Why isn't bestiality illegal in most states? If children can't consent, then animals DEFINITELY can't consent. Why is being a pedophile a crime but zoophilia is not?

With respect to children consenting, the laws call it informed consent, and is scoped to sexual encounters, as opposed to giving informed consent to a doctor before getting an operation. Saying that children cannot consent in the common use of the term is simply grossly incorrect. Just try feeding a baby food who isn’t consenting. In most cases it is up to the parent or a “trusted” adult to determine what is appropriate and what is not.

From a personal standpoint, I find it hypocritical that bestiality is illegal, but many forms of animal abuse is not.

As far as pedophilia and zoophilia are concerned, both of these are not crimes, as both of these are states of the mind, and as long as they are not acted on, there is, and can be no law outlawing it. So, if I instead take your question to be “Why is child molesting a crime, but bestiality not?” It is primarily that we value human life over animal life.

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The argument that children cannot consent further falls apart with more recent laws around Romeo and Juliet laws that permit many children to have sex with people close to their age provided they are old enough (not in every state). This comes as a practical answer to the fact that trying to enforce such violations is often impractical and seen as unfair as many teenagers have a strong sexual drive.

Many activities regarding controlling what an animal can mate with, i.e. husbandry, are legal weather it be a dog breeder, cow insemination, or crossing a horse and a donkey to get a mule. And many activities regarding animals can be controlled by their owner, such as spaying or neutering their pet. Even refusing medical care for a pet is generally legal. This leaves three arguments, it is animal abuse, is it safe, is it moral. The first two probably depend on a case by case basis, while the last is a socialite decision.

As of mid 2024 bestiality is illegal in all US states except West Virginia. It was banned in for over 100 years in many states, but briefly became legal in some places due to sodomy laws being struck down when gay sex became legal.

Why, after a divorce, would one still want to ruin the other one’s life?