extinction. When we behaved like dicks, we got a portion of whoop ass from our parents. We played outside instead of sitting in front of screens all day. We learned social skills by simply playing with our friends in real life. We were told to deal with our problems ourselves. When we hit our knees while playing football, we just continued playing.
Maybe it´s the zeitgeist: an individual lacking social skills once was called simly an introvert; today, this individual "is" autistic. It totally fits into the common trend of self optimisation...you have to be what Men´s health and Vogue tell you, you have to fit into the crowd...if you´re not, then it MUST be some sort of mental disorder. Shyness? Nah, you´re autistic.
We (my generation) raise incredibly whiny,spoiled and unfit for real life consumeristic crybabies, we are too busy to earn money to deal with our kids´problems and thus send them to therapists who indeed have an interest in diagnosing some "mental disorders" ´cause it grants them financial gain.Yes, something is wrong...but it´s not the "autists",it´s the post capitalistic world we made ourself to live in.
You´re shy, insecure and not the outgoing type of guy? Well, nothing´s wrong with you. A few decades ago, your "mental disorder" was a virtue. there´s nothing wrong to be different, you shouldn´t feel awkward about it. No need for a therapist, no need to call yourself autistic. It´s our stupid post modern, post capitalistic, consumeristic, self optimized world that´s nuts, not you.
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One of the issues with ASD people is that their "theory of mind" about other individuals is usually extremely flawed. They really struggle to understand when there is and when there is not equivalency between their own emotions and those of another. I could go on.
I know this because i come from a family with two ASD parents and varying levels of Aspergers among my siblings. I am essentially neurotypical and have had to learn all about this to make sense of my upbringing!
One of the things i have seen with ASD people is that they often are clearly exceptionally good with small children (toddlers in particular) perhaps because they both experience the world in a similar way. The animal mind is generally recognised to have interesting similarities with the autistic human mind. Temple Grandin famously used the insights she gained from her own autism to make world changing contributions to the study of animal behaviour and innovations in animal welfare.