Sex, PETA & Porn

In my last blog post Sex Sells - but should it be used to sell an animal rights message? I talked about my preparations for a discussion I was to lead at Las Vegan Bakery. 


The discussion group has been and gone and as a result I have heard some interesting thoughts about the use of sexual images and animal rights.


In commencing the discussion I began my arguing that to answer the question 'should sex be used to sell an animal rights message' we first have to ask ourselves, 'should sex be used to sell any message'? If the answer is 'no' then there is no need for further discussion. If the answer is 'yes' then the next question we need to ask is: 'is there something particular about animal protection which means that sex is not an appropriate communication tool'? In other words, do the ends justify the means?


Views within the discussion group were mixed. Some people maintained that the sexualisation of women (and girls) for the purposes of selling goods, services and messages, is always wrong. It is always wrong because the images were receive are highly stylised and they harm women who do not find themselves living inside the perfect model-shaped body.


Others thought that the use of sex to sell an animal rights message may be morally permissible, but the permissibility is dependent on the message being effective. Does a promise of sex translate into behaviour change that can help protect animals from harm?


In discussing the impact of the use of sexual images the conversation quickly turned to PETA, the world's largest animal rights organisation, and the organisation most often associated with sex, nudity and more recently, pornography. 


The group watched the PETA ad from earlier this year in which a young woman appears to be seriously injured. The tag line is that her boyfriend went  vegan and as a result became so vigorous in bed that he seriously hurt her. You can watch the ad on YouTube by clicking here: Boyfriend Went Vegan

A question that hung over the discussion group was: would such an ad result in meaningful, long-term behaviour change?


Members of the group also talked about the difference between sex, sexualisation and porn. It was argued by some that PETA has moved away from sex, and towards porn, with the launch of its xxx website. However, in the three days between when I posted Sex Sells - but should it be used to sell an animal rights message? and the discussion group, the PETA porn site disappeared. The domain is now a much more tradition PETA website. It contains no explicit images, but rather a serious of animal right videos.


Another clever marketing ploy by PETA, or something else? I look forward to learning more.