Whitney

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a well-known animal rights organization that promotes vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. If you watch the news, browse the internet, or socialize with people at all, you have more than likely heard of the organization and much of PETA’s many controversies, particularly with their ads.

I’ve been a vegetarian, mostly leaning to the vegan side of the plate, for over seven years. As a feminist and an animal rights advocate, I have to be honest and say I greatly dislike the organization and its tactics. Lately, their ads have been pissing me off and stirring up a lot of attention, mostly negative. Just last month on February 6, PETA launched an ad that hinted at domestic violence and abuse against women. According to PETA, the ad is supposed to highlight the positives of having your boyfriend go vegan–that he will have a higher sex drive and couples can have amazing sex. The 30-second video, which features a woman walking pantless down a street in pain with a neck brace, is taken by many to be a joke, but for many feminists and others, this ad is not a joke and celebrates—even encourages—abuse against women. After all, like the woman in the ad, who smiles at the end of the video and throws a bag of vegetables to her boyfriend, she loves the pain and abuse because women love being abused and hurt by their boyfriends. Obviously.