Love Has (NO) Boundaries: Researching a Sexual Taboo

Abstract

Sexual and emotional attraction humans feel towards animals, also known as zoophilia, is perhaps the most controversial facet of human-animal relationships. In this article I explore this seemingly ultimate transgression of interspecies boundaries and probe the Israeli cultural encounters with it. I discern how the stated concerns for normative sexuality and animal rights masquerade the underlying factors in the zoophilia taboo, and reveal the cultural implications of human-animal sexual love in Israel. My fieldwork reveals not only the limits of acceptable human-animal love, but also the limits of legitimate research, and the consequences entailed for those who resolve to challenge them.