As many of you know, I don’t believe we should exclude one cause to promote another. That’s why I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with the vegan/animal rights/animal welfare communities (I had to throw animal welfare in there because I’m going to be talking about PETA who is definitely not either a vegan or animal rights organization regardless of what they say). Not that the feminist movement does much or even really cares about animal rights as a rule. Most feminists are omnis who I’ve found don’t like to hear that veganism and animal rights is a feminist issue. However, since the feminist movement doesn’t directly counter the animal rights movement strictly to further their own cause, I won’t be saying anymore about that side of things.

The topic of animal rights (which has been watered down to become a term for anyone who doesn’t think you should kick a dog) and veganism has been in the news quite a bit recently. We have the PETA ads and stunts that have been going on for years, the Skinny Bitch books, and the new vegan strip club which spawned the recent NY Times article. And I feel as both a vegan and a feminist that it’s an issue that deserves to be examined.

PETA has been objectifying women since the 80’s to try to promote their message. The majority of PETA’s messages include promoting a certain type of body. All of their models tend to be thin, young and fit contemporary society’s definition of beautiful. They have ads blatantly telling women that body hair is unattractive and comparative to wearing animal skins. They have ads making fun of overweight people. Most of the models are white with pale skin. And when they do use women of color, she is usually portrayed as an exotic wild animal.

When confronted on the messages they are putting out about women and body image issues in general, PETA simply writes it off, saying that it’s “for the animals”. First, the fact that PETA does anything for the animals is a joke. Lately it seems anything PETA (as well as many other welfarist organizations) does is for their check books. No group who euthanizes animals instead of using their mass amounts of money to save them gets to use the fact that they’re helping animals as an excuse (not that it would be anyway).

This brings me to the book “Skinny Bitch”, which apparently actually is saving animals by turning people vegan. I’m not against the deception the authors used, marketing it as a weight loss book then hitting people with the animal rights message once they’ve bought the book. In fact, I attribute that tactic to all of the converts it’s had. I think it could have just as effectively accomplished this without playing into people’s insecurities about their bodies.

First there is the tagline of the book, “Stop being a moron and start getting skinny”. This is playing directly into the stereotype that all overweight people are stupid, ignorant and lazy. The hand drawn, “perfect” woman on the cover with a body no real woman could achieve. And the fact that they repeatedly call the reader a “fat cow”, a statement both fattist and speciesist.

Then there’s the cookbook which mainly uses unhealthy and fattening omni-subs rather than fresh fruits and veggies. So they tell people that they need to be skinny instead of fat, stupid and gross like they are now. Push people’s low self esteem and insecurities into an even lower place than before they picked up the book. Then give them a diet to follow that doesn’t work and sit by as they believe that they have failed in some way.

I’m also going to throw a little side note in here that isn’t a topic that’s been in the news. Instead, it’s just an example of the prejudices many vegans have about overweight people. I was reading a zine a while back, actually one of the best zines I’ve read, by a vegan who was voluntarily homeless. He made a comment at one point about the number of body image and fat acceptance zines he had seen and said that he’s sick of these people whining, they should just go vegan and they wouldn’t have a problem. I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit. Veganism is a lifestyle (that’s right, not just a diet but a lifestyle) of compassion, not a guaranteed way to lose weight. There are just as many vegan junk foods as there are omni ones. Hell, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils are completely vegan. Yes, veganism is generally a healthier way to go, but it’s not a guaranteed way to be healthy and/or thin (the two don’t necessarily go together).

And finally, the vegan strip club that just opened in Portland. Why have meat on the menu when you’re treating your employees like it? I just want to scream “how can you be against the objectification and commodification of animals and directly participate in the objectification and commodification of women?!?!”. A direct quote from Johnny Diablo, the club’s owner is “We put the meat on the pole, not on the plate.”. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s treating women like pieces of meat. Like PETA he claims his only concern is for the animals (though I’m going with the check book again here) and even calls those who oppose his venture feminazis. I guess for some, compassion can only reach so far.

I think as a group of people who are supposed to be compassionate toward animals, we should remember that humans are animals too and we should be just as concerned with the rights of human animals as we are with non-human animals.

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