Tidelag ⁠— ett uttryck för manlighet eller mäns ambivalens till djur?

Abstract

The article is based on a doctoral thesis by the historian Jonas Liliequist, Crime, Sin and Punishment: The Crime of Bestiality in 17th and 18th Century Sweden (Dept. of History, Univ. of Umeå, Sweden, 1992). The author's purpose is to reconstruct the various cultural and symbolic significations which the act of bestiality had for the society. Liliequist suggests that the act of bestiality has a strong connection with the division of labour between the sexes: tending the animals was a female task. Boys were permitted to have a close connection to animals, but as adults they were excluded from this female sphere. This created a fundamental ambivalence in the relationship between men and animals, which might explain the increasing number of crimes in 17th- and 18th-century Sweden.

However, according to the present author's opinion, bestiality should rather be analyzed in terms of gender theory. Committing bestiality is closely related to the construction of manhood in preindustrial society. The sexual aspect of manhood contained a strong element of aggressivity and instrumentality, that can explain why men performed sexual acts with animals. Mutual desire seems not always to have been a necessary component in sexual activity for men. This perception of manhood also includes an idea of the man as virile and unsenselessly sexually powerful. To commit bestiality can then be considered as a mean to confirm manhood and men's sexual identity.

The repudiation of bestiality can further be explained by the organisation of sexuality in society. Sexuality, marriage and reproduction were closely connected. Men as well as women were controlled and punished, if they violated the "sexual contract". This "contract" was strongly influenced by the church's view of sexuality. A man who commited the crime of bestiality offended the norm which stated that sexuality is not permitted outside marriage and that the aim of the sexual act is reproduction. Further he is also breaking the norm for what was considered as the only "natural" position in a sexual act. In general the rigorous condemnation of all sexual crimes at this time, including witchcraft, incest, infanticide, adultery and premarital conception has its roots in the importance attributed to marriage not only by elite culture but also in folk culture.