The Ancient Origins of Zoophilia and of the Taboo Against Zoophilia by Equanimae - 7 August 1998 The origins of Zoophilia When did zoophilia or zoosexuality begin? It must have been a long, long time ago, BEFORE the beginning of recorded history. However, in REALLY ancient times, (say, from 3 million years before the present to some 50 thousand years ago) tribes or bands of hunter-gatherer humans would probably simply have killed and eaten any animal they managed to get their hands on. Why is there a Taboo against Zoophilia? Human sex with animals has been practiced AND enjoyed by both the human and animal participants since VERY ancient times. There can be no doubt that, using a minimum of common sense, the practice of zoosexuality was and is, soul-satisfying, wholesome, and safe. The questions that come to mind are then: WHY did such practices stop? - HOW was it that zoosexuality became forbidden, and since WHEN did it become forbidden? - and; WHY is there NOW a social taboo against zoophilia? - The answers to these questions are discussed in what follows. The evidence for ancient Zoophilia There is ample evidence for zoophilia in prehistoric times - there are rather beautiful cave paintings, reliefs and other artifacts from the paleolithic era. However, the MAIN evidence is the way that human sexuality works at the present time - Humans are the most highly sexual beings that we know of, and humans are also extremely VISUALLY sexual (if you doubt that humans are visually sexual, simply notice that the most profitable internet business sector so far is the sex-industry sector, or notice the tremendous growth in recent years of the sex-video industry, or watch a few MTV music videos). Visual sexually arousing shapes for humans Apparently, humans are instinctively pre-programmed to be sexually aroused by certain visual SHAPES. Examples of these shapes are, the front of the female torso (with the twin round breasts, belly and hairy mount of Venus at the bottom); the rear of the female torso (with the back and rounded buttocks); and the erect male penis with the rounded testicles or balls - note the great similarity between these two last shapes, which is recorded in many paleolithic works of art. There is also the shape of the open female vulva, showing the clitoris and inner labia surrounded by the hairy external lips (sort of like a small person standing at the mouth of a cave), and that of the open female genitalia, showing the anus, vulva and vaginal opening, flanked by the twin rounded buttocks. Looking at these shapes can induce a HYPNOTIC state, which was called FASCINATION by ancient Roman authors. Of course, other shapes, such as the whole naked female or male body, or of the penis entering the vaginal opening, are also sexually arousing. The malleability of the human sexual instinct However, in humans the sexual instinct is not absolutely pre-programmed. The form of expression it will take in the adult depends heavily on cultural indoctrination during childhood and on the first pleasurable sexual experiences (IMPRINTING) that the individual has (before and) during puberty, which is the reason for FETISHES. Additionally, the human psyche is SO malleable that with certain kinds of upbringing and environment it is possible to produce adult humans that CANNOT be sexually aroused (FRIGIDITY or IMPOTENCE, for example, if the individual has NO pleasurable sexual experiences, before or during puberty), or even with an AVERSION to sex. Ancient human sexuality If modern humans are so strongly sexed, this necessarily means that prehistoric humans were also strongly sexed. Because of this, prehistoric human tribes or bands must have had a social organization similar to that of the modern Bonobo monkeys, in which sexual gratification forms a part of almost any encounter between individuals (See below for some links on Bonobo social organization and sexuality). The domestication of animals But, as soon as domestication of animals began to happen, zoophilia HAD to occur - it was just too handy and attractive not to (and humans are just too curious not to have tried it the first opportunity they had). In fact, that is how the very first domestication of animals had to have happened. The bond between say, dogs and humans began with attraction, love, and sex between dogs and humans - and the same for the bond between humans and horses, donkeys, reindeer, goats, sheep, bovines, and so on. The animals learned to love the humans, and stayed with them. This would have happened mainly with SOME species of animals - mostly with MAMMALS (their shapes and psyches are similar to ours) and ONLY with those species and individual animals that were "turned on" by human contact. At about some 50 thousand years ago, domestication of animals began, although bands or groups of humans were generally still nomadic. But, what a great advantage to a nomadic tribe to have horses or donkeys for transportation! And goats and cows gave milk, and canines gave protection. Because of these advantages, domestication of animals (and sexual relations with them) must have spread like wildfire throughout human communities (the "me-too" phenomenon). It must have been a great prestige when groups of humans that had domesticated animals met for socializing or trading with groups that didn't - young animals must have been given away as gifts or in trade. Or, once they saw that it could be done, groups that didn't have animals set out to catch some for themselves. The domestication of animals by humans represented a technological advance as powerful as the domestication of fire had been many tens of millenia earlier, providing obvious advantages to those human groups that adopted this new technology. The ancient Romans recognized that "Knowledge is power." However, we can now see that it is SHARED knowledge that provides the power to change the course of human history. The origins of farming and civilization It wasn't until the domestication of plants (that is, the discovery of AGRICULTURE) at about some 15 to 10 thousand years ago, that human groups had a good reason for staying in the same place for extensive periods of time. - It was only then that the first farms, and eventually cities were founded (what we now consider "ancient" civilizations, before even the Sumerians or ancient Egyptians - these came in at about 5 thousand years ago). Domestication of other animals, fowl, rabbits, cats, and so on, probably occurred after humans were settled down at the farm. The Love-Sex Religion of the Mother Goddess The development of human intelligence was a VERY slow process. As previously mentioned, in the beginning bands of humans must have had a social organization and sexuality similar to that of the Bonobo monkeys. As women were the ones who bore, suckled, and nurtured EACH of their children, each human had a natural bond with his or her mother - the mothers were the NATURAL authority of the tribe. Also, because of their beards or facial hair, all adult MEN were essentially faceless, somewhat lacking in individual identity. As human intelligence began to develop, these factors must have given rise to the ancient Mother Goddess Love-Sex religion, some 100 thousand years ago, or perhaps as early as several hundred thousand years ago. The Adoration of the Face of the Mother Goddess Early on, some intelligent woman must have recognized the hypnotic effect the shapes of her body had on the other members of her tribe. She must also have recognized that sexual pleasure HAS to be a "gift from the Gods," much as life and existence itself. She must have started some ceremonies, to make sex more interesting, and to give thanks to the Gods for this gift. At first, these rites must have been rather simple, but with time, they could have become more elaborate (remember, this happened over the span of millenia). One of these early rites must have been the "Adoration of the Face of the Mother Goddess," in which a simple "altar" was made in a suitable place, probably a tree with a couple of sturdy branches forking out at about eye-level, or a little higher. The tribe would gather in front of the altar, and the priestess, her hair covering her face and her body covered with a fur or robe, would squat down with her feet on the branches, her back on the tree-trunk. Slowly, maybe with tom-toms beating, she would open the robe with downward stretched arms, showing her body, the "Face of the Mother Goddess," her breasts becoming the Eyes and her open vulva the Mouth of the Goddess. The tribe watched, completely fascinated. The Little Mother Goddess In this position, her body and robe were also replicating the shape of the "little Mother Goddess" that every woman has in her open vulva, with open arms and love for all her children. Then the priestess (who had now become the Goddess) beckoned her children to come forward, and they did, one by one, to look up close at her open vulva, and at the lovely "little Mother Goddess" within. Each one came forward and smelled Her "love-smell" and kissed this "little Goddess," and felt him or herself in communion with the Goddess and with the tribe. These ceremonies were probably repeated every day. On special occasions, such as the initiation of a young one to sexual adulthood, a wonderful thing would happen as the young one put his or her face to the "little Goddess" - A jet of clear liquid with the smell of the Goddess would gush forth and bathe his or her face and body; it was the Goddess's "water of life," signaling the Goddess's approbation and love for her child. This was probably the origin of baptismal ceremonies. During such rites, the members of the tribe would obviously become quite sexually aroused, and after the ceremony they would have sex with each other, which would cement their feeling of communion with each other and with the Goddess. Much later, other religions have copied this shape of the "little Goddess" for their own god or goddess representations. As time passed, the altar and ceremonies must have become more elaborate. For example, in other ceremonies the priestess must have presented her posterior for the adoration of the participants, on all fours with her rear up in the air, showing the glorious dark starburst of her anus on top of her wide open vulva-lips - another of the beautiful faces of the great Mother Goddess - they may have even painted "eyes' on her rounded buttocks to make this "face" of the Goddess more easily visible. The altar would have been a simple platform, or suitable tree branches, so that the priestess's vulva would have been at the face level of the participants. Again, the members of the tribe would have come forth to smell and kiss this face of the Mother Goddess, and to receive Her water of life. In later ceremonies there must have been alternation between the headwoman and other women of the tribe at the altar, singing, music, erotic dances, feasts of food and drink, and so on. The adoration of the Phallus - the consort of the Mother-Goddess Eventually there must have been ceremonies in which a man or young boy was placed squatting up on the altar. The priestesses would come forth and slowly begin to smell his sex, making his penis become erect - then they would slowly kiss his balls and erect phallus, continuing until he ejaculated, showering them with this other form of the Goddess's "water of life." These ceremonies would cause tremendous sexual arousal on the watching members of the tribe, who would then have sex with each other. Tribes that practiced these rites would have ensured their fertility and continuance. The first Zoosexual encounters The domestication of animals must have begun when a woman brought in a young orphaned filly to the tribe's camp or cave. She must have begged the tribe's headwoman to let her keep the animal. The headwoman finally consented. Eventually, the filly became a mare, accepted as part of the tribe. When this mare became fertile, she must have escaped to mate with a wild stallion - but she then returned to give birth with her human friends of the tribe. The mare may have repeated this several times. One of these births was a male colt. These young animals were considered as members of the tribe, lived with the tribe, and slept where the people of the tribe slept (since they had been reared with humans, the animals probably considered themselves as human). It must have been a lovely morning, some 50 thousand years ago, when a young girl awoke and looked up to see the young colt standing near her head. Then, something wonderful happened - a long phallus began slithering out from the between the rear legs of the colt! The young girl looked at this wonderful vision, mesmerized. When the colt's phallus had come out so much that it was almost touching the ground, the colt peed, and she smelled the lovely aroma of the horse-pee. She moved closer to see better, and reached out to touch the colt's phallus - it was something WONDERFUL, this enormous phallus and balls! At that moment, the young girl had an epiphany, feeling the many thousands of years that women like her would have in the future, consorting and having sex with such lovely gifts from the Goddess! As she had seen in the Phallus ceremony, she began to caress and kiss the colt's phallus and balls. Since the colt was used to her, he didn't flinch, but began to enjoy the sexual arousal he was beginning to feelÖ The colt's phallus became fully erect, enjoying the young girl's kisses and caressesÖ And once he'd felt this delicious feeling for the first time, he would be coming back again and again for more. It may not have happened during the first occasion, but eventually the girl let the colt mount her - it was wonderful! - he was so BIG! And when the colt came, he filled her to overflowingÖ This was quite a wonderful experience, both for the girl and for the colt. The girl and the colt must have repeated this many times - the tribe's headwoman decided that this was indeed another gift from the Goddess, and accepted the horses as members of the tribe, and the stallion-phallus pleasuring as one more of the tribe's customs and ceremonies. Animal Sex Religion After this happy initial encounter, the tribe must have begun to catch more horses, started its herd - and in meetings with other tribes, they must have traded them, or given them as gifts. With the horses came the having sex with them, so this custom spread to other tribes. And once humans realized that some animals could be domesticated (TECHNOLOGY) then they would try to domesticate others. Soon canines, bovines, donkeys, goats and other animals became part of human tribes. As these were seen as gifts from the Goddess, having sex with them was seen as a form of thanking the Goddess for Her goodness and love for Her children, and as a normal part of their life and their religious ceremonies. The animals, and their bodies and genitals, came to be seen as part of the Mother Goddess herself, or as her divine companions. With time, the ceremonies must also have become more elaborate, with preparations such as washing of the animals' genitals, anointing them with scented oils and perfumes, dressing them with garlands of flowers, and so on. The men of the tribe must have also participated in these zoosexual encounters and ceremonies. This state of affairs continued for some FORTY thousand years. The care of the animals Such animals lived with the tribe, and since they were sacred, they were honored members of the tribe. Some tribes may have felt a special kinship with a single species of animal, and considered them their TOTEM. Since the woman who had sexual relations with an animal was in charge of caring for that particular animal, (much like a mother is in charge of each of her children) then these women learned how to care for these animals. In this way the lore of "animal husbandry" began to be accumulated. Their learning was passed on to their daughters, who passed on to theirs, and so on. In time, these women were the ones in charge of the tribe's sacred herds, kennels, and so on. This may have been the origin of the image of religious persons as "pastors," "shepherds" or "shepherdesses." The young girls' vaginal dilation It must have been a great honor for a girl-child to be selected by the headwoman to be in charge of one of the young animals that were born to the tribe's herds or kennels. Some young girls must have begun their sex lives with young horses or donkeys, and the girl's vaginal size slowly got bigger and bigger as the animal and his organ grew. Of course, if a woman can give birth to a human baby, then her vagina definitely has the capacity for large-size objects, especially if it is stretched slowly over a period years - it may have even resulted in easier childbirth for these women when they became pregnant and gave birth to human children with larger brain sizes. This must have provided an important survival advantage for those tribes that practiced zoophilia. These women must have copulated with their horses or donkeys during the tribe's religious ceremonies to the Goddess - such ceremonies must have been tremendously sexually arousing to the spectators, again assuring the tribe's fertility and growth. The drinking of animal semen Not necessarily all of the women of the tribe practiced religious zoosexual penetration. Since the penises of equines are so long, in other rites women priestesses may have simply practiced fellatio on horses or donkeys, getting them to ejaculate and then drinking their copious semen (another form of the "Water of Life"). Fellatio of dogs and other male animals, and the sucking and drinking of their semen, their "Water of Life," must have also been practiced. Since semen is so highly nutritious, this must have enhanced the health of these holy women, proving to themselves and to the rest of the tribe that they were indeed "favored by the Goddess." Why did the Religion of the Mother Goddess disappear? History tells us that the REALLY ancient gods were all female. Then, apparently something rather traumatic happens. Over a period of time of maybe about one thousand years (around 10 to 15 thousand years ago) the nurturing female gods are replaced by very stern MALE gods. The ancient religions that accepted sex as a link to the gods, or as part of the divine, were replaced with religions in which sex is evil and/or a sin - something VERY bad. And if for these religions ordinary human sex is bad, zoophilia is EXTREMELY bad. If the religion of the Mother Goddess was so wonderful, Why did it disappear? How did this terrible thing happen? Permanent human settlements and the accumulation of wealth Part of the reason was the humans own intelligence and success as a species. Once humans discovered agriculture, they had to stay in one place to harvest the crops they had planted. Instead of nomadic living, humans began to stay in the same place. Since it was possible to produce an excess of food, there was an increase in the population living around the farmed areas. People began to build houses, and they kept stored grain, extra clothing, beautiful objects and other valuables in these houses. The development of hierarchies For millions of years, humans had lived in bands of some 20 to 60 persons - they knew personally all of the members of their band - But now there were hundreds or even thousands of people living in each of these agricultural settlements; it began to be no longer possible to know everyone who lived around you. Religion began to get more elaborate - no longer did the headwoman or chief priestess know personally all the people in her community - a hierarchy began to develop, with sub-priestesses, acolytes, helpers and so on. The chief priestesses no longer felt a direct BOND with each of the members of community. What caused the downfall of the Mother Goddess religion may have been something subtle, such as he chief priestesses having developed an excessive love for riches, and have begun to demand tributes or gifts to allow people to attend the religious services, or to participate in the ceremonies. The people may have then begun to feel that the love of the Mother Goddess, which had always been free, was now being withheld from them if they weren't rich enough to pay the tribute. The male-underclass society - Amazons Or, it could have been something more direct and oppressive, such as the active discrimination of the males, which may have begun with small details. However, this discrimination, if unchecked over a time span of several generations or even several hundred years, would have slowly turned the males into a slave or servant underclass - What were men good for anyway? Their bodies were not MADE in the likeness of the Mother Goddess. Because of their beards or facial hair, all adult males were essentially faceless to the ruling matriarchs anyway - they all looked the same! Eventually, the priestesses must have decided that the men were good only as slaves, and to fecundate the women, so that they could have more girl-children - the boy-children that were born would have been a relatively worthless by-product. We may have some inkling of such a situation in ancient myths or stories of women-dominated tribes like the Amazons (though, the story of the Amazons dates from many thousands of years after the height of the Matriarchal age). The rebel conspiracy In either case, the people (or the men) would not have stood up for this forever - they were just as smart as the ruling priestesses, even if they did not have any power within the tribe. They must have dreamed of the day in which they would be free from their oppressors, and prayed for someone to come and lead them out of this terrible situation - a underground rebel conspiracy against the ruling priestesses must have smoldered in the human settlements for generations. They must have approached some of the matriarchs, asking them to change their ways - to go back to the way it was before, with the love of the Mother Goddess being free and equal for all of Her children, both male and female - the matriarchs laughed at them. After such rebuttals, the conspirators must have planned in great detail how they would go about their revolution, and what they would do afterwards so that the matriarchs would NEVER rule again. Among other things, they decided that they would re-write (so to speak) history, ERASING from the memory of mankind the epoch of the ruling of the matriarchs. All records or artifacts relating to the sex-religion of the Mother Goddess were to be deliberately and systematically destroyed. The coveting of wealth - the desire for War Eventually, one of the conspirators must have noticed that all the other settlements that they knew of were without any kind of defense. They could have ALL the riches of these other settlements, if only they could convince the ruling matriarchs of the need to put together an army to attack and rob them. The conspiracy grew hotter - the leaders could now convince new converts telling them of all the riches they would have if they would help in the coming revolution against the matriarchs. Some rumors of this conspiracy must have reached the ears of the ruling matriarchs, but to them it was simply UNTHINKABLE that the people would revolt - the people had ALWAYS been subservient to the priestesses, for as long as anyone could remember, and anyway, the Mother Goddess would never permit such a thing. The revolution against the Matriarchs - and the beginning of the Patriarchal age Nevertheless, the day came in which the rebels began a very bloody revolution - killing ALL the ruling matriarchs and any woman that belonged to the priestly hierarchy, and probably keeping only very young girl-babies, so there would be no memory and chance of the old regime coming back. After so many generations of being oppressed by the matriarchs, they would NEVER let women have power again. And once the fear of killing had been overcome in their own settlement, it was easy to attack OTHER settlements and kill THEIR priestesses. And once the demon of WAR had been let loose, there was no way to put it back in the bottle. An age of war and carnage must have prevailed for generations, and all human communities either became warlike or enslaved, or perished. Since the matriarchs had been the sages of each community and writing had not yet been invented, humanity fell back into a state of semi-savagery - the first Dark Ages had begun. >From now on, all the important gods would be male. And ANY kind of female sexuality would definitely be suppressed - lest it lead back to the bad old days of the Mother Goddess religion. Girls would be kept as virgins until marriage, or their clitoris or vulva amputated or mutilated, so their sexual capacity would be stunted. From this time on, the women would be servants or slaves to the men. Remember, all of this happened many thousands of years before the beginning of recorded history - even the stories of the Bible do not begin until several thousands of years after these events. Witches and Sabbats - Centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs, and fauns... Specially suppressed would be any kind of zoophilia - Stories would be made up, of how devils or anti-gods would appear, in shape of animals, to temp women to have sex with them. Of how REALLY evil women, witches, would have sex with these devil-animals in horrible orgies called Sabbats. Scary stories would be told to young children, about centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs, fauns, and other half-human half-animal beings - so that any girl would be afraid that, if she ever had sex with an animal, they would become pregnant with such a monster, and their guilt would eventually be evident to everyone in their community as soon as they gave birth. And, if anyone, man or woman actually had sex with an animal, the religious laws indicated VERY severe punishment, or even death (for example, read the Bible...). And from that time on, the male-dominated societies would use their animals for war, not love. Ethics and the nature of Evil What one can see here is that the epoch of the Mother Goddess, which lasted for perhaps more than a HUNDRED thousand years, was a period in which human life was wonderful - each human child was cherished, and felt to be a gift from the Goddess. Humanity lived in harmony with nature, taking only what was needed. Sex was one of the greatest gifts of the Goddess, to be enjoyed and savored, be it with other human beings, or with the animals that the Goddess had placed in this world with us. What caused the expulsion of humanity from this paradise was NOT sex, or wealth, or technology. The problem began when the Matriarchs began acting as if they themselves were goddesses, and not merely the representatives of the Goddess, and began taking the goodwill of the people for granted. And, that is the true essence of EVIL - Evil is the ABUSE of power. That is, EVIL exists when someone who has power through social position, wealth, knowledge, or technology or physical strength, uses that power to EXPLOIT or HARM those that depend on her or him, or through inaction, ALLOWS exploitation or harm to occur to them. And, as this very painful example shows us, ignorance is no excuse. The Goddess will not suffer fools. She expects us to use our intelligence to think things through - if WE don't, then it's OUR hides and those of our descendants. The rebels may have felt some justification in their bloody revolt against the Matriarchs, saying that it was the Matriarchs' sin against their people that caused them to do this terrible thing. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the FAR greater sin was the rebels' crime against humanity, bringing about the age of WAR and hell on earth that still persists. We may have some inkling of the immense guilt and regret that the rebels' survivors and descendants felt, in later religious stories in which they attempted to blame the temptation of "woman" for the "original sin" that caused humanity's expulsion from paradise. The present age of enlightenment Through the centuries, there have been sporadic attempts to revive the ancient religions - but these have either been persecuted or have succumbed to warlike aggressors. Notice the persecution of "witches" in the Middle Ages. Notice also how in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the "devil" is usually represented as an anthropomorphic ram or goat, such as the "Goat of Mendes." It is not until the present "age of enlightenment" that zoophilia or zoosexuality can again be practiced without great fear of persecution... How long will this enlightenment last? It can be that we don't WANT to remember the past, and are consequently condemned to relive it... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dedicated to Joachim Persson, whose wonderful drawings inspired me to write this essay. Equanimae - 7 August 1998 Links to: Bonobo monkeys, Pan paniscus: http://www.ishipress.com/sci-bono.htm http://soong.club.cc.cmu.edu/~julie/bonobos.html http://www.spectacle.org/997/yee.html Mother Goddess: http://www.religioustolerance.org/goddess.htm http://ripley.wo.sbc.edu/departmental/dean/www/witcombe.html http://member.aol.com/ATOYA/Goddess.html The Magician, Joachim Persson's drawings: http://www.algonet.se/~jap/pictures/Other/.LadyKi/zoophile.htm Further reading: "The Prehistory of Sex" by Timothy Taylor (1996) "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris (1967) "The Human Zoo" by Desmond Morris (1969) Questions/Comments: E-mail the author: Equanimae