Update: Looks like this dude is a scammer. Explains a lot. Nice reporting, Gizmodo.
*****
It’s not every day you find yourself reading about a battle waging between fisters and zoophiles over who has the most unique rectal injuries butt here we are. Thanks to I Fucking Love Science, we’ve been made sheepishly, voyeuristically aware of a new study titled “Similar Mechanisms of Traumatic Rectal Injuries in Patients Who Had Anal Sex with Animals to Those Who Were Butt-Fisted By Human Sexual Partner.” Basically, it’s comparing the injuries of men who receive anal sex from animals to the injuries of men who are fisted.
Turns out they’re kind of the same!
IFLS described the paper as “ludicrously specific and intensely detailed,” and wondered if it’s “the Most NSFW Scientific Study of All Time?”
Welp, let’s find out.
The study was published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine and conducted by the Department of Psychiatry, Sexual and Urologic Consultation Clinics at the University of Lublin Medical School in Poland, and look out, it’s coming in hot.
Some highlights:
Unusual etiology of sexual activity with animals caused peri-anal trauma in men who engaged in anal sex with dogs and farm animals. Injuries to patients who receive anal sex from animals are mechanistically similar to fisting-induced rectal damage. Among zoophiles, the mode of harm occurs through blood-engorged, interlocked penis that causes tissue lacerations upon retraction from an anus.
However:
In people experimenting with fisting, repetitive stretching within anal canal and of external sphincter causes the internal injuries. The mode of physical stimulation explains the extent of injuries in fisters vs. zoophiles: in fisting, the pressure applied by hand is controllable proximally around and within anal sphincter, while penetration by the animal penis is unpredictable and occurs within the proximal anal canal. Forensically, the findings presented in this article describe a significant mechanism of injury in fisters versus passive zoophiles. These descriptions may aid in clinically differentiating pleasurable and pathological rectal stimulation.
This is, of course, insane, but let’s be serious here for a minute. The researchers note that forced anal penetration—whether from the animal penis or via digital/fisting — creates specific injuries that can look similar to those that happen when the acts are consensual. “The extent of injury to proximal and distal parts of the anus depend specifically on the mode of injury and physical force,” they write. “Understanding of these mechanisms is crucial in the forensic evaluation of the abused.”
In other words, some injuries look like sexual assault when really it’s just a person who wanted to be fucked by an animal or fist and was willing to take the risk of anal injuries as a result. They cite BDSM communities who use safe words and rules for consensual play but still inadvertently cause harm.
“For instance, both men agree that one is to be fisted, but during sex play the aggressive partner causes injuries,” they write. “The resulting dilemma for a clinician and a legal system is how to report the extent of injuries — was it sexual assault if BDSM practices imply that boundaries will be pushed one step at the time? Similarly, in acts of zoophilia, we have a new level of complexity — animal rights.”
From a medical point of view, the researchers ask, “If the animal is unharmed, do animal rights still apply? Should be police be informed?” Interesting note: Pretty much all zoophiles truly believe it’s consensual, so there’s that.
Okay, but back to those rectal injuries! The researchers looked at the rectal injuries of four men who they’d treated and who had undergone court-enforced treatments for battering animals (aka, having sex with them), and compared them to rectal injuries in the literature from fisting.
“Each man tried receiving anal sex, leading to urologic injuries presenting as tears of the anal sphincter and the proximal part of the canal and were successfully treated by the surgical team,” they write.
The patients include:
- A 14-year-old high school student (dog)
- An unemployed 26-year-old who lives with his parents (dog)
- Two married male farmers, one in his 30s (dog) and one in his 40s (medium-sized farm animal)
The 14 year-old boy apparently decided to “relieve sexual tension” with a house dog for his first sexual experience. He told researchers he’d seen animal sex porn on the internet and figured it was totally safe. After the sex, he found blood in his underwear and called the ambulance.
The 14-year-old’s injuries involved:
- Fresh blood from the rectum
- Inflamed anal orifice
- Injuries affected 4 to 5 cm of canal space
- Two minor hemmorages
He was treated and released with some minor anesthetics.
Researchers describe the 26-year-old man who lives at home as unemployed, pale, antisocial, complaining of being poor, and “low energy.” He’s also had a lot of run-ins with the law for forging a bank loan. He told researchers he’d been fantasizing about sex with a female dog for a long time. He’d never had a girlfriend, lost his virginity in high school (to a girl), and has not been sexually active for two years prior to this.
His injuries:
- Scratches on anal sphincter (this is from the animal’s panicked retraction during copulation, they note)
- Minor bleeding
- One bruise on middle right buttock
Also treated with pain meds.
The 30-something middle-aged farmer told the medical team that he has the dog lie down and sits on its erect penis. And that he believed a small penis couldn’t cause any harm. “The patient implied that wife was aware of his sexual play, but that she always thought he was joking,” they note.
Injuries:
- “Punch-in laceration 3 cm proximally to rectal orifice”
He was cleaned and sewn up by an on-call surgeon.
The other middle-aged married farmer was tight-lipped about his animal of choice. “The patient did not want to specify the type of animal that was involved, nor specific mechanisms of sexual encounter,” they write. “All we know is that it was a medium-size farm animal, possibly a donkey.”
Injuries:
- Damage of proximal rectum, 7–10 cm away from rectal orifice
- Fresh blood in the rectum
No treatment indicated.
The researchers conclude that solicited animal sex injuries —where the engorged penis of an animal tears the anal musculature of the human — look a lot like fisting injuries, which can also lead to severe injuries, like rectal prolapse and bleeding. Those can also look a lot like sexual abuse.
The big obstacle here is that people who have sex with animals aren’t always honest about what’s going down, either out of embarrassment or fear of legal consequences. This makes it all very tricky to parse in terms of treatment and who should be notified and how it should be handled, all the while maintaining a patient’s privacy and confidentiality.
That said, people totally die from sex with animals—this story is a tragic reminder. These four men got off pretty light in comparison. So what can we learn from all this? I guess… dogs. If you’re going to have sex with animals, go dog. [Editor’s note: Do not, under any circumstances, have sex with any type of animal.]
Tracy Moore
Tracy Moore is a staff writer at MEL. She covers all the soft sciences like psychology, sex, relationships and parenting, but since this is a men’s magazine, occasionally the hard ones. Formerly at Jezebel.
