“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]
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Hi vegankid, I’m a fellow herbivore adn just found your blog through an Alas trackback. Great post! I hope you submit it to the Carnival of Fat. PETA’s fat phobia is one of the many reasons I don’t like them. (Although, my boobs DID grow when I went vegan, but it was probably just because I was 18 and still settling into an adult body.)
thanks, lake! indeed i have submitted it to the Big Fat Carnival. as far as the boobs growing when you went vegan, my guess is that it was more of a puberty thing. but there is something to say about the hormone disruptors found in meat and milk (hormones pumped into animals don’t just disappear when you eat them, am i right?). but current research links these hormones to inducing earlier puberty, not suppressing it. but the funny thing about endocrine disruptors is that scientists aren’t real sure how they effect the body. ahh, endocrine disruptors. its like a special surprise with every happy meal.
Lake - my boobs grew when i started eating more soy, which i guess is kind of scary. Especially since i’d already hit 20-odd by then so didn’t have a ‘natural’ excuse.
My feelings about PETA are too complicated to go into in a comment - although anyone who really really wants an indication can go right back to the beginning of my blog - but i’m glad Amp linked to this blog anyway because it looks like you’ve got an interesting one going here.
Found through Alas . . .
As a fat vegan, thank you for your post! I have posted to various veg lists about PETA’s fat hatred and eating disorder promotion, but I almost soley get responses of “fat=unhealthy/omnivore, vegan=healthy/skinny” and attacks on my person. I get so sad when I get these responses from other people so involved in a liberation movement, because it tells me they are missing the most important piece of all–that oppression is interconnected and feeds off of itself. I find it very depressing that such a vocal and public organization such as PETA can’t be more creative and less narrow-minded. To me, it points to the underlying internalized body-hatred so many of us live with. Still, I find something oddly freeing and rebellious about being a fat vegan. People don’t expect me to be vegan–it gets their attention! I’ve had many conversations knocking out the myth that you waste away into a pale waif by adopting a vegan diet. And I think it adds fuel to the idea that bodies come in all sizes, no matter the diet!
Again, thank you. It is comforting to know there ARE allies out there!
Nella - thanks for the kind words. I tried to find your post on PETA, but i got lost and couldn’t find a search option.
Olive - for such compassionate people in one aspect of their lives, I’ve often found many vegans to be very close-minded and lacking compassion when it comes to humyn oppressions. Don’t get me wrong, some of the most rad and conscious folks I know are vegans. But there certainly seems to be a disconnect for many people when it comes to recognizing their own privileges outside of the humyn/non-humyn dichotomy. But I suppose that’s true regardless of what you eat.
Indeed, bodies do come in all sizes, regardless of diet (which, in latin, means ‘way of life’). I agree that people need to get past this self-hating body image that the dominant culture teaches us and start to realize that we are all different shapes, sizes, and colors (this is where size and sex have some interesting intersections when you start talking about intersexuality). And we need to start unlearning the current ideas of beauty and start to learn and teach what beauty really is. To me, compassion is the most beautiful trait.
you people are freaking psychotic
MEAT IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
words of wisdom, Billy Bob. I never really looked at it that way. Now that i have, i reconsidered. In fact, i’m now pouring some barbeque sauce on my dog’s leg. mmmm.
Just a thought… slave owners probably thought that owning slaves was pretty good, too. I’ve met some guys that thought that beating their wives and girlfriends into submission was pretty good, as well. Just because a particular hierarchy or action places a large amount of privilege and comfort in the hands of a few doesn’t make it ethical.
I think it takes a certain psychosis to slaughter billions of living beings without even thinking about it.
Thanks for the flame! I just lost my virginity to you and it makes me feel all dirty and kinda special. Ahh, i’m in love.
Let me start by saing that I eat meat. Hate me for it or not. I tell ppl that I will stop eating meat when my cats do. However, I would like to go on by saying that I loved your post. AWESOMENESS!