Get Naked for PETA
Do Nude Protests Really Work?
By Daniel Muniz

For years the militant animal rights activist organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, has strenuously attempted to change the opinions and viewpoints of American culture about eating meat and using animal products such as milk and leather. Although they have been successful in persuading a tiny segment of the population to forgo eating and using animal products, most of the country remains unconvinced and meat still is a very popular staple of our diets while leather is in high demand.

Consequently, PETA adopted more repulsive and repugnant tactics in an attempt to reshape our nation’s psyche.

Incidentally, the more combative and confrontational they have gotten, the more turned off people get. Incensed by the indifference of the populace, PETA then tries to become more outrageous and offensive in an effort to make up the lost ground that they ceded due to their militancy. Ironically, the opposite occurs in which people are not only unmoved and unimpressed, but they are disgusted and alienated by their outreach.

As a result, PETA turned to a tried and true method of garnering the public’s attention. They got women to take their clothes off in public and prance around naked while denouncing the evils of exploiting animals.

Sex sells and beautiful nude women do capture the public’s attention or at least that of healthy heterosexual men.

Popular culture went absolutely nuts when pop tart Britney Spears flashed her bare privates to the cameras of the paparazzi. Millions of people wanted to see pictures of her in a short skirt without any panties on. And Britney’s panty-less escapade didn’t disappoint the voyeuristic public.

Our sex saturated media knows full well that glamour and nudity is a powerful marketing tool. But can naked women persuade hundreds of millions of Americans to drastically alter their eating habits and swear off meat for good?

So far the answer has been a resounding no but that hasn’t daunted PETA one bit. They continue to strut out women who are willing to take their clothes off in public in hopes that a bare backside and front will accomplish their mission.

In all fairness I must confess that a beautiful naked woman standing right in front of me on a street corner will probably get my attention and I personally feel that that is also the case for millions of other men. However, I and millions of others will tend to view such an exhibition as entertainment instead of for educational purposes. I and many others probably don’t mind being educated in that fashion but it won’t do much in getting me to change my opinions and viewpoints because such ideological positions take more than topless cleavage and a bare backside to reshape it.

And that has been the outcome for years. These naked protests have generated enormous publicity and have flashed across newswires but they haven’t been able to accomplish much of anything else.

Accordingly, serious vegetarians are bitterly divided over this tactic.

The more puritanical and intellectual individuals are revolted because they feel that they adopted vegetarianism out of thought and reason and that such strong arm tactics such as naked women are degrading and cheap. They want people to freely choose their lifestyle by making an informed decision instead of being snookered into it.

Other animal rights activists reluctantly agree to naked protests as a last resort since other methods haven’t worked.

And finally, there are the militants who feel that any and every tactic is fair game, therefore they will use any means necessary to achieve their goals.

However, there is one unintended consequence.

Using hideously unattractive women in a naked protest does not help PETA’s cause. In fact, it often ends up accomplishing the exact opposite. Whereas there are people who may have been willing to listen to what a stunningly beautiful woman who isn’t wearing a bra and panties, they are also repulsed by the protesters that you do not want to see naked. There are plenty of people in the world that you do not ever want to see without their clothes on and they happen to make terrible spokespersons when they are in the buff.

And PETA has had their share of such protesters.

As for getting naked for your political cause, it hasn’t really worked except for providing free entertainment. And there happens to be millions of people who don’t mind that one bit.

Any opinions or views expressed herein belong solely to the author and does not represent any employer, organization, political party, governmental agency, or any other entity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owner or its participants.