Dearest Pet: On Bestiality [Hardcover]

Midas Dekkers (Author), Paul Vincent (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1994

Generally, but certainly not always. Kinsey's research showed that 8 per cent of men and 3.5 per cent of women had had sex with an animal, and that in rural areas the figure for men was closer to 50 per cent. Yet bestiality is almost universally condemned. While our love for animals is extolled as noble and "natural", all erotic elements in the relationship between humans and other species are villified and proscribed, thus consigning them to the realm of exotic pornography or crude innuendo. Even so, something remains of physical love for animals. In different forms, sublimated or occasionally celebrated, its traces can be found throughout art and popular culture: in Leda and the Swan, Beauty and the Beast or the Lorelei; in a lubricious menagerie of satyrs and centaurs, wolfmen and vampires, all the way through to King Kong and Fritz the Cat, pony clubs and amorous dolphins, or even advertisements for luxury catfoods. "Dearest Pet" uncovers and explores those traces, illuminating the ambivalence of human attitudes to cross-species sexuality. Its author, the biologist and broadcaster Midas Dekkers, has analyzed bestiality in all its aspects - physical, psychological and legal - and examined its representations in religion and mythology, art and literature, pornography and advertising. Beautifully - and sometimes bizarrely - illustrated, his book is neither drily academic nor pruriently trivial, but erudite, witty and challenging: the first history of the last taboo. A book for animal lovers, and for those who are just their good friends.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dekkers's book is never prurient, but it bears the unmistakable flair of a true enthusiast. -- LA Weekly

[O]ne of the most engaging books....an eclectic and erudite series of reflections on the sexual imagination. -- LA Reader

[S]ome of his short sketches rank with the most moving literature on animals. -- NRC Handelsblad --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Dutch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; First Edition edition (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0860914623
• ISBN-13: 978-0860914624
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,387,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Petting, by fermed, December 28, 2000

By 

Fernando Melendez "fermed" (San Diego, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dearest Pet: On Bestiality (Paperback)

The subject of sexual congress between human and beast is heavy stuff. It moves sexuality to a higher (or lower, have your pick) dimension, for the object of lust is not another human, or an inanimate object, but a living oprganism capable of its own pleasures and lust. Crossing interspecies barriers is not something to be taken lightly.

All religions and most political systems are very displeased with the notion of man-beast sexual congress. Not so long ago, conviction of such an activity would lead to burning at the stake. Bestiality has intrinsic gravitas.

The book by Midas Dekkers is best defined in terms of what it is not: certainly it is not a "how to" book, nor is it an erotic or lascivious tract. Even is many illustrations lack eroticism. The book leaves most things involving the actual coupling up to the reader's imagination. Nor is it a scientific tract, nor a survey, nor a sexology book. It covers art, and history, and plenty of gossip. Things of that nature; so if the potential reader is seeking a perverse little jolt, this book is not the way of obtaining it.

It explains, in passing, that the most frequent human-animal contacts occur between male and beast; that the woman-animal connection is fairly rare but yet appears more frequently in art and literature than the male-beast duo. The explanation for this is that until recently women were poorly represented as artists and writers, and therefore it was men who defined the acts and perhaps ventilated their fantasies in the process. The many portrayals of Leda and the swan attest to this. The swan, incidentaly, was Zeus in disguise.... Now there is an example of the little gems of information that abound in the book....

Mankind's sexual apetite crosses all species that will accommodate the architecture involved, from chickens to eels, from apes to elephants. The reader would certainly like to know a little more about the mechanics involved, but the book is reticent about such matters.

"Dearest Pet" is a translation from the Dutch. It contain a bibliography heavily weighted with German and Dutch entries, and a fair index that itemizes the wide variety of playmates mentioned in the book, from Airdales to zebras.

34 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Thought provoking., August 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Steve Johnston) (Phoenix AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dearest Pet: On Bestiality (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a book to simply explain the "How to's" (although it does contain some sexual details) this is not it BUT if you are looking for a book that will stimulate your mind, is full of profound theories as to the history and culture differences that bestiality conveys around the world, look no further. While a very small amount of information is very mildly opinionated, it does satisfy two things. Firstly, it is hard to put down and stimulates the mind to consider, ponder and perhaps sympathize with an alternative sexual lifestyle that is not as morally perverse as many think considering its historical background over the last few thousand years. Secondly, it offers quite insightful comments on our love of animals from a sexual and non-sexual sense. This is a book you can read and learn from. Education is a wonderful thing, ignorance is pitiful. The author does not try to persuade you of a sexual lifestyle you may condone or object to but simply lays out facts for you to draw your own conclusions including some clever thought provoking comments like why we are fascinated by fur coats and leather, why certain animals are fond pet favorites. It also deals with factual historical details on bestiality. Some of the origins which you may find downright astonishing and religously could be considered blasphemous. If you are disgusted by the subject matter, read this and perhaps gain an insight why others are not. If you are mildly interested in understanding the subject read on. If you have a fascination for the subject, read and learn why. Whatever your reasons, you don't have to agree with everything but you will gain an education. If you are simply looking for porn material, go buy a magazine with pictures and few words or rent a video.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't read well but this book is unique., November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dearest Pet: On Bestiality (Hardcover)

I read this book on a research project on human sexuality. Of the millions of titles available in our school library this was the only one dealing directly with sexual behavior between animals and humans. Other surveys touch upon bestiality but this is the only book I am aware of that is wholly dedicated to it. The author begins with a personal anecdote about her close encounter as a young woman. The only problem is that the translation does not read well. I hope that a better translator pops along in the future.