THE FARM—First, it’s illegal in many states (though not all), and second, they can't consent, but perhaps an even more convincing reason to avoid sex with animals can be found in the results of a recent study conducted by Brazilian urologists of 492 men from the rural sections of the country. The purpose of the study was to assess risk factors for penile cancer in men who had visited 16 urology and oncology centers in 12 Brazilian cities. It turns out a large percentage of men with penile cancer had had sex with animals, otherwise known as "SWA" (who knew there was an acronym?) or in obscenity law circles, "bestiality."
“Of the 118 penile cancer patients, 45 percent reported having sex with animals, compared with 32 percent of healthy men, who visited the medical centers for benign conditions, check-ups or cancer prevention,” reported LiveScience.com. “Fifty-nine percent of men who had sex with animals did so for one to five years, while 21 percent continued the behavior, also known as zoophilia, for more than five years. The subjects reported a variety of frequencies for their sex acts, ranging from monthly to daily.”
The men who had SWA also had higher rates of STDs, though the lead author of the study, São Paulo urologist Stênio de Cássio Zequi, said a direct causal relationship between the act and the diseases was not yet established. Still, the data showed that men who had sex with animals were twice as likely as other to get penile cancer.
"We think that the intense and long-term SWA practice could produce micro-traumas in the human penile tissue," said Zequi. "The genital mucus membranes of animals could have different characteristics from human genitalia, and the animals' secretions are probably different from human fluids. Perhaps animal tissues are less soft than ours, and non-human secretions would be toxic for us.”
Other factors in the high rates of penile cancer may be a contributing factor, including whether the men are circumcised or not (a majority of the subjects were not circumcised, or became so later in life), and also the lifestyle of the men who had SWA. Zequi theorized that the higher rates of STDs among the SWA group could also be the result of more group sex.
"The study reported that these men also have more sex with prostitutes," said Thomas Köhler, a urologist at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, who was involved with the study. "Are they using condoms when they have sex with people? Are they engaging in higher infectious-risk anal intercourse with people?"
Despite the direct correlation, LiveScience reported, “Zequi wants men (and women) who have sex with animals to know that the practice could be hazardous to their health, and he wants clinicians to spread the word to at-risk populations.”
The study, which is the first to link the practice of SWA to genital cancers, was published in October in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
