(May 23, 2018 at 6:13 pm)Minimalist Wrote: If you've ever seen a male dog try to get lucky with a female that isn't in heat you'd know that it rarely ends well, Alex.

My beagle and Yorkie are both boys.  But I gotta tell you, spring time has rolled in, and the beagle is looking to tie down anything that moves, and the Yorkie apparently scampers around in a particularly endearing way.

Animal rape is 100% real.  Absolutely.  I've seen a chimp rape a frog.  That's funny.

I don't think the actual physical rape is that serious, strangely.  A torn anus or vagina, while painful, is often much less serious physically than broken limbs, poked-out eyes, and so on, but in our imaginations, rape has become probably the worst crime we can think of except maybe torture and murder.

It's our word view that makes it such a thing.  We've decided that unwanted sexual contact is such an unlivable terror that worries about it dominate some people's lives. To me, this is worse than the rape itself-- that we've taught ourselves to hate life, or disgust ourselves perhaps even to suicide.  This is wayyyy out of proportion with the actual physical harm, and I really feel we've given rapists extra-strong live ammunition for causing us harm.

(May 25, 2018 at 5:41 am)bennyboy Wrote: I don't think the actual physical rape is that serious, strangely.  A torn anus or vagina, while painful, is often much less serious physically than broken limbs, poked-out eyes, and so on, but in our imaginations, rape has become probably the worst crime we can think of except maybe torture and murder.

It's our word view that makes it such a thing.  We've decided that unwanted sexual contact is such an unlivable terror that worries about it dominate some people's lives.  To me, this is worse than the rape itself-- that we've taught ourselves to hate life, or disgust ourselves perhaps even to suicide.  This is wayyyy out of proportion with the actual physical harm, and I really feel we've given rapists extra-strong live ammunition for causing us harm.

Said by someone who has obviously never been violated or spoken to anyone who has been raped about their ordeal.

It's not, and never is, the physical harm that makes rape so destructive. Rape can destroy lives far more than the physical injuries that you mention. And far more than with animals because animals are more likely to live in the present than us. And who says that rape only involves a torn anus or vagina?

And the premise of this entire thread is utterly stupid. Without rape most animal species would go extinct? No, it would mean that the fitness function changes and the animals that do not rape would be the only ones able to breed.

If animals would go extinct without rape then the best thing to do is let the raping carry on most likely.

If they won't and you can stop it then you might aswell stop it.

There's so many species of animals that have sex that I don't know if most of them rape.

Insect and spider sex can be pretty brutal for males and females.

The effect of rape is PTSD.
It would be different for everyone and cannot be discounted any less than a soldier who's seen action and been affected by it.
It may not be the worst thing that can happen to someone but for some it is the worst thing that could happen to them.
Murder is worse than rape, that's a fact.
But murderers are allowed to have their morals judged by who they killed.
You can kill for a good cause but not rape for a good cause.
Is this what Bennyboy was trying to say?
Funnily enough, we often hear people condoning the rape of a rapist for when they are sent to prison.
Anyway, if rape was just a human thing then evolution is to blame I guess.

(May 23, 2018 at 4:14 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I know some people like to pretend there are no differences between humans and other animals.

I know of no one who claims there are no differences between humans and other animals.  

Many folks claim there are similarities among and between humans and other animals, with some comparisons showing more similarities and some showing fewer.  Of course, this means there are differences among and between humans and other animals.  I suspect you would agree with these observations.