HuffPo wants you to vote on the "Sexiest PETA Ads"
You know, it's bad enough that PETA puts out the sexist crap that it does - but does HuffPo really need to support it?
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What I hate is that this shit is DESIGNED to drive traffic to them. When we link, they win. If we don't link, we are letting them off the hook, signaling that this is more or less what we expect of them. (Which, sadly, it increasingly is.)
You could discuss it without linking to it.
Bitch recently posted about PETA's newest nonsense on its On the Map blog. Apparently Obama "executed" a fly and baring one's boobies causes people to rethink bullfighting. Hmmmm...
Meh, this kind of crap is pretty much why I don't read Kos. HuffPo isn't much better.
I got all excited because I thought the poll was for "SEXIST" PETA ads, and then I clicked on the link - d'oh!!!!
I don't know why I expected it, it was the HuffPo anyway.
In my mind, PETA = sexist.
When I first glanced at the title my brain interpreted "Vote for PETA's sexistest ad." I thought, "Gee, looks like they're getting the idea!" Then I read it. :(
I'm confused: Are you objecting to PETA's tactic of using naked D-list celebrities, or is it the fact that PETA (a group I find repulsive) is doing it?
I would be happy never hearing from PETA again.
...at least the HuffPost had a smattering of objectified men as well as women. It bugs the hell out of me when "the sexiest" anything online is often a grouping of women; it ignores the fact that people can be attracted to men too, and it furthers the idea that women are there for others to enjoy.
I really want to like PETA. I've been a vegetarian my whole life and they're one of the few organizations that support vegetarianism and veganism, as well as a resource for those of us who only use products without animal testing. That information can be hard to find elsewhere. Like I said, I WANT to like them. But holy shit they make it difficult.
There are many, MANY organizations besides PETA that support Vegeterianism/Veganism. For example, check Compassion Over Killing - http://www.cok.net/ :)
I agree - there are many organizations that support vegan/vegetarianism, and many of them are far better resources than PETA.
What's really sad is that they aren't in the public eye the way PETA is.
I totally feel your pain! I'm a vegetarian too and I always think about what an awful way to make animal compassion mainstream. PETA is popular and makes a bad name for us.
Both! PETA's tactics are not only embarrassing and ineffective in terms of progressive activism, the group itself is highly hypocritical. (For example, they themselves do not operate no-kill animal shelters, but continually protest shelters who resort to euthanasia as a solution to overcrowding.)
Not to mention that their ads employ mainly nudity - especially female nudity - to draw attention to their cause.
Also, The Huffington Post stands to receive criticism for essentially endorsing PETA and their promotional tactics by encouraging readers to vote for the hottest ad.
As a vegetarian, I am absolutely an advocate of the ethical treatment of animals, but PETA consistently undermines this cause.
Huffington Post is home to a lot of cranks -not just PETA. They also run articles from the Church of Scientology telling parents that vaccinations will make their kids retarded.
As far as PETA is concerned, their use of T&A (or naked men for that matter) to promote their cause doesn't bother me -it's their belief that animals should have more rights than people that bothers me. Come to think of it, if I thought campaigns like this were useful for something other than a cheap laugh or occasional boner, I'd be all for them for my favorite causes.
Oops ... that above comment was meant as a reply to Newbomb Turk.
I don't view animals as unequal to humans - I still have trouble reconciling my feminism with organizations like PETA because of this.
Is objectification of myself and other women more important than millions of animals being skinned alive?
Like someone already said, there are plenty of other organizations that do far better work for animals (seriously, PeTA kills more animals than they save) and do not objectify women. Compassion Over Killing, Friends Of The Animals, Peaceful Prairie, Farm Sanctuary, and probably more XD Friends Of The Animals in particular even protests PeTA, when a Lettuce Lady was passing out free KFC vegetarian burgers they had a protester next to her with a sign that said "Lettuce Respect Women And Animals".
I completely agree on your assessment of Peta's objectifying women and the fact that there are other organizations that do a very good if not equal job to providing resources and activism.
However, I keep seeing the "Peta kills more animals than they save!" thing going on...I think it'd be good to remember that a lot of animal activists do NOT support no-kill shelters, believing that there are more animals than the resources (namely people) or ability to give them a decent quality of life.
Not trying to derail...just saying, it may not be your personal approach to bettering the lives of animals, but Peta makes no bones about their stance and provides a very good explanation of why they do this.
I agree - there are many organizations that support vegan/vegetarianism, and many of them are far better resources than PETA.
What's truly sad is that these organizations aren't in the public eye the way PETA is, so we need to give them all the support they can get :)
True there are others that do much better than peta. If only it were easier for people to be pro-human and pro animal.
Dear HuffPo:
You forgot David Cross, the only PETA ad I'd ever vote for.
Gah! I love Dita Von Teese's work! Sexist Peta, why do you do this to me?
How is Dita's other work different from her PETA work? Why do you have multiple standards for what is appropriate to support using cheesecake?
Well, she's actually naked in some of her other work...
I don't think it's multiple standards to think that slapping a naked woman purely to get attention for a irrelevant cause is different than admiring her dancing ability in burlesque. You may not be a fan, and that's fine. I personally think she's an amazing dancer and performer with a lot of talent.
The Huffpo's really going downhill. First all their goddamn medical quackery, and now this shit.
Did anyone hear anything about PETA releasing a statement after Obama swatted at a fly that was in his face?
Renee from WomanistMusings has an excellent post on PETA's use of racist tactics against POC to convey their own brand of oppression (http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/02/peta-and-racism.html).
Without downplaying PETA's blatant sexism, I think this is a multi-layered issue that goes beyond sexist imagery and Renee clearly hightlights this in her post.
I can't stand PETA.
I hate PETA, and I'm saying this as a vegetarian who is working on becoming a vegan. I think that PETA could possibly have a lot more supporters if they would just quit using sexist advertising tactics. I probably would support them if it weren't for this..
But would they have more supporters? The main reason they're so popular - in my eyes anyway - is because of their marketing tactics, which mainly includes sexist and objectifying ads. If they got rid of the ads, they would lose a lot of support because they wouldn't be "edgy" enough (or whatever they want to call it).
That could be true, I don't know. It may be because I hang out with a bunch of feminists, but I haven't run into many people that actually like their ads. Most people seem to be pretty offended.
Either way, it's pretty cheap to go against half of the human race just to encourage people to be pro-animal. Why not be pro-human and pro-animal at the same time?
I'm sorry but... I'm not really seeing what is so bad about these ads. Compared to ads for Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie, diamonds, TV shows, Carl's JR, weight loss pills, or whatever else, this is pretty much the mainstream. Is the fact that everyone in those ads is white offensive? I don't think so, of the 31 comments so far, no one has mentioned racism. Is everyone offended by the fact that there are porn stars in the line up? I don't think so, since it would be much more relevant to just post on porn then.
And I'm honestly asking this as a serious question and not a defense statement for peta, just... what is the big deal? I don't see it
Jenshine brought up racism, as documented by Renee at Womanist Musings.
Part of what's offensive is objectifying women to support anti-cruelty to animals. Hey, let's just step on one oppressed group to promote another! Women aren't the only group they've stepped on - their nice KKK imagery was the epitome of willful stupidity and offensiveness.
Secondly, it's sort of a straw argument pointing out other companies that also objectify women to sell their product - those are offensive too! At least Victoria's Secret is showing the product that they're selling, but why do you need naked women to sell cheeseburgers and diamonds? You don't, and it's offensive there, too. PETA is especially noteable because of the aforementioned attempt to lift up one oppressed group by stepping on another. Doesn't work.
Sorry, I overlooked Jenshine's comment. But to be fair, that's an entirely different article she mentioned.
I just don't think that this poll is particularly feminist newsworthy. If all those other things are offensive, why not put those on the front page too? I actually find it more offensive when women are using their bodies to sell products and blind consumerism versus activism for whatever cause. And I don't really think PETA is noticeable in that aspect of lifting up animal rights by stepping on women, since I don't recall a post where that's ever mentioned, except in reply to my comment.
lefthandedpenguin, you might want to take look at some of the other feministing posts about PETA and their sexism.
Your comment about being offended by women using their bodies to sell products is a bit ironic, don't you think? PETA is using women's bodies to further their political agendas and it is problematic. Not only that, PETA is appropriating very contentious political images loaded with sexist and racist connotations as a way of legitimising their agendas.
I'm not really sure if you're being willfully ignorant or if you haven't been around for long, but a) every post about PETA being sexist IS about them stepping on women, I don't know how you insist it isn't mentioned since that's the very crux of the complaint, and b) all the other things HAVE been on the front page. Lots.