Dear PETA, women are animals too...

Dear PETA,

What is it with the soft porny commercials and naked women? Are you truly so blinded by your desire to save furry critters with faces that you forget women are critters with faces too? Those women were even somewhat furry too, before you made them get all waxed and shaved so they could get nekkid for your tacky ad campaigns. (Apparently natural is good for sheep but not for girls.)

The women in your ads all too often appear to be the victims of some sort of strange fetishized sexualized violence. Naked, vulnerable, marked up like exotic animals, chained and caged. And yet, lovely. Thin, yet curvy. Beautiful, beaten and bound. Sometimes dead.

The gap between this and many a movie you can't see without mom and dad is skimpier than that piece of lettuce that you, PETA, think passes as clothes.

For a group that can work up a head of steam over a goldfish, you sure don't seem to get that women are people too. Seriously, the women of PETA (that sounds like a Playboy layout doesn't it?) are starved, shaved, waxed and laid out for someone's 'viewing pleasure' (surely not mine) like...what am I looking for...oh yeah, a piece of meat. Irony much?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is more of the same old PETA tripe. You have been exploiting naked women in what they say is an effort to stop the exploitation of animals for decades now. But someone sent me a link to this Alicia Silverstone video and asked me if I thought it would help animal rights.

Um, yeah, not so much.

First, the copy:

Sexy Hollywood star Alicia Silverstone bares all in PETA’s first-ever naked veggie testimonial PSA. Watch Alicia’s sexy video, directed by acclaimed director Dave Meyers, whose credits include videos for Britney Spears, OutKast, and Dave Mathews Band.

Very good! You got 'sexy' in both sentences! (and the headline, but who's counting?) Just in case the 'could be raped and left for dead' pseudo-glam shot of Alicia Silverstone that tops this page wasn't 'sexy enough' for your visitors to get. (I do so like the homage to the abused woman motif that that the fashion industry also loves so much. Abused animal=bad, abused woman=marketing. Sweet.)

I have to ask about this: "...PETA’s first-ever naked veggie testimonial PSA" though. If this is the first, what, then, are all of these:

Sophie Monk: naked

Kim Basinger: naked

Joanna Krupa: naked

Traci Bingham: naked and marked up like an old feminist poster - this makes my brain melt

Imoben Bailey: naked, not to mention shacked, lonely and beaten (your terms, not mine)

Doninique Swain (of Lolita 'fame') is naked in a schoolroom and you helpfully point out that she's your youngest naked celebrity. (not that you want to make people think of naked schoolgirls or anything but did you mention Lolita and that she the youngest...?)

Lamon Brewster: male, thus fully clothed (bonus message: hitting people is cool! "I usually let my fists do the talking for me...")

Dennis Rodman: naked

Steve-O: naked

In fairness, I did find those two naked men, and dozens more naked women, although neither of them are portrayed lying around looking all come hither. I see muscles and action and being an active agent in their own realities. Not so much with the languishing on the grass naked as if they are too weakened to get up and grab either clothes or food.

And let's not forget the udderly disgusting Milk Gone Wild or the Lettuce Ladies, another campaign I could leaf alone. (yes, I will pay the pun tax.) Note that the Broccoli Boys have their very own tank tops, although there is the one shirtless guy with the sausages around his neck. Not gonna go there.

PETA, even when you let women keep their clothes on, you still sorta treat them like animals. No wait, worse than animals. After all, according to you, animals are people too - but women apparently are not. So we are treated to joyous imagery such as:

• A woman in fur coat coughing up a hairball.
• A woman on all fours drinking water from the toilet in her upscale apartment.
• A fur-clad woman using the cat’s litterbox. (I can't bring myself to go find those links, too much of your site makes my brain hurt)
• A man clubs a woman to death and then rips her fur coat off her body. (because what, meat is murder but killing women for their clothes is just plain old fun?)

And then there are the live protests. Like this triptych of naked women in coffins pretending to be dead. Or the naked woman on a BBQ grill - I believe those are sear marks. WTF?

Too subtle? Think the audience might not be getting the point? Try this.

As far as I can see, dear PETA, you are just another business that learned that sex sells and images of sexualized violence sell even better. Because tits and ass for a 'cause' is such a huge improvement over tits and ass for profit. Yeah, whatever.

I remain in search of a sane animal rights organization.

No love.
~kitchenMage

Comments

[Vicki]

I wholeheartedly agree. Just wish I could say it so eloquently.

[Kevin Weeks]

Wonderful! I'm so there I met myself coming back. This will be featured on SG right now!

[Kevin Weeks]

Wonderful! I'm so there I met myself coming back. This will be featured on SG right now!

[Kalyn]

Really a great post, nice job!

[Heather Clisby]

I agree. Well put! Thanks for the revealing perspective on this.

I guess my only point to this is that the women (and men) who participated in PETA campaigns had the all-important choice. The animals do not. Big difference. Saying that PETA 'treats' these women like animals takes out the whole free will concept. I sure didn't see any guns to their heads ... maybe they were airbrushed out?

[etbmfa]

If you want a sane organization that works for the welfare of animals check out the National Animal Interest Alliance. www.naiaonline.org It not only doesn't use naked women for ads but it is co-founded and run by a woman.

[Ask a Manager]

Oh come on, PETA is just playing the game the way it's played in our culture. Look around at movies. fashion, advertisements, rock music -- PETA isn't doing anything different from those. They want to reach the culture at large, and they're doing it using the methods that work, for the same reason any advertiser does it. I say kudos to them for being realistic about that.

[BadKarma]

I hate to be the one to break this to you, Luv, but you will NEVER find a sane "animal rights" organization. They are all terrorists. If they can't bully, brutalize, intimidate, scare, and abuse us into hopping on the Veganist Jihad bandwagon, they'll try to forcibly legislate us into it instead. The frightening part is how successful they've been, and how much of the media treats them like they're in some way legitimate and/or well-meaning.

[threecollie]

Well-written and thoughtful post. Good job.

[Lynda]

Well said and I couldn't agree more. However you left out one important thing....all those women chose to participate in those despicable ads, which puts them in the same lower class right along with PETA in my book............I don't care who they are.

And for the record, I feel that way about anyone, famous or not, who participates in ANY ad/campaign/cause, that is basically nothing more than an insult to our intelligence; and attempts to limit our FREE WILL.

I'm fed up with "special interest" groups trying to force me to their way of life.

They can all KMA.

[HadleyJ]

Thank you for linking to all this valuable information on animal rights. I wasn't familiar with everything that PETA does and I just beame a member after seeing your post. I also found new naked ads for Steve-O, a man, yes a man. http://furisdead.com/feat_steve_o.asp

And I agree with etbmfa's comment above, thank you PETA for using advertising methods that work because you are bringing animals the attention that they deserve. Rock on!

[majake]

threecollie, you tell them, we wont let them take our FREE WILL like we take it from those animals we love to eat and wear. Stupid animals, can't even speak for themselves...

[kitchenmage]

Heather, yes they did choose to participate, but the issue goes far beyond the individual women pictured.

Ask a Manager, you say PETA is "just playing the game the way it's played in our culture". Um, sure but the way the food game is played is that people shut up and buy drive-thru factoryBurgers. So why is it that they will challenge one damaging dominant paradigm while perpetuating another?

Hadley, did you bother to read the article before commenting? Those aren't MORE pictures of Steve-O, those are the same ones I linked to in my article. Sheesh, you might try a little harder. What exactly do you think this approach is 'working' for, anyway? My guess is that you were a PETA member already and other than the 'any press is good press' attitude, the attention PETA gets isn't good for the cause. Because really, how many hormone wracked boyz can they ensnare with the same imagery that slasher flicks use?

This still leaves a basic question: Without getting all Feminist 101 on the PETA folks, why would an organization that is so concerned about the dignity of all living critters devalue women so much? Where is the dignity for the women? Free choice or not, being naked, beaten and on display is still demeaning. Especially when other people are making money on your exposure and you get...what exactly? (I look forward to the photos of Hadley and the manager's naked PETA protests...)

[sam]

Very thought-provoking. Thank you for writing it.

[SegoLily]

I think I'll take this moment to quote the band System of a Down who so eloquently stated:

"...It's a violent pornography,
Choking chicks and sodomy,
The kinda shit that's on your TV,
It's a violent pornography,
Choking chicks and sodomy,
The kinda shit that's on your TV,
It's on the TV, Turn off your TV,
Can you say brainwashing..."

Seriously, just typing it here does no justice - you have to hear the song! Go here - http://www.systemofadown.com/main.html to listen to it and just scroll down until you see the song "Violent Pornography" and click. Enjoy. Sorry for the sware word to anyone it offends. :)

[SegoLily]

OK, wait...you have to click on discography, and then you do the scoll down, find the song, and click thing. Glad I could clear that up. And again, Enjoy!

[Gina]

Women have every right to be proud of their beautiful bodies and every right to use those bodies to stand up for a cause they believe in. It is not degrading to these women to stand up nude and proclaim their disgust with fur or meat or any other issue they hold dear.

We do not live in the early 20th century. We should not be held to a prudish standard that women should hide all of their bodies but their necks and ankles. If you want to live in a conservative lifestyle where the PETA ads are disallowed, perhaps you should join the Mennonites or Amish or a strict sect of the Mormon church or Southern Baptists.

I cheer these women on for being proud of their bodies, strong and passionate about a cause, and unashamed to bare all.

[kitchenmage]

Sam, thanks. That's something, coming from you.

SegoLily, thanks for the link. I'll listen to it on my way to the Mennonite nunnery...or something.

Gina, um, nice try but explain where the proud, beautiful woman fits in with being naked, blood-smeared and bagged like a slab of that-to-which-peta-objects. How is that empowering? It's not about prudery, and those of you who act like this is some sort of Talibanization of your right to get naked are so missing the point. Deliberately.

If you want to be proud of your beautiful body and join a group of both women and men deciding to strip off for a fun demonstration (say the running of the nudes) where nobody is portrayed as the victim of a slasher movie style attack, go ahead, be silly. Enjoy your romp in the sun. I still think that all those naked young'ins are being a naively willing part of a sexist machine that will use your misguided passion for their profit and spit you out when you gain 5 pounds, but go ahead, be naive.

But don't pretend that you can't see any difference between that and a woman being beaten to death by a guy on the subway platform and having her coat stolen. You know women actually have that happen to them in real life, right? You remember real life, don't you? Where women are daily raped and killed - and the mainstream media promotes it. Is it asking too much for the 'animal rights' organizations to also promote the rights of the two-footed animals it uses in its ads?

Seriously, if you can't see anything gray between the sexualized violent that PETA promotes and joining the Amish, I suggest you get your vision checked.

[kitchenmage]

I just found a marvelous description of the way some of these ads and live actions make me feel:

"We are put in the role of the voyeur, made party to obscene play we are unable to comprehend.
...
Merely by viewing the image, we take part in a reprehensible drama.

source

[s'kat]

km, I live about 30 minutes away from PETA headquarters, over in Norfolk, VA. Those people are fucking CRAZY!!!!

[Andrea]

Very cogent point, well said. Thanks.

[Barbara Fisher]

Get on with your bad self!

I used to think the "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" ads were kind of cute--because the original ones were.

Just a naked model (albeit a totally starved to thinness naked model) lounging provocatively about. Cute.

Then, the chains came out and the snuff film look came about and I was like, "Uh, this is just all kinds of f-ed up."

But then, it is PETA. I have no respect for them as an organization anyway.

[Lindsey]

I think it is funny how some of you are trying to accuse PETA of being inhumane to women by posting their photos and being activists...would it be a more accurate and flattering portrail to show the growing population of obese woman sitting infront of a television set eating a double cheesburger! Or better yet how about a half naked underaged girl with a beer in her hand! Media is very choosy about what they will do in advertisements becuase they dont want to UPSET anyone so they tend to steer clear of the way things really are. Shame on PETA for being realistic. The way animals are killed for our selfish gain is very sad and unfortunate. If it makes you uncomfortable to see the truth then shut your eyes. Yes women do have rights, and these women have chosen to use their rights to make a point...and you are trying to ritcule them for doing that. I guess we could all be conformists who eat drink speak walk dress the same. We could all point the finger in disgust at anything that is different becuase it makes us uncomfortable, or we could allow people to make their own choices. I dont agree with throwing blood at people who eat meat but i also dont agree with throwing curse words at people who are trying to get a point across. I believe that animals do have rights, but PETA makes lots of people uncomfortable becuase they point that out. So, too bad..its a difference of opinion...get over it. No bodies taken away the massive amounts of food that you will intake at dinner tonight and no one is taking away your rights...so who are they hurting you bunch of babies!!! Leave them alone!

[vaness]

you're screwed up.
its called getting peoples attention and it works
maybe you shoul take a lesson or two on what the public actually wants...and i think a lady willingly getting waxed for the better of the cause (although there is a such thing as airbrushing)is much different from furry helpless animals being SKINNED
ya big diff there buddy.

[rad chick]

get over it if people wanna get naked and protest then let them. if nudity is what it takes then lets take our clothes off and save some animals!!!!