Vegefemitarianist.

Shit like this:


and this:


and this:


makes me seriously consider giving up vegetarianism.

I became a vegetarian for a host of reasons, one of them being animal rights.

Let me be clear - I don't think it is wrong to eat animals. Showing me pictures of cute calves isn't going to deter me from eating beef. I know meat is delicious. I remember. When I smell grilled chicken, I get just as hungry as the next person. [And yes, Marcus, Heaven probably does smell just like Fat Mac's.]

Hell, my family is mainly comprised of hunters. Season to season, my mother is usually the kill leader in our household. [We're all very proud.] My family's living room - heads on the wall, skins on the hearth and coffee table. The garage deep freeze regularly holds more venison than my family could consume in six months. I fully support this. [Venison is a good choice, by the way. It's a very, very lean meat.]

I am a huge proponent of knowing where your food comes from, and the processes it underwent to get to you [the thing I hate most about the 'Ho - it's all mystery food]. The fewer times it changes hands, the better. That's why my mom and pop grow their own veggies and shop at the farmer's market, and it's why they hunt.

I found, through trying to determine the source of my food, that I don't like the manner in which most meat is processed in the United States. It's cruel. It's dirty. The animals are given a great deal of drugs to keep them alive within the system, and these drugs are consumed when you eat said meat - which ravages your immune system. It's all around gross.

So I don't eat meat.

I did "go veg," [and I didn't need PETA to do it], I don't wear fur, I am more than likely striking dairy from my diet in the near future. And I wish there was an organization available to support me.

PETA, you say? "PETA loves animals! They are here for you!"

I can't work with crazy. [Throwing paint on people in furs? You call it protest. I call it assault. Tomayto, tomahto?]

PETA hates women. [Suck it, Ingrid Newkirk. There's no way you're an "adamant feminist."]

Ok. That may be pushing it a bit, but they do have a reputation for going much, much further than simply objectifying women, which, let's face it, we are more than used to seeing in advertising - not that inundation justifies continued presence.

I shouldn't feel obligated to choose either feminist or vegetarian values. And I don't, on a normal day. But then I see things like this, and I'm torn for a millisecond. I know the facts. I understand the goal. It's a [clinically-deranged third] cousin to my goal - I'm about informing interested persons and letting them decide for themselves, not militant conversion. But my feminism has me screaming, "FUCK YOU PETA!"

"So," you say, "Don't support PETA."

I don't. I don't give their website to anyone with questions. I don't recommend their "vegetarian starter packs." I don't own "Nugget" memorabilia.

But that doesn't do anything to deter their misogynistic campaigns. I could make posters of animals subjected to the same objectifications that women are regularly, or depicted in rape and domestic abuse situations to protest their advertisements, but that's not going to solve anything either - mostly because I don't think people would take a big-breasted chicken in a bikini, superimposed over a Maxim cover seriously.

PETA, isn't there some way that we can marry your goal of informing the public of the ills of the meat, dairy, and fur industries, with advertising and programs that don't abuse women?

You're losing valuable support from vast numbers of vegetarians who can't stomach your campaigns. And I don't know if you've noticed, but the meat-eating public doesn't give a rat's ass about what you have to say, either.

Think about it, get back to me.