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January 22, 2007

Will "Zoo" End Zoo Taboo?

A new documentary on bestiality has just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. And interestingly, it is being described as "remarkably, an elegant, eerily lyrical film" and "a poetic film about a forbidden subject." This review of the film seemed particularly apropo, considering the discussion last week about people and dolphins and whether such unions would ever become socially acceptable. The director himself said of the film, "I aestheticized the sleaze right out of it."

"Forbidden subject" sounds to me like a phrase one would use to describe a film about an older woman and a younger man, or maybe even a gay love affair. Perhaps that is merely a sign of my naivete. Bestiality always seemed to be beyond forbidden to me. The filmmaker decided to explore the psychology of "zoos" - people who have a thing for animals - after hearing about the man in Seattle who died in 2005 after having sex with a stallion at an animal farm for people who love animals a little too much. He defends his documentary by saying he thought artists had a right to explore whatever they wanted to. I'm an artist, and I have never seen it that way. I think artists ought to work to uplift, not degrade the human race.

It seems to me we are hearing more and more about bestiality and I must say I have often wondered lately whether an effort is underway to make it more socially acceptable. Mini-clips are circulated widely by email showing attractive women getting it on with various animals, and jokes about it are becoming more common, too. I fear films like "Zoo" will take away some of the taboo that prevents people from trying it. And it is the animals that will pay the price.

I don't much care to understand the psychology of zoos any more than I do pedophiles. They're sick. They should not be allowed to do what they do - have sex with partners who cannot consent.

Posted by Becky at January 22, 2007 06:07 AM