BALTIMORE -- Although bestiality goes back to the dawn of time, treatment for paraphilias related to sex with animals remains an inexact science, according to sexual medicine specialist Renee Sorrentino, MD.
"The way that we're managing these cases today is basically adopting from the sex offender literature, understanding we don't have any particular information about this population," Sorrentino, medical director of the Institute for Sexual Wellness in suburban Boston, said here at the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law's annual meeting. "I will say that for those who are particularly treatment refractory, there have been some good results with Lupron [leuprolide] or hormonal treatment," she added.
Humans have been having sex with animals since the earliest recorded history. "Cave paintings from 15,000 to 20,000 years ago were demonstrating sex with animals," said Brian Holoyda, MD, a forensic psychiatrist in Sacramento, California, "and we hypothesize that certain forms of human/animal sexual contact were allowed in ancient Egypt as evidenced by depictions of human/animal sex on ancient Egyptian tombs." Bestiality also was present in Greek mythology, with the Greek god Zeus "coming down from Mount Olympus and presenting himself in animal form and coupling with humans." Pan, another mythological figure, was a satyr -- half-goat, half-human -- "who was thought to have arisen from bestial acts," Holoyda said.
Bestiality is defined as sex acts between human and non-human animals; it is distinct from zoophilia, a form of paraphilia in which a human has atypical and intense sexual interest in animals, Holoyda explained. "In the DSM-5, there is a distinction between paraphilias and paraphilic disorders, so if you wanted to make a diagnosis related to zoophilia, the diagnosis would be zoophilic disorder, and one would diagnose it under the '' category."
In addition, "just because somebody has sex with animals would not mean they have zoophilic disorder; they would first have to have a paraphilic interest in animals, and either have engaged in sex with animals ... or be distressed by their paraphilic interest in animals, in order to meet criteria for that diagnosis," he said.
In addition, he said, some people "self-identify as zoophiles or 'zoos'; they also go by the terms zoosexuals or zoorasts. These are individuals who engage in sex with animals and sometimes view it as their orientation or state that they're engaging in sex with animals as a means of having an emotional or intimate connection with the animal."
In 2011, Anil Aggrawal for zoophiles, ranging from "role players" who don't have sex with animals but instead pretend to be animals and engage in sex, all the way to exclusive zoophiles. "I'm not suggesting that you use this classification, but it can help us brainstorm what might fall into this category of bestiality," Holoyda said.
The exact prevalence of bestiality is unknown, he said. Famed sex researcher on the subject in 1948 and 1953 which found that about 8% of males reported at least one sex act with animals, although in farm-raised boys that number rose to 40%-50%. In females, the numbers were much lower, with 1.5% of pre-adolescent girls and 3.6% of post-adolescent women reporting at least one sex act with an animal.
One well-known researcher, psychotherapist Hani Miletski, PhD, of Bethesda, Maryland, studied 82 men and 11 women identifying online as zoophiles; she found that about half were college graduates or had even more education and that one-fourth had no prior live-in relationships. "Perhaps most fascinating is that 26% of men and 9% of the women were married, living with spouses, and having sex with animals at the same time," said Holoyda.
Of the men in her study, Miletski found that their first sexual contact with animals tended to be with dogs -- about 63% -- and 17% with horses. "Eighty-three percent of the men in her study were currently having sex with animals at a rate of about 3 times a week on average, but this varied from once annually to three times per day, so a wide range of activity," Holoyda said.
When doing an evaluation, what traits might signal why individuals may engage in this kind of behavior? "Some psychological deficits that have been described in individuals who have sexual contact with animals -- though not necessarily zoophilia -- include lack of appropriate sexual outlets, poor social skills, intimacy deficits, and 'shyness,'" said Sorrentino.
During a question-and-answer session, speakers were asked about the idea that in some instances, human/animal sex may be considered consensual because by its own behavior, the animal seems willing and content to participate. The ethical issue "is a very interesting area," Holoyda said. "A lot of people would say nobody can condemn bestiality unless they're a vegan." As far as animals consenting goes, "they can't -- [since] they can't speak, there is no way to confirm what they want in a given situation."