Last Wednesday, two young females in Cincinnati stripped off their clothes for the camera. It wasn’t porn; it was a protest. Standing in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken and waving to the local news teams, the topless girls clutched a white banner bearing black letters stating: “The naked truth: KFC tortures chicks.” Strategically placed where a bold black censorship bar would be, the PETA banner reached down just far enough to cover up the girls’ private parts.
In a few short years, our country will be celebrating a century of female suffrage, and in this new century women have the right to vote, to choose not to have children and to perform the same jobs and careers as men. To that list, The Lantern believes, should be added the ability to be heard without taking off ones clothes.
Although PETA means well, this is the wrong way to send a message and to raise awareness in their fight against animal cruelty. Having selected the “sex sells” page out of the advertising book, this is not the first time PETA has exploited women, but it should be the last.
Other than protesting KFC, circuses, experimental labs, etc., PETA also sends nude girls to educate society about the alternative diet, veganism. These “ambassadors” are called the “lettuce ladies,” and walk around in large cities, including Columbus, wearing lettuce bikinis and passing out vegan diet information. What would be the difference if these women were wearing clothing? The Lantern doubts anyone is about to become a vegan because a beautiful woman wearing lettuce says so.
The Lantern believes these women are perpetuating the idea that good ideas have to be accompanied by beautiful bodies. The more women take off their clothes, the harder it becomes for them to be taken seriously, especially if they are fighting for an important societal issue. They more or less conform all females to this narrow-minded idea that women are objects.
At the end of the day, women are still only paid 80 cents to a man’s dollar, humiliating comments like “you throw like a girl” are still used to cut men down and women are still shown in rap videos, half-naked and fulfilling the artists’ requests to “shake it.”
Our fore sisters worked hard to show Americans that women are just as capable to compete with men. So why must women degrade themselves, parading around public streets in the middle of the day, capturing the male gaze at its best – objectifying the female body into a sex toy? This works to undo the hard work and disrespects the sacrifices previous advocates have dedicated to make the progress we have made.
PETA is known for its radical “advertising” when protesting animal cruelty, but exactly what are they advertising? The Lantern believes there are clearly more important issues for which women need to stand up. PETA needs to stop sending women to street corners half-naked. Get to the point, but do it with ethical treatment to women.
