OK, maybe I can better explain where I'm coming from in terms of consent.
>Where did people get this idea that animals have no way to say "stop hurting me"? They can pull away, they can bark, bite, claw, hiss, etc.
Animals will do those things for any number of reasons. They can pull away because they're bored or because they're hungry and need food for example. And they don't tell you why, it's usually up to us to interpret their actions.
Also, in this situation, usually this type of abuse is done by a "master" or "owner" and in some position of, for lack of a better word "trust". With that in mind, there are a number additional things a frightened animal can do, for example, like cower or submit. They do this behavior for any number of reasons, too.
Since you're not defending zoophilia, I think that you do agree that this is something the animal doesn't want or at the very least something that it doesn't fully understand what's going on.
Let me try to better explain why people call this rape. When two people are involved, if the victim submits or cowers for whatever reason, is it any less of a crime against them? Do they still not communicate or at least think "please, stop hurting me"?
If that seems a weak argument about consent, at least consider this. Consential sex means that all parties involved clearly communicate "yeah, baby, let's do this" and understand the consequences involved. When we discuss understanding the consequences, the topic "age of consent" comes up when talking about two or more humans. For example, a lot of states in the U.S. consider 18 years of age old enough to fully be able to understand and communicate. With humans people might argue about arbitrary numbers, but no one can credibly argue that their German Shepard can understand and communicate a sexual relationship with anywher near the clarity of an eighteen year old human, or a 16 or even 12 year old one for that matter.
We can interpret a multitude of things from animal behavior. Someone else will likely interpret the same behavior as something else, but the bottom line is: animals (certainly not one's pet, anyway) are not able to uniformly communicate their thoughts and feelings, primarily because they lack human language. Without communication there is no consent. Without consent, rape.
KT,
OK, maybe I can better explain where I'm coming from in terms of consent.
>Where did people get this idea that animals have no way to say "stop hurting me"? They can pull away, they can bark, bite, claw, hiss, etc.
Animals will do those things for any number of reasons. They can pull away because they're bored or because they're hungry and need food for example. And they don't tell you why, it's usually up to us to interpret their actions.
Also, in this situation, usually this type of abuse is done by a "master" or "owner" and in some position of, for lack of a better word "trust". With that in mind, there are a number additional things a frightened animal can do, for example, like cower or submit. They do this behavior for any number of reasons, too.
Since you're not defending zoophilia, I think that you do agree that this is something the animal doesn't want or at the very least something that it doesn't fully understand what's going on.
Let me try to better explain why people call this rape. When two people are involved, if the victim submits or cowers for whatever reason, is it any less of a crime against them? Do they still not communicate or at least think "please, stop hurting me"?
If that seems a weak argument about consent, at least consider this. Consential sex means that all parties involved clearly communicate "yeah, baby, let's do this" and understand the consequences involved. When we discuss understanding the consequences, the topic "age of consent" comes up when talking about two or more humans. For example, a lot of states in the U.S. consider 18 years of age old enough to fully be able to understand and communicate. With humans people might argue about arbitrary numbers, but no one can credibly argue that their German Shepard can understand and communicate a sexual relationship with anywher near the clarity of an eighteen year old human, or a 16 or even 12 year old one for that matter.
We can interpret a multitude of things from animal behavior. Someone else will likely interpret the same behavior as something else, but the bottom line is: animals (certainly not one's pet, anyway) are not able to uniformly communicate their thoughts and feelings, primarily because they lack human language. Without communication there is no consent. Without consent, rape.
-Bluesman