People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — aka PETA — has done it again. Yes, the self-righteous, protector of all living things, has managed to ruin a great idea by following what must be a successful strategy: objectifying women.
The last time the organization did something so foolish was when PETA ran advertisements during the Super Bowl showing scantily clad women engaging in sex acts and gyrating with vegetables. The group that was hopping mad about Michael Vick’s abuse of animals ran an ad campaign that objectified women in a very traditional, stereotypical way. I guess they decided to overlook the studies that link the sexualization of women to domestic abuse and sexual violence against women.
Instead of addressing the issue — cruelty to animals — head-on, PETA made a poor attempt at being subversive at best and tongue-in-cheek at worst, highlighting only one thing: the continued hypocrisy of the organization.
PETA is full of contradictions. It seems as if they want to put Michael Vick in a gas chamber, but have folks like Pamela Anderson as a spokesperson. Now how exactly can you advocate for a “natural” lifestyle, like being a vegetarian, when you’re completely unnatural (hair, breasts, nails, etc.)? Don’t abuse animals but abuse women by making them sexual objects in Super Bowl ads?
PETA has great goals, which is why I never quite understood why they insist on undermining them with ridiculous and mean-spirited ad campaigns. This is an organization that takes itself very seriously, but does not take the treatment of humans seriously at all.
In its recent “Save the Whales” TV ad, an outline of an obese woman in a bikini is positioned next to the words “Lose the blubber: Go vegetarian.” Likening women to whales and trying to convey an important message at the expense of fat people. Classy. I guess whoever designed that ad never read Judy Blume’s classic, Blubber. If he or she did, they would know the damage that this kind of language causes.
A so-called high-brow organization continues to take the low road in an effort to get people energized around their message, which is … what exactly? The group’s president, Ingrid Newkirk, thinks that all actions are justified if it will highlight the “cause” of PETA. Fat people suck. Women are bitches and whores. Men are Neanderthals who can only receive messages if some young, hot, sexy girl is giving it to them.
My maternal grandmother used to say that ugly people can’t afford to be mean. My mother raised me to not call people ugly because it is rude and unnecessary. I rarely call anyone ugly based on physical characteristics. My mother is probably reading this and will be disappointed in me, but I have to say that someone who is as strange-looking and bizarre-acting as Newkirk is in her interviews is not in a position to be “name-calling” anyone.
That is what irks me about PETA: It’s not necessarily the organization, but it is its “representative.” The way that it represents humans, particularly women, is unacceptable. To bully and shame people into being a vegetarian is unnecessary. There are so many benefits to being a vegetarian — why not name them instead of beating up on folks who are already being mistreated?
How can an organization consumed with animal rights be so blind to human rights and feelings. “Save the Whales”? I mean, really. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired and checked for a pulse immediately.
It doesn’t help PETA when Newkirk goes on Jane Velez-Mitchell’s show on HLN and sits smugly, trying to justify humiliating a group of people. Obesity is an epidemic in this country. I get it. Tough love is sometimes needed, but there is a fine line between tough love and abuse. A “Save the Whales” campaign making fun of fat people is a clear example of crossing the line.
What’s most disturbing is that Newkirk is an extremely accomplished woman who has done extraordinary things in her life. She started the first spay-neuter clinic in Washington, D.C. and has helped to enact animal cruelty laws throughout the world. For the life of me, I cannot understand why a woman who is so in tune with animal cruelty cannot see how PETA’s advertisements border on human cruelty?
I am an animal lover. I give to the ASPCA annually and am a sustaining member of the World Wildlife Federation. I can get with the cause but not with PETA.
Actress Nia Long wrapped naked around a subway pole is not helping the cause. Likening obese women to whales is not helping the cause. Women gyrating with vegetables for the pleasure of a male viewing audience is not helping the cause. Ingrid Newkirk’s grandstanding and patently hurtful advertising is not helping the cause.
Animals matter. I get it. When will PETA get that people matter, too?
Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. is managing editor of TheLoop21.com. She is an assistant professor of Communication and Media Studies at Goucher College and writes the blog Tune N (http://nsengaburton.wordpress.com), which examines popular culture through the lens of race, class, gender and sexuality.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2009.
