Update, 10/16/08: Ann @ Feministing linked to this piece, but over at Smite Me!, where it was originally posted. In response, I clarified my position a bit, particularly the whole “sex sells” angle, which I believed she misinterpreted. Go check it out.

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Update, 9/27/08: Mary Martin @ Animal Person discusses Ben & Jerry’s obtuse response to the campaign, as well as The Today Show’s take on the kerfluffle. Hint: you may want to write them about their weak attempts at “journalism.” Because, like it or not, many Americans’ sole provider of mainstream media news may very well consist of inane newstainment programs such as The Today Show.

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Hey! Feminists! You want to know why PETA continues to engage in (possibly) sexist, racist, classist, sizeist and otherwise “offensive” and “controversial” campaigns?

I’ll give you a hint:

In the top screenshot, a Google search for the terms PETA + “breast milk,” which returned 51,900 hits.

In the bottom screenshot, a Google search for the terms PETA + Hormel + pigs, which returned 11,500 hits.

Sex sells. “Tell us something we don’t know,” goes the collective snort. As you wish.

You see, the newly launched PETA campaign to have Ben & Jerry’s replace cow’s milk with human breast milk has received oodles and oodles of attention from all corners feminist. (And even those not so.) Even though it’s really a publicity stunt. Even though it stands absolutely zero chance of ever being implemented. Even though it’s completely infeasible.

And that’s the fucking point, people.

PETA doesn’t seriously mean to have all American cow’s milk replaced with American breast milk. As of 2004 statistics, that would translate to “582 pounds of milk equivalents per person.” There’s absolutely no way that we could possibly produce that much milk from American human mams. No way.

And again, that’s the point.

Because, rather than being a serious proposal, this is a thought experiment, meant to demonstrate how ridiculous - how ridiculously cruel - the mass consumption of dairy really is. 582 pounds of milk, you see, demands quite a bit of suffering at the expense of the milk producers: the dairy cows who produce milk, and the veal calves they give birth to. Those nameless, faceless milk machines, yeah?

Mothers, daughters and sons.

They don’t really mean to suggest that American tits be hooked up to breast pumps 20 hours a day in order to whet our appetite for a highly unnatural, wholly unnecessary product.

They mean for you to imagine what a system might be like, and then extend that compassion and consideration and horror and outrage to those animals who currently are suffering for our convenience.

Why not educatione the public, the consumers, about the cruelty that goes on behind closed (factory farm) doors in order to bring y’all your Chunky Monkey? Why not air a few PSAs that feature undercover footage showing dairy cows, confined to concrete stalls, hooked up to all manner of machinery, in essence stealing milk meant for their babies, which are either destined to share their mothers’ fate (daughters) or - perhaps worse - spend their too-short lives confined to crates so tiny that their muscles are never allowed a chance to develop (sons)?

Yeah, PETA, why not just do that?

This is why.

People are more interested in reading, talking and hearing about tits than the abuse inherent in factory farms.

Last week, PETA released this shocking (well, shocking not to us veg*ns, but to you “see no evil, hear no evil” types) footage from a three-month undercover investigation of a Hormel “pork” supplier:

If you can’t bear to watch the footage - I couldn’t - here’s a summary of what they found:

* A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow’s vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow.

* Multiple pigs were beaten with metal gate rods, and lacerations were found on more than 30 sows - which is probably evidence of more abuse.

* A worker hit a young pig in the face four times with the edge of a herding board, and investigators witnessed dozens of similar incidents involving this worker and 11 other workers.

* Two men - including a supervisor - were witnessed jabbing clothespins into pigs’ eyes and faces. A supervisor also poked two animals in the eyes with his fingers.

* A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move and told PETA’s investigator, “You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry.”

* A worker who weighed an estimated 315 lbs. punched a sow on the back three times and said that he sat on a sow’s head.

And yet,

PETA + “breast milk” = 51,900 hits

PETA + Hormel + pigs = 11,500 hits

People love teh boobies. Undercover exposés of factory farming cruelty? Eh.

As much as I disagree with some of PETA’s tactics, I gotta give ‘em props - they do some solid undercover work. I could never do this shit, I know that much. No fucking way.

And yet all the supposed outrage over the Hormel investigation has dissipated at the thought of - ZOMG! BOOBIES!!!1!!!1!!!

PETA, for all their faults, uses a wide variety of strategies to bring about change: case workers on individual cruelty cases, letter writing campaigns, celebrity involvement, contests and giveaways, street team activism, college/campus engagement, organized protests.

Do I agree with everything they do? Hells no.

I think their biggest offense is using sizeist insults against their opponents (e.g., Al Gore and Michael Moore); they can also be classist, racist and occasionally sexist.

And, you know what? When PETA engages in sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, sizeism, ableism - or any other manner of isms - then yeah, they ought to be called out on their shit. Sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, sizeism, ableism - none is any more or any less acceptable than speciesism.

But I am So. Fucking. Sick. of speciesists criticizing PETA (and, usually by extension, all animal rights advocates) for an ism, real or perceived, and doing it from an obviously speciesist perspective.

Because, um, *leansinclosetowhisper* YOUR PRIVILEGE IS SHOWING!

Yeah, that’s right, your privilege.

Not your white privilege, or your male privilege, or your class privilege, or your heterosexual privilege, or your cisgendered privilege.

Your human privilege.

You know, that privilege which allows you to dismiss the very real claims of animal cruelty that PETA is highlighting and focus instead on their totally hypothetical (never gonna happen, people!) proposition of treating women’s tits like milk machines.

You know, how we currently treat cows’ teats.

And - psssst! - closer! - let me also say that:

Featuring women in a campaign isn’t necessarily sexist.

Featuring naked women in a campaign isn’t necessarily sexist.

There are natural parallels to be drawn between the use and abuse of animals’ bodies and the use and abuse of women’s bodies.

Again, from the Hormel video:

A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow’s vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow.

A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move and told PETA’s investigator, “You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry.”

We’re all “bitches” in a patriarchy; identifying similarities between different types of suffering isn’t sexist, it’s honest.

So, is this particular “breast milk” campaign sexist? I don’t think so. In fact, I think it’s a fair comparison. Animal agriculture exploits the reproductive systems of female non-human animals, in much the same way that the reproductive systems of female human animals have been and are exploited, throughout time and across cultures. This campaign simply wouldn’t work if it featured men or men and women. The logic wouldn’t compute.

Now, in regards to PETA’s print ads - such as their “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” series - yeah, I think you can make a compelling case for sexism there. Fur is a unisex or gender neutral form of exploitation, if you will. Male and female animals alike are anally electrocuted, skinned alive and made into fur coats. And yet, if you look at PETA’s print ads, including the fur series, most of the nekkid models are women. Young, conventionally attractive, young, white, skinny women. In my best guesstimate, based on a few years of collecting such ads, women appearing in PETA’s print ads stand a 50/50 chance of appearing in the nude vs. fully clothed. The men, in contrast, usually appear at least partially clothed; in the rare case that they are naked, it’s generally played up as a humorous pose. Nothing like the pornified centerfold wankworthy bullshit the women are subjected to.

Case in point: the Suicide Girls series. 45 photos; 45 naked, pornified women. Not one naked, pornified man.

And let me clarify what I mean by “pornified.” I don’t believe it’s inherently sexist to feature naked women in a campaign. But the poses PETA uses - they display the women, plain and simple. Like props. In a porno, natch: down on all four, backs arched, gazes vacant, submissive and ready for a good fuckin’. Pornified. Passive. Ready to be consumed.

That’s sexist, moreso than the simple female nudity.

As is the near-total lack of male nudity. And the complete absence of pornified male nudity. (Not that I think either sex should be pornified, just sayin’.)

And these are all legitimate points of criticism.

But so is the use of animals for meat, dairy, clothing, entertainment, research subjects, “pets” and game. These too are issues that should - must - be examined, debated, criticized.

So it’s extremely frustrating and deflating when all the non-veg*ns work themselves, with knee-jerk speed, into an offended, self-righteous tizzy every time PETA devises a new campaign that compares Human Group X to Animal Group Y. Because no one ever expresses outrage over the animal part of the equation; only the humans merit consideration. Regardless of whether the humans are even being marginalized, insulted or oppressed.

And PETA, as I tried to say over at Vegan Bits, shares a little of the blame, I think. Sometimes their message really is (insert your ism here). Other times they should just know better: know that the crux of their argument will be willfully ignored in favor of the salacious window dressing; know that speciesists will deliberately read their message as “ist”; know that the campaign won’t really get people discussing the issues that they should be talking about. Sometimes their campaigns are just distracting. Real-world veg*ns are stuck defending PETA instead of defending animals.

And yet…can I really blame them? After all, tits and ass gets air time; the sexual and physical abuse of pigs at the hands of slaughterhouse workers, not so much.

Ahem. I’ve ranted long enough. Blame it on years of trying to avoid the ongoing PETA kerfluffle.

Before parting, I would like to extend a hearty fuck you to all those who dishonestly evoke the specter of one oppression to draw attention away from another.

That goes for the PR peoples at PETA and omni feminists alike.

(Crossposted from.)

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare feminism sexism misogyny racism classism ableism sizeism peta people for the ethical treatment of animals breast milk dairy dairy cows cow’s milk hormel pork pigs cows meat factory farming undercover google video youtube