Ridiculous study, but I'm a big fan of philosophy, so I'll throw my 2 cents in anyway
Without going into too much detail, I was very distant with my family from a young age. Apparently this is common for intelligent or gifted children born to lower working class families. The adults don't know how to relate to the child and lack cognitive functions to deal with them properly. The child is still a child, learning and growing, so he doesn't have the ability to handle the situation either. This often results in a lonely and unsatisfied childhood. Craving for social fulfillment results in deeper bonds formed with animals. Animals are primal, whereas humans operate from a conscious ego. Without the ego to interfere, understanding with each other is reached on subconscious and emotional levels.
This is where the hypothesis fails, at least for me. I am deeply bonded to animals, and have a deep love for them, but I don't have a sexual attraction. It is more that I see them as brothers and sisters. A connection in that I love them as fellow living beings; living a more pure and 'feeling' life, uncomplicated by navigating higher realms of conscious thought.
My pleasure comes from a
woman being with the animal. The sexual attraction for me comes from the human component. Sexuality and Spirituality are connected, and the modern historic take has been to suppress sexuality in an attempt to boost spirituality (Think Christian "Chastity is a virtue" "sex is for making babies"). In my home, sex was a bit of a taboo thing that should be repressed (not in a religious extremist way, but enough that it created some conflicts in my psyche due to my highly sexed nature, I think this is VERY common in North America). It's almost as if the pendulum swings from the repression and goes hard to the other extreme: an enjoyment of the purely physical.
This brings me to why I think most of us are here: The phallus is a symbol throughout all history and all cultures. Ancient vedic fertility rites involved sex between the queen and a horse. Few things in this world have the raw psychic power as the sight of a cock. Man or woman, Gay or straight, the sight alone is enough to interrupt thoughts and race your heart. It means
sex. Humans are a combination being; we are part animal, part spirit. By partaking in beastiality, we dive headfirst into our animal nature. There is no higher spiritual purpose, we are not
creating life; we are
enjoying the process of life itself.
It is an
Exaltation of Sex. Not just serving the purpose of procreation, Sex is an act of beauty and pleasure that deserves our gratitude and deep admiration. Undoubtedly, there can be other undercurrents involved (Humiliation, Sub/Dom, etc.) But at its most powerful, it is Worshipping the pure physical sensuality of this earthly realm; our most animalistic act of pleasure:
sex.
Tl;Dr. Nah the study is stupid. I think majority of zoo's are people that really enjoy sex and appreciate it for what it is, with an open mind.
Ironically though, the study is kind of right in the sense of why I joined this forum: it does stem from a sense of being alone. Earlier I mentioned "understanding", and that's really the key. The only way to break isolation is to find people that are capable of understanding you. It's not possible to admit or talk about this stuff in real life, but everyone here can understand me, I'm sure
