Why Is Sexual Abuse 'Okay' When We Do It to Animals?
(... or pay others to do it)
To be clear: This article does not trivialize any form of sexual abuse. Having been directly affected by sexual violence myself and witnessing its impact on people close to me, I am acutely aware of the devastating consequences it can have. Motivated by this awareness, this article aims to highlight the horrors of sexual violence and shine a light on one area where many of us unknowingly condone it.
Sex offenders are among the most despised individuals in society. Besides legal consequences, they often suffer irreparable damage to their reputations, rejection from family and friends, and immediate job loss. Even behind bars, many sex offenders endure bullying, exclusion, and violence from other inmates, placing them at at the bottom of the prison hierarchy.
All of this underscores the profound disgust and hatred that sexual violence evokes in others — for very understandable reasons. Rape is a grave human rights violation, ranked among the five worst crimes alongside genocide, murder, torture, and terrorism.
There is widespread consensus on this. And yet …
Every day, the vast majority of society funds and supports an industry that relies on sexual violence as a core aspect of its operations. You will have guessed it from the title: I’m referring to the animal agriculture industry.
At first glance, it may seem far-fetched to liken animal farming practices to sexual violence. However, upon closer examination of the methods used to breed, confine, and exploit animals, the comparison becomes hard to ignore. Sexual abuse in animal agriculture is not a rare or isolated occurrence; it is foundational to the very structure of the industry.
Animal agriculture runs on sexual abuse
In animal agriculture, “AI” doesn’t stand for artificial intelligence. It stands for artificial insemination — in other words: humans forcibly impregnating animals.
For this procedure, the animals are often restrained with shackles, hung upside down, or confined in small cages so that they cannot move. Some of these restraining devices are chillingly referred to as “rape rack”.
Semen collection in the animal agriculture industry involves invasive methods like manual stimulation, which is stressful and unnatural for the animals, or inserting a probe into the animal’s rectum to force ejaculation through painful electrical impulses.
For the insemination, workers forcibly insert catheters and syringe-like instruments with names such as “pork stork”, “insemination rod” or “fertilization injection gun” into female animals’ genitals. In addition, the insemination of cows commonly involves a farmer pushing a fist deep into the animal’s anus.
These procedures are physically invasive and emotionally distressing, often leading to injury and repeated trauma. But the industry couldn’t care less about the suffering caused. As if they were machines, farmed animals are rated based on metrics like “lactation curve”, “conception rate” and “reproductive performance”.
“The legal distinction between artificial insemination and bestiality was not a foregone conclusion. Rather, it is the product of the lobbying power of large farms.”
— G.N. Rosenberg & J. Dutkiewicz (2020)
They are still children!
It is shocking to consider at what an early age all of this begins: Cows are artificially impregnated (for the first time) as soon as they reach puberty , usually when they are less than two years old — translated to human age, this would be around 13 years. Forced insemination of sheep and pigs already begins at an age of 6 to 9 months — for chickens, it starts 4 to 5 months after they hatch.
There is no other way to put it: When the sexual abuse begins, these animals are still children.
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“The industry isn’t performing these actions for pleasure, so how can we call it sexual violence?”
Contrary to widespread belief, the majority of sexual violence between humans is not motivated by pleasure or lust, either. The motivation typically stems from the perpetrator’s need for dominance and control.
Clearly, what animals experience in farming operations is also a demonstration of human dominance and control. “Breeding” is simply the forced exploitation of animals’ reproductive organs to produce profit. Intentional or not, from the animals’ perspective, it is sexual violence inflicted upon their bodies. It’s invasive. It’s unnecessary. And it’s abuse.
Also:
Many farmed animals are, in fact, victims of sexually motivated abuse. There have been countless disturbing cases of bestiality among farmers.
While the prevalence of bestiality remains under-researched, one of the earliest and most comprehensive studies on the subject by Kinsey et al. (1948) offers valuable insights, suggesting it may be particularly common among farmers:
“Kinsey reported a relatively high lifetime prevalence of bestiality, particularly in his male subjects. He noted that 8% of men had some form of sexual contact with an animal across their lifespan. That percentage grew to an estimated 40–50% when considering males who were raised on farms. He identified some men who had sex with animals multiple times a week over many years.” (Source)
Recent cases, such as three farmers in Pennsylvania charged with over 1,400 counts of bestiality involving horses, cows, and goats, further highlight this issue. In another case, a man turned his farm into a “business catering to people who want to have sex with animals”. Since animals have no way to call for help, the cases that come to light are almost certainly just the tiny tip of the iceberg. Suspiciously, regulation is often not welcome: Farmers in New Hampshire, for example, have opposed a “bestiality bill” against sex acts with animals.
“Are animals really subjected to the same horrors as human rape victims?”
In addition to the violation of their bodily autonomy, one of the worst aspects of sexual violence for humans is the uncertainty of whether the perpetrator will escalate his actions, possibly even resorting to murder to silence the victim. Many human rape victims experience deadly terror.
This is obviously horrific. But is this truly what sets human experiences of sexual violence apart from the treatment of farmed animals?
The animals, too, have no way of knowing what humans plan to do with them. Without a doubt, they often experience overwhelming fear of death. And we all know: their fear is completely justified.
Besides sexual exploitation, farmed animals are subjected to other forms of severe abuse. Many are mutilated without anaesthesia, do not receive adequate treatment for wounds and diseases, have their newborn babies stolen and killed, and are kept in such cramped spaces that they can barely move. Eventually, they are stabbed, shot, beaten to death, gassed or shredded alive — after just a fraction of their natural lifespan. Countless investigations show that “humane slaughter” is nothing but a myth.
The worst fear that a human victim of sexual abuse might have — the fear of escalating violence, imprisonment, torture, even murder — is not just a possibility for farmed animals; it’s their certain fate.
“But you can’t compare human suffering with animal suffering!”
This line of reasoning is often used to justify the cruelties of animal agriculture, but it simply doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. I have published an article addressing this objection in detail, which you can check out here:
The issue isn't about drawing direct equivalence between species but about acknowledging that unnecessary violence against sentient beings is morally wrong.
Just because a being cannot express its pain in a language we understand doesn’t mean that the pain is any less real. If anything, our own experiences of suffering should make us more sensitive to the suffering of others, not less.
Conclusion
While it’s important to recognize that most individuals who participate in the animal agriculture system may do so out of tradition or circumstance rather than malice, we must not allow these factors to excuse the horrific practices that define this industry. Tradition is never a justification for cruelty or exploitation.
When we purchase animal products, we are not just buying food. We are funding a system of lifelong confinement, cruelty, environmental destruction, and, yes, sexual exploitation. The systematic abuse of animals’ reproductive systems is not some unfortunate side effect — it’s a core function of the industry.
The violence perpetrated against farmed animals is all-encompassing, from forced impregnation to the trauma of having offspring stolen, to violent mutilations, cramped confinement, and finally, slaughter. Sexual exploitation is just one aspect of the unimaginable horrors they face.
Our society rightly condemns sexual violence. It’s time we stop turning a blind eye when the victims look different and don’t speak our language.
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Because people don't see it as sexual abuse when it's animals. Even talking about it gets you yelled at: "how dare you compare a woman to a cow." But that's not what we're doing. No one is comparing a woman to a cow. But sexual abuse is sexual abuse, no matter whom it happens to. The victim is still a victim, and trauma is still trauma. It doesn't have to be "the same" for it to count.