Zoophilia

Zoophilia is an attraction towards nonhuman animals. This term most commonly refers to sexual and/or romantic attraction.

This article is a part of MAP Wiki articles on Other Paraphilias.

History of the term

The term "zoophilia" was coined in 1886 by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his work Psychopathia sexualis as a part of construction "zoophilia erotica", which he initially defined as an attraction to animal skin and fur. He constructed it from terms ζῷον (zṓion, "animal") and φιλία (philia, "love").

Identities

Zoophilia as a self identity label that refers to finding animals attractive has existed since at least early 1990s.

In 1992 Mark Matthews, a zoo activist and writer, founded "Zoophiliac Outreach Organization" ("Z.O.O."), aiming to provide peer support to zoophiles. In 1994 he wrote an autobiographical book titled The Horseman: Obsessions of a Zoophile.

It is possible to assume that the zoo identity and community was able to develop with the help of emerging internet. Hani Miletski, a sexuality researcher, mentions multiple web pages made by zoophiles for zoophiles that existed in the 90s.

Zoosexuality

Zoosexuality is another term that may be used synonymously with zoophilia. Its origins are unclear. Wikipedia credits Miletski, while she reports it was made up by zoos online. Some sources suggest the word was in use since 1980s, others point towards unnamed works by R. E. L. Masters in 1960s.

Currently this word is often used by zoos who believe their orientation to be inherently different from all other paraphiliac orientations.

The concept of zoosexuality refers to sexual orientation as opposed to fetishism, paraphilia, or mental ailment.

- Zoophile Wiki, "Zoosexuality"

• 
  A post in favor of zoo separatism

Zeta

Zeta (or ZETA) may refer to the following things:

• A German zoo organization ZETA-Verein.
• A list of zoophile ethical principles dating back to 1990s.
• A member of zoo Twitter, characterized by adherence to the ZETA principles and aversion to change.

The last meaning is the most recent of all 3, dating back to the clash between the zoophile community of Twitter and the zoophile community of Tumblr that migrated to Twitter due to bans in 2018/2019. It is worth a note that this word is rarely used as a self identity by the people it applies to - people that follow the zeta ideology are much more likely to refer to themselves as zoos/zoosexuals and to the zoos that oppose them - as simply paraphiles.

Alef

Alef is a zoo identity created in 2023 as an alternative to zeta. It started with a project for a new zoo flag that involved multiple zoophile artists and 11 distinct contest sumbissions. The project resulted in creation of a new zoophile identity, built on the principles of zoo unity and inclusion.

Discourse

Currently, common areas of discourse in the zoo community include:

• Contact discourse.
• Zeta vs alef discourse (including discourse surrounding the zoosadist identity).