On hearing that Rodell Vereen, a South Carolinian man who had sex with a horse was sent to prison, lawyer, author and Atlantic correspondent Wendy Kaminer wonders if Vereen's sentence is, in fact, unjust. In a blog post, she asks,
Can someone explain to me why it is a criminal offense to have sex with animals but entirely legal to kill and eat them? Surely laws against bestiality don't reflect concern about the rights of animals, (who would probably opt for sex over death.) I don't mean to denigrate meat eating (I'm a carnivore;) I do mean to point out the absurdities of imprisoning people for "buggery."
What's the difference between eating beef and having sex with a horse?
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.