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Peter Singer's ``Heavy Petting'' and the Politics of Animal Sexual Assault

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Abstract

This essay confronts PeterSinger's (2001a) controversial suggestion thathuman-animal sexual relations should betolerated if they do not involve cruelty, apseudo-liberal position contradicted by theauthor's recent testimony in favor of a Bill tocriminalise bestiality. Against Singer, thisarticle argues that human-animal sex is a harmthat is wrong for the same reasons as isinter-human assault – because it involvescoercion, produces pain and suffering, andviolates the rights of another being. Positively, however, Singer's text opens up fora much overdue discussion some difficultquestions about the politics of animal sexualassault.

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Beirne, P. Peter Singer's ``Heavy Petting'' and the Politics of Animal Sexual Assault. Critical Criminology 10, 43–55 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013119904480

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