At the Bottom of the Mailbag:

We are writing to announce the formation of a new student advocacy group at Harvard. Our community has come to the realization that its interests cannot be adequately served by existing campus groups such as the PBH Animal Welfare Committee. We are Students at Harvard Erotically Engaged With Pets, or S.H.E.E.P. We reject the use of clinical terms such as "zoophilia" and describe ourselves as "theriosexual," a word which better describes the wild joy of our way of life.

Though the bestial community is extremely diverse, embracing individuals from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds, we share a common experience of oppression and misunderstanding. We have been marginalized by an anthroposexist society solely on the basis of whom we choose to love. Because we refuse to form relationships according to socially constructed categories such as "species," we represent a fundamental challenge to the institutions and assumptions of specialist, theriophobic Western culture.

You probably know some of us already. Research indicates that nearly one out of every ten males and more than one of every thirty females is theriosexual. Some of us form relationships solely across species lines; some of us enjoy both human and animal relationships. We are productive members of society, respected members of the community. And yet our lives are singled out for brutal repression by the laws of many states and by the prejudice of those who condemn our love for animals because they do not understand it.

Fear and oppression have kept us silent for too long. It is time for us to speak out. We love animals. We are out, and proud. President   S.H.E.E.P.