yet another radical ecofeminist vegan against peta
I know many wonderful people – including my mother – who adore PETA generally and Ingrid Newkirk specifically.
Sorry Mom (in truth, my mom is working with Ingrid Newkirk on a play about her life – and has been since way before I Am An Animal came out.), but I think it’s gotten to the point where all caring vegetarians really need to publicly declare our non-alliance with PETA’s tactics while supporting, of course, their goals.
Might I suggest that all animal rightsey people preface anything about a/r with a disclaimer about PETA like: “Hmm, yes, thanks for pointing out to me that if everyone became a vegetarian the world would be overrun with cows. Very interesting. I’d like to point out, however – and let me first say that while I do believe that animals exist for themselves and not merely for our torturing pleasure and so yes, I do believe in animal rights, I do not agree with the tactics (though I do agree with the beliefs) of mainstream animal rights organizations like PETA, just to be clear…”
(If you talk as fast as I do, this shouldn’t be too hard to worm into conversations.)
It’s worth it, because the anti-PETA-tactics point really needs to be made.
Maybe their terrible tactics create vegetarians, but at what cost?
I know I’ve written about this on lagusta.com (click that link to be subjected to my horrific 2001 writing style! And please note that I wrote this post without rereading that essay, and am proud that I am so on-message that seven years later I make the exact same points. How depressing, though, that things have only gotten worse.), but PETA’s recent partnership with Suicide Girls means that I need to bring it up again – the means are the ends.
The grisly details:
Feministing talks about PETA + Suicide Girls – with some really insightful, thoughtful comments.
The infamous “Fur Trim – Unattractive” ad.
I’d rather go naked than wear fur – just a sample of PETA’s patented combo one-two punch of woman-hatred for the sake of animal rights.
More from Feministing on PETA.
Update: kind reader Dustin sent along these fascinating articles:
Excellent analysis of PETA’s tactics by Lee Hall from Friends of Animals
Another great Lee Hall piece – a review of I Am An Animal that expresses my feelings for Newkirk exactly! A must read! Thanks, Dustin.
I just don’t want to live in a world in which misogyny is used to sell animal rights.
12 Responses to “yet another radical ecofeminist vegan against peta”
milkgonewild? ugh ugh ugh.
i understand that without peta, i probably would not have been introduced to a/r or vegetarianism at the age i was (highschool’ish).. but i really think, at this point in time, that they’ve been surpassed in terms of their usefulness by groups like HSUS that are not a complete joke. The whole idea that “any media attention at any cost” is positive seems silly.
[audio src="http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/vinylcafe_20080301_4426.mp3" /]
if you love cats and stories you will love this.
PETA is also pretty terrible on race, too. I really hate when people argue that PETA being so out there & media-grabby means that at least people talk about the issues they raise! B/c, augh, if they alienate half the people who hear about what PETA does, does that help animals?
(Also, I hate PETA’s stance on shelter animals & also on pit bulls.)
Vegans of color (and vegans with no color), PETA is not against pit bulls!
http://www.peta.org/about/hottopic007.asp
Though I personally like HSUS’s position better:
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/dogfighting_fact_sheet/
I’m not in favor of breeding bans, FYI.
Also, can you give some examples of PETA’s unfriendliness to peeps of color? I’d be interested.
What do you think about comparing animals in factory farms to human slavery? Have you read The Dreaded Comparison? Pretty interesting stuff – the cruelty the human heart is capable of…
http://www.amazon.com/Dreaded-Comparison-Human-Animal-Slavery/dp/0962449334
They support breed-specific legislation, which is ridiculous. Also I’ve seen lots of stupid quotes from PETA people (including but not limited, I suspect, to Ingrid Newkirk) about pit bulls that are just awful, much less diplomatic than that link — I can’t remember the exact quotes, but I recently read a couple of books by Ken Foster about dogs, & he talks about PETA & pit bulls in them (& also on his blog — he also links to this post).
The slavery/Holocaust comparisons are part of what I’m talking about, w/PETA alienating POCs. There’s some discussion about that here & here.
[…] Bourdain says, but there are some total assholes out there that are ruining it for the rest of us and definitely chasing potential allies away. I’ll leave you all with this beautiful […]
[…] Even though I have visions of this incredibly sappy post ending up on some anti-peta blog (hey – I’m anti-peta too though!) and being mocked by hunters or something, I’ve decided to think of the tiny, tiny piece of […]
I am a vegan but I do not like PETA because I feel they go to illegal extremes. I finally decided I wanted nothing to do with them any more the day I was on their site watching videos and found one of a woman stripping and let’s just say, she took off more than I thought she would. This is a site that many children look at. Although I am very much for animal rights, I am also very anti-porn. I was also bothered by all of the nude protesting and other sexual things they did to get attention. I would not want to go out in public with children for us to find all of these naked people out in public. I believe it is better to use your brains than your tits and that it is wrong to use sex to get what you want. Sex might sell, but so does casein. I also have a problem with their violence, terrorism and vandalism. Of course we vegans wouuld love to do some of those things but let’s be real, it is giving us all a bad name. Being psycho about it will only push people away. How many times have you heard someone say, “I went vegetarian three years ago when I heard PETA terrorized these people and got into the news. I checked it out and I decided to go vegetarian.” ? I have never heard of it. I do not disagree with everything they do. I agree that people act like certain things were wrong when done to humans but okay to do to animals. As an example, I thought it was hypocritical to be against slaves being whipped then taking their kids to the circus to see animals who live in cages being whipped and living in a life of servitude.
[…] — lagusta @ 3:42 am Oh radical radical radical awesome radical! A whole blog devoted to my most favoritest subject: vegan PETA bashing! First Twisty is getting all Carol Adams’d out lately and now this! Good […]
[…] As you know, I CANNOT STAND Ingrid Newkirk. This made for many conversations in which I am the most polite and fake person you have ever met–the consummate business owner who is 100% business—kind in a closed-off sort of a way, answering her many many extremely idiotic questions in a cheery, vapid, detached monotone. […]
I am all for equal right and treatment for all animals but PETA is way over the line, especially Ingrid Newkirk. She is one of the most ignorant, moronic people that plagues the face of this earth. Look at the fact that she is trying to eliminate pit bulls as a household pet because they “are so aggressive”. That is a bunch of B.S! I grew up since the day I was born with Pit Bulls and never once was there a problem. The AKC ran a test covering 122 breeds of dogs, and Pit Bulls weren’t first, but do you see her trying to get rid of other breeds…I didn’t think so! That is because everything that comes out of that woman’s mouth is just pathetically stupid!!!
[…] you might have noticed, the a/r movement drives me fucking INSANE. Between PETA idiots and Skinny Bitches, it’s pretty much a bunch of one-dimensional campaigns aimed at idiots, […]