“I’m rubber and you’re glue, what you say to me bounces off and sticks to you!” - young people throughout the land of plenty
I’ve been vegan and an animal lib activist for more than eight years now. Surprisingly to many, PETA has only come on my radar recently. Sure, I read a few copies of their magazine in college, but they always seemed a little too mainstream for me so I tended to ignore them. But you can’t ignore a Mack truck barreling towards you.
In the summer of 2004, while attending the supposedly radical We Are Resisting conference in Lawrence, KS, I saw my first PETA ad. Chew on This: 30 Reasons to Go Vegetarian. It was the introduction to a workshop on animal rights. Within the first ten seconds I wanted to leave. I at least should have said something. But, instead, I sat floored in silence.
#3: Eating meat makes you FAT! The word fat took up the entire screen in its glaring sans-serif font. Well, nobody wants to be fat. You’re better off being anything but fat - bolemic, anorexic, dead. Anything, but fat.
I don’t think I need to reiterate that I’m vegan, an animal liberationist. I’m not one to defend eating meat, but I can’t stand for this ridiculous anti-fat campaign. First off, why is this number three? Easy. The dominant culture is OBSESSED with size. You don’t have to watch much TV or read too many magazines to figure out that skinny=healthy, beautiful, normal, ideal; while fat=unhealthy, ugly, funny, pathetic, lazy (we could go on, I’m sure). Thanks, PETA, for reminding us that fat people are supposed to feel ashamed and easily scared into the next fad diet. My question, what happens when the scare campaign succeeds, someone tries vegetarianism for awhile and realizes they aren’t loosing any weight. Well, they must be lazy, right. Its then that they turn there back on vegetarianism and the unwelcoming animal rights community.
Second, I know a lot of very skinny meat eaters. I also know fat vegans. And guess what, they’re all beautiful! Maybe the folks at PETA should read Sarah Kramer’s introduction to the cookbook, The Garden of Vegan. Sarah talks about the battle with her eating disorder. She was eating nothing until she eventually developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and weighed a mere eighty-three pounds. It was then that she looked in the mirror and realized she was killing herself. After realizing this, she noticed how many people were complimenting her on her size and saying they wished they had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so they could lose some weight. This is the disturbing reality of young girls everywhere.
It was while Sarah worked to overcome the eating disorder that she found veganism. She says it was then that her relationship with food made a dramatic change. I can relate. I have yet to meet a vegan that doesn’t love food. That’s pretty much all my vegan friends and I do when we get together - we cook and eat. And no, not all of it is healthy. As I write this I’m eating some chocolate chip cookies that I made. And, yes, they have a lot of sugar and they are very tasty.
Now, as you see her on the cover of her amazing cookbook, you can see how absolutely beautiful Sarah is… now that she is conventionally defined as fat. Sarah’s beauty isn’t about size. Its about seeing how happy she is with her body, her life, and her relationship with food. If PETA wants to target size in its campaign, why not talk about vegan food as the ultimate in comfort food? Why not target campaigns to the millions who suffer from eating disorders? Otherwise, we will see the reverse trend.
About seven years ago, an omnivorous co-worker said to me, “veganism is an eating disorder.” I believed the statement to be ridiculous and I still do. But it did open my eyes to a disturbing trend. Young girls throughout this country (and I’m sure the world) are turning to veganism as a way to lose weight. When that is your goal, the ends justify the means. The trend I’ve noticed is that veganism is used as an excuse not to eat. Here’s a quote I’ve heard from teenage vegans, “Oh, there’s nothing vegan here, I’ll eat when I get home.” Chances are there will be no intention of eating at home.
Veganism is not inherently an eating disorder, but it can be used as an excuse to hide and further an eating disorder. Does PETA feel comfortable knowing they will contribute to suicide? Because that’s what anorexia and bolemia are, and that’s what will result when you further the agenda of Skinny At Any Cost.
I’m thankful for having watched that video at the We Are Resisting conference. It honed my senses onto PETA and the mainstream animal rights movement. Since then, I’ve noticed the pattern that PETA continues with their campaigns of size and conventional beauty. From playmate’s serving vegan hotdogs wearing nothing but small swimsuits, to large-breasted, small-waisted women standing on street corners wearing nothing but whiskers on their face and a sign that reads “I’d rather go naked than wear fur”, to two very thin women (again with large breasts, because apparently every new vegan gets a free pair of new boobs… I’m still waiting for my pair to arrive in the mail) wrestling in a kiddy pool full of tofu. I’ve now watched dozens of PETA ads and short films, and I’ve never seen so much as one fat vegan… even as a commentator. Not even as the token comic relief. To PETA, fat people don’t exist. No, wait, yes they do. All meat eaters are fat… or one day will be, and that is why you should not eat meat.
I’ve heard dozens of “critical” voices discuss the sexism of PETAs campaigns (although I’ve never heard the exact discussion of size). And almost everytime it ends with something like this: “sex is what people respond to” or, my favorite, “you have to throw a big rock in the pond to make big ripples.” WHAT!?! I’m just going to assume that the big rock is patriarchy and the big ripples are change. I’m sorry, but nothing is really going to change if we don’t challenge patriarchy. Read Carrol Adams’ The Sexual Politics of Meat. Her work on absent referents made me change the way I look at everything from Patriarchy to White Supremacy to animal liberation. In fact, it made me realize even more how they are all connected.
If PETA wants to succeed in challenging the oppression of animals, they must pay close attention to the words of Dr. King (yes, I’m thinking of you today on your birthday), “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” You cannot liberate animals if you focus only on those with fur or feathers or scales. Liberation movements are not mutually exclusive. They are bound together in a common destiny. I encourage PETA to continue their “sexy vegetarians” campaign. But campaign in reality. Liberate your mind and recognize the beauty of all vegans and vegetarians. Don’t tokenize or objectify… liberate. When you do this, I’ll join you. And together we can create a better, healthier, more compassionate world.
To watch PETA’s Chew On This ad, go here.
To see some of PETA’s Sexy Vegetarians campaign footage, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.
[tags]fat pride, sizism, feminism, animal rights, animal liberation, PETA, anti-oppression[/tags]
