# In general, is it ok to let children watch animals mate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604 "2016-05-12T13:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/61 "2016-05-17T00:38:17Z")
> [@mr\_wolf](#): > > Uau. Not one dissenting opinion. This comes up in conversation in your world? Really…? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/62 "2016-05-17T00:57:52Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > In that vein: yesterday I let my five-year-old daughter watch me dress a rabbit … That kind of stuff so alien to my experience that my first thought was imagining that you were putting a skirt on the rabbit, and maybe a pretty hat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/63 "2016-05-17T01:05:48Z")
> [@mr\_wolf](#): > > Uau. Not one dissenting opinion. Did all non liberal folk fall from the edge of the earth or did they give up on the internet or… what? The liberal/conservative divide on sex, where there is one, is about when, where, how and with whom do _people_ get it on and what to teach the kids about _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/64 "2016-05-17T01:10:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s OK, unless it’s wolves. That’s a little too personal, you know? I’m sure you feel the same way. I was gonna say… big-time winner of the awkward Thread Title/OP combo award… ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/65 "2016-05-17T20:42:29Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That kind of stuff so alien to my experience that my first thought was imagining that you were putting a skirt on the rabbit, and maybe a pretty hat. 🙂 I initially read it as “I let my five-year-old daughter watch me dress _like_ a rabbit.” ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/66 "2016-05-17T20:49:33Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > I initially read it as “I let my five-year-old daughter watch me dress _like_ a rabbit.” “In general, is it ok to let children participate in the furry lifestyle?” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/67 "2016-05-17T20:54:45Z")
As long as they pay the cover charge. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/68 "2016-05-17T21:40:20Z")
Not so sure. Animals mating can often be very brutal like with cats (the male cat penis is barbed) and try to explain the butt to butt maneuver with dogs. In fact animal mating can often look more like wrestling or fighting so you have to explain thats just how they do it. Also in animals the female rarely gets any pleasure from the act. Also in animals their are no “families” so to speak. The males mate but then often have little to do with child rearing so if kids watch “The Lion King” and expect this supportive father figure they are will be quickly dissapointed. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/69 "2016-05-18T08:08:22Z")
> [@txst16](#): > > Sounds better than trying to explain the “birds and the bees”… Never quite understood that analogy myself. Yeah, bees especially seem an odd thing to pick;. “So sweetie, if you don’t eat enough royal jelly in your first few days, you’ll never really have to worry about any of this, though if the queen fails or dies there is a possibility that you could lay some unfertilised eggs that will hatch into males, unless your sisters find them and chew them up. As for you, Billy… Uh… Pay real close attention the first time you get close to a girl, make sure it’s worth it. Um… Sorry”. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/70 "2016-05-18T11:17:36Z")
Hi mate! Yes, I let kids watch animals. Cheers mate! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/71 "2016-05-18T16:17:57Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Not so sure. Animals mating can often be very brutal like with cats (the male cat penis is barbed)… LOL, I don’t think anyone is advocating watching from _that_ close! That would be a good way to get cat scratch fever… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/72 "2016-05-18T19:26:04Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > LOL, I don’t think anyone is advocating watching from _that_ close! That would be a good way to get cat scratch fever… You have to be pretty close, tomcats are not well hung. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mr\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@mr\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/73 "2016-05-19T22:36:25Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Or consider that you might be an outlier I was not referring to myself but rather this thread. This being the forum it is, I hoped to get to hear all perspectives. To the others, I said in the OP that this was about animals larger than a man and since someone else already mentioned them, yes it was originally about horses due to their particularly dramatic fashion. I don’t think people in general and city folk in particular are as insouciant about this as this thread seems to suggest. And I have a fairly contemporary cite to back this up: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/03/silicon-valley-horse-sex-scene-hbo-animal-rights-peta ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/74 "2016-05-20T01:50:55Z")
That’s PETA complaining. They complain about everything … you know? I saw that episode of Silicon Valley. Another premium channel show–Outlander on Starz–seems to have backed off from filming the same thing this season. Frankly, the Outlander fan base would have loved it. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/75 "2016-05-20T02:01:54Z")
> [@](#): > > In fact animal mating can often look more like wrestling or fighting so you have to explain thats just how they do it. Also in animals the female rarely gets any pleasure from the act. That’s not any different from people mating. If you didn’t know what they were doing, you might assume they were hurting each other or fighting. And it’s not true that female animals get no pleasure from the act (other than cats). Some weird study I read a while ago (so don’t ask me to go look it up or even recall the details) did some kind of brain wave measurements that found many female animals had orgasms during mating. Female horses are known to masturbate using various sex toys they find when they are in heat. And let’s not even get into what the bonobo chimps get up to. If both participants in mating didn’t enjoy it, they wouldn’t do it, and there would be no more of the species. Don’t ask me to explain the cat-barbed penis thing. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/76 "2016-05-20T04:57:23Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Not so sure. Animals mating can often be very brutal like with cats (the male cat penis is barbed) and try to explain the butt to butt maneuver with dogs. In fact animal mating can often look more like wrestling or fighting so you have to explain thats just how they do it. . . . People just love to see animals as long as it’s cute and cuddly and fit for Disney. But let some of the realities of animal existence intrude, and just watch those people go berserk over it and start acting just like Bernie Bros. Tangentially related article I saw just today: [People love watching nature on nest cams — until it gets grisly](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/05/19/when-nest-cams-get-gruesome-some-viewers-cant-take-it/) TL;DR: Birds nest cams are fabulously popular with “nature lovers” until un-pretty things happen (like MomBird neglecting ChickBird or even eating it, or one chick killing another chick). Then they start calling and e-mailing the cam operators, demanding they intervene to save the chicks, devolving into threats and hate mail when that doesn’t happen. Result: More bird cam operators are shutting their cams down. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@mr\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/77 "2016-05-20T08:44:32Z")
Thanks for the link and highly insightful stories. I couldn’t help thinking that it is no wonder that people in authority positions cannot help but be a bit deceitful in order to deal with the feeble minded. How do these attitudes transpose to human dealings and politics? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604.md?page=3)