Acampora’s essay has definitely grasped my attention with the regards to zoos being pornographic. When I first learned of his comparison of zoos and pornography I was a bit shocked because I have never thought of zoos as obscene and offensive. Rather, I have viewed zoos as educational areas where people can see animals and converse with other people. I would have to agree with our class discussion that circuses are much more pornographic in the sense of forcing animals to be un-natural. Circuses force animals completely out of their habitat and natural state. By forcing animals to perform and do things that humans desire to see, they are taking the animal’s freedoms away. Although zoos take animal freedoms away to a certain extent, it is not nearly as bad as forcing an elephant to dance and do tricks that are out of its’ norm.
Zoos take away animal’s natural rights and animals are turned into something different than a natural wild animal. Ironically, people go to zoos to see wild animals because they wouldn’t normally be able to see them. Therefore, zoos create an image of what wild animals look like, much like the way pornography creates an image of women. Animals in zoos do not have a choice to stay or leave because they are caged in. Similarly, people are also forced to remain the pornography business due to poverty, drug addiction, or other factors. Therefore, I agree with Acampora’s claims that zoos are pornographic, but I still do not consider zoos to be as obscene as pornography.
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