Disturbing images: Peta and the feminist ethics of animal advocacy
Ethics and the Environment 13 (2):pp. 35-76 (2008)
| Abstract | The author applies a feminist analysis to animal advocacy initiatives in which gendered and racialized representations of female sexuality are paramount. Feminists have criticized animal advocates for opposing the oppression of nonhuman animals through media images that perpetuate female objectification. These critiques are considered through a close examination of two prominent campaigns by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The author argues that some representations of female sexuality may align with a posthumanist feminist ethic and need not be read as sexist. Examining PETA’s famous anti-fur ads and the more recent Milk Gone Wild campaign, the author identifies where PETA’s campaigns are objectionable under a feminist ethic and where they are subversive of an anthropocentric and male-dominated order alike. The article thus recuperates part of PETA’s work from feminist critiques, but also reveals the constructions posthumanist advocacy should exclude to avoid elevating the status of nonhuman animals at the expense of women. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesBernard E. Rollin (1989). Ethical Obligations of Veterinarians and Animal Scientists in Animal Agriculture. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2 (3):225-234.
Brett Lunceford (2010). Peta and the Rhetoric of Nude Protest. In Greg Goodale & Jason Edward Black (eds.), Arguments About Animal Ethics. Lexington Books.
Kathy Rudy (2011). Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy. Univ of Minnesota Press.
Cathryn Bailey (2007). We Are What We Eat: Feminist Vegetarianism and the Reproduction of Racial Identity. Hypatia 22 (2):39-59.
Joanne Sneddon & Bernard Rollin (forthcoming). Mulesing and Animal Ethics. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.
Peta Bowden (2000). An 'Ethic of Care' in Clinical Settings: Encompassing 'Feminine' and 'Feminist' Perspectives. Nursing Philosophy 1 (1):36-49.
Maurice Hamington (2008). Learning Ethics From Our Relationships with Animals. International Journal of Applied Philosophy 22 (2):177-188.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads67 ( #13,600 of 556,898 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,931 of 556,898 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
