Of course, being vegan or vegetarian has always been touted as being the penultimate planet friendly activity with PETA being the poster child for the ‘right-wing leftist movement’. If that makes sense.
As a rule, I do not support anything PETA does, because of their sexist and misogynist use of women in their ads and publicity stunts. Using a female body to ‘sell’ something (product or philosophy) is never cool, regardless of the end-point (see this article on why being a feminist and PETA supporter doesn’t mesh).
I’d like to point out the latest stunt, just in case you’ve heard- the ‘BWVAKTBOOM’ or ‘boyfriend went vegan and knocked the bottom out of me’ ad. This video not only makes light of violence against women, it’s insulting use of such a serious and very real problem (violence against women) in order to promote veganism is worrisome on a social scale.
In Canada it is estimated that 1 of 3 girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 18 and First Nations women experience spousal violence that is three times higher than the non-First Nations Canadian average. Between 2000-2009 there were 738 spousal homicides with women more likely to be killed by separated spousal partners. Women report more serious forms of violence than men, three times more likely to report they had been sexually assaulted, beaten, choked or threatened with a gun or knife. Please note- this is *only* what was reported (stats canada 2009 report).
Young women are more likely to be victims of abuse than men and between April 1st 2009 and March 31st 2010 numbers of women admitted into Canadian shelters for abused women exceeded 64,000 (Canadian Status of Women).
Victims are also less likely to report the incident to the police than in the past. The recent report in 2009 indicates that numbers of violence have been stable since the last report in 2004… as in it’s not getting better. (stats canada 2009 report).
When we continue to support a culture that normalizes and justifies violence against women, the objectification of women’s bodies to sell a product or philosophy, we also are supporting countless men who sexually assault, abuse and kill their female partners.
