Browsing through the history of this subreddit last night, it appeared to me that one of the most controversial topics related to zoophilia and zoo sexuality has not been addressed in a dedicated thread so far. Thus, I’d like to initiate a discussion on the legal, ethical and practical aspects of consuming or producing animal porn. Let me start by expanding on my own approach towards this subject. As some of you might remember from my first post here, I don’t refer to myself as zoo-exclusive, meaning that my sexual as well as my emotional affection for women is equal to what I feel for female horses. Accordingly, while I am basically not averse to dating young women, my relationship with my mare makes it impossible for me to bond with a second partner – doing so would feel like betraying her in some way. Considering that my mare is still quite young, my sex life has been virtually nonexistent during the last four years, which is why I sometimes can’t resist the urge to masturbate to pornographic videos to release the pressure that builds up over time. For me, this exclusively refers to normal, heterosexual human porn – believe it or not, I’ve never felt the temptation to watch animal porn and the furthest I went in this direction were some erotic drawings by an artist called furronika, which some of you might be familiar with. To get to the point, I’ve never been confronted with animal porn so far, and, given severe ethical concerns, I don’t intend to perform extensive „field research“ to dive into the matter. Due to my limited experience with this undoubtedly controversial topic, I have no first hand information which would enable me to draw my own conclusions and substantiate my arguments against it. Thus, I’d like to ask the community to enlighten me about the legal and ethical dimension of animal pornography by answering the following questions: Do you regularly consume AP, and if yes, what is your main motivation to do so? Do you have ethical concerns with regards to the production and distribution of AP? Do you have any information on the structure of the market for AP? Who are creators and distributors of AP and what is their business model? And last, would you confirm my assumption that AP is highly detrimental to the public image of the zoo community and if yes, what tactics do you propose to tackle this problem?
/r/zoophilia archive
Well, a lot of commercial animal porn is not made in the best interest of the animals. Commercialization often puts money before both worker's rights and art, and non-human animals can't really do anything to improve their working conditions sadly.
So, the same issues as with other types of animal entertainment (such as circuses), except with the added taboo of porn.
What I've seen, at lot mainstream animal porn train the animals to perform. For instance, I've seen videos where the dog got food as a reward for humping. I don't like that, since I think that if the dog actually wants to mate, you wouldn't have to bribe it. And the focus on those videos are on the woman. The dog seems to be just about any large dog they could get their hands on, often some really ugly animals!
I've heard rumors about horses in AP being drugged, but I have never watched that type of porn, and neither do I know enough about horses to be able to tell from their behaviour.
These ethical issues are why I first avoided commercial AP and only watched amateur porn. Nowadays I don't watch amateur AP either, but stick to animal mating videos and cartoon bestiality. That way, I can be sure that no animal was harmed.
I think to tackle the problems about animals being treated badly in commercial animal porn, is stricter animal welfare laws. Not banning sex with animals in itself, but being very strict on how to keep animals. How to feed them, how much space they should have, no drugging them, mandatory registration of pet ownership and so on. It seems like most commerical AP is produced in countries with very lax animal protection laws, probably because they can get away with not taking good care of the animals.
Well... just like any other kind of porn, any 'performer' could be forced or drugged even if it doesn't seem like it.
There's no way for me to know if the dog has been trained, drugged, etc. in some cases.
Unless it's obvious, of course.
I've seen only a small amount of dogs enjoy what they're doing.
I mean, there's a video of a man fucking a bitch for a few minutes, while my bitch can't even last longer than a minute with my finger before she moans and races around the room.
It brought up a few red flags for me and I try to avoid animal porn sometimes to avoid masturbating to rape...
I don't think that training animals for sex is right at all.
Even worse, only the humans get money.
All of this devalues the animal...
Animal porn hurts our image, yes.
But it helps some zoos like me who's partners are too small and others who can't really have intercourse.
Even if none of it was abusive, it would still hurt our image.
Our existance ready spreads hate, or the fact that we already have sexual contact with animals.
To be honest, there is no way to fight against it.
I'll admit that I do, though I try to vet my sources for it. There is a clear distinction between commercial porn ,focused on spectacle and awe at women in their willingness to sleep with everything, giving losers in the audience a shot in their fantasies, and "amateur" porn (some commercial stuff fits this description), in which the animal's needs are prioritized and the focus is on the animal or both parties equal.
My motivation is twofold: one is titillation, though in that regard it's more often used for the beginnings of a fantasy, in my case. However, I also try to analyze it a little, to figure out what the animal feels about the situation and what is being done well or poorly. I think, ultimately, well-shot footage of sex with animals will help others determine for themselves whether the animals enjoy themselves, and convince them of the truth about it one way or another.
Absolutely. If I had my way, an SPCA rep would be on site for every filming to make sure the animal is treated well, in the same way they are used in movies ir TV shows. Since it is an underground industry, people are likely to cut corners, especially when their profits are at stake.
Not especially. I mostly use torrents and free video sites. There are paysites, but I've never used them, so I can't say anything about them.
Don't especially know.
It does harm our reputation, yes, but only when it's abusive or salacious like most commercial porn is. Personally, I think the solution is going to amount to high quality porn of the amateur type, along with educational supplements. For example, assuming it were legal to make and sell, I would recruit long term interspecies couples who are already active, and include as a special feature interviews with the humans and footage of the couples' "normal" lives, with trips to the park, vet checkups, and the like.
By consuming it you support the abusive industry
Without either paying them or promoting them? That's an odd form of support.
There are plenty of things you don't pay for, that you support. And it is promoting them.
Do you have another example? I'm not sure how the producers benefit from my viewership.
It depends a lot on where you get it from
I don't anymore. I can't say I've never viewed any though.
Erotic feral art used to be a thing I'd view. Things make that difficult now.
A lot of AP is disgusting, you can tell right away that animals are being abused.
There is also some sane AP out there, where it is safe to assume that the animals involved are actually having some fun. I include many videos of faunaphile porn in which animals are having sex in a non restrained environment.
I don't pour any money into the AP industry. I also think that drawn animal porn is safer from the moral point of view, but I find it hard to get good drawn porn. Most of it is really bad.
If you mean real-life videos and photos, no. If you mean Rule 34 - based drawings, then yes. I consume the latter for the same reasons I look at "regular" porn...
Real-life AP is often created in an abusive (rapey) manner. Animals are sometimes drugged, often coerced into the act with food, etc. The human actors also tend to be abused themselves, since AP is a "black market". I don't want to feed into the market need to create videos/photos that were obtained through abusive means.
Can't answer either of these, because I stay away from the stuff. I'm sure Beastforum and its users compromise a significant part of both the creators and producers of such content, though.
Oh, definitely. Zoos need to call out AP and do their part to crack down on abusers creating such material. Zoos really need to distance themselves from the "sex-crazed bestialist" image that consuming AP invokes amongst the general public.