According to “The Nature and Dynamics of Internet Pornography Exposure for Youth” only about 3 percent of male and 17 percent of female college students have never seen Internet pornography.
Companies and organizations have used sex appeal to sell their products and get the attention of people between the ages of 18-25. For years, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have had celebrities pose provocatively in their “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” and “Save the Seals” campaigns. PETA has used these campaigns to advertise to the public about the abuse and mistreatment of animals occurring all over the world. From their public boycotts to their infamous advertisements, PETA will do almost anything to grab the attention of an audience, even pornography.
PETA is planning on releasing a website, peta.xxx, featuring pornographic videos along with animal rights messages. Although PETA hasn’t been explicit on how they’ll market their pornography while promoting the ethical treatment of animals, they have said the site will include graphic videos and photographs. It will be interesting to see how they mesh the two.
Who would have guessed that anyone would use porn and PETA in the same sentence? According to PETA, they hope to obtain a larger audience with the new expansion into the porn industry. But don’t you think they’re taking the motto, “sex sells” too far? It’s safe to say that most of the people watching peta.xxx pornography are probably there for the porn rather than their concern for the rights of animals. In an attempt to gain more supporters, PETA is feeding into our over-sexualized society. It is bad enough having semi-pornographic reality television shows like “Jersey Shore,” but this leaves us asking, “Et tu, PETA?”
PETA’s intentions are good. They aim to spread their message on animal rights and bring attention to our effect on animals in what we consume and purchase. However, we do not need to see a woman flashing her nude body in order to learn about how seals are being slaughtered for their skin. The website is going to be as raunchy as the people watching it. Peta.xxx is probably going to attract a lot of perverted animal lovers, but deter anti-pornographic and religious groups. As a result, PETA will alienate itself by sending confusing messages to their followers and the general public. If they decide to follow through with this porn website then they are telling us it’s not okay to mistreat animals but it’s perfectly fine to degrade human beings and use them to gain attention. Abusing animals for their fur to make a chinchilla coat for a fashion statement is a horrible thing, but selling sex to publicize your cause isn’t saintly either.
Nowadays, sex and advertising go hand in hand or, in PETA’s case, paw to paw. But, porn is degrading to both men and women and using this outlet as a promotion is pathetic. If PETA feels like they have to advertise through a porn website to appeal to us, what does that say about our generation? They are trying to save animals at the expense of humans. They need to decide between being an animal lover or sex peddler, they can’t be both.
— Jacquelyn Abad is a sophomore studying journalism and Spanish. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
