Carmen M. Cusack Animals, Deviance, and Sex

Annotation

Animals, Deviance, and Sex proposes that "deviance" is a fluid term that advances cultural, gender, human, and societal norms, but "deviant" labels that presume unequivocally to segregate superior human morality from animal sexuality may fail to see the forest for the trees. A plain reading of the word "deviance" may suggest scientific or quantitative classifications. Indeed, animal species may be grouped and analyzed according to generalized norms for each species. However, "deviance" may indicate moral relativism, which is fundamentally tied to historical and contemporary understandings of human sexuality and human-animal relationships. Animals, Deviance, and Sex argues that traditional and progressive classifications, analyses, and implications of human deviance could authentically be reworked in consideration of animals' anatomy, breeding, copulation, gender, mating, nonconsent, and sexuality. Morally and ethically gray areas voluntarily and knowingly traversed by human-animal sexual linkages have expanded and become increasingly normalized by popular culture. Animals, Deviance, and Sex's treatment of these trends is amusingly complex, yet unpretentious, truthfully proficient, and careful. Each chapter assiduously and succinctly tethers animal science, anecdotes, behavior and social science, current events, human-animal relationships, law, and theory throughout dozens of exotically-themed subchapters. Animals, Deviance, and Sex is a well-organized oeuvre demonstrating professional expertise and experience.