PETA Activism: Naked In Public To Fight Animal Violence

PETA Action (Source: peta.org)

JAKARTA - Naked action against a policy is not new. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for example. An NGO from the United States (US), which focuses on protecting animals, has become a pioneer in nudity in the modern era. This eccentric action can be said to have succeeded in reducing the level of violence against animals.

Indeed, PETA is not the first to pioneer the nude movement in public spaces. Long before that, in the 11th century, similar activism was recorded in the story of Lady Godiva.

This story, which is a mixture of fact and fiction, tells of a noblewoman of Anglo-Saxon descent named Lady Godiva who has the husband of a financial officer named Leofric from Coventry, England. Despite her status as an official's wife, Lady Godiva is well known for helping the people of Conventry who are in trouble.

One day her husband received an order to raise the taxes of the Conventry people. For the development of the city, he said. However, the increase imposed is unreasonable because it is too high. Punishments were also prepared for those who could not pay taxes. The Conventry people screamed.

The only reasonable option was to complain to Lady Godiva. She then went to her husband and asked to cancel the policy. Leofric refused. In order to "silence" his wife, Leofric deliberately set a condition that his wife could not possibly take: traveling around the city on a naked horse. Unexpectedly, Godiva actually agreed.

Painting of Lady Godiva (John Collier/Herbert Art Gallery & Museum)

“Lady Godiva's attempt was made to get the Coventry government to stop burdening its people so cruelly. Lady Godiva is ready to fulfill the conditions of traveling around the Coventry on horseback naked. Hearing the news, the people of Coventry took the initiative not to go out by closing all doors and windows as a token of respect for his bravery.”

“Due to Lady Godiva's nudity, Coventry is finally exempt from paying high taxes. According to some versions of the legend, during a naked act a young man named Tom peeked. Because of his behavior Tom went blind. Then died. After that, the popular term Peeping Tom appeared for those who like to peek. This incident made Lady Godiva believed to be a holy person who was able to help people through naked acts,” wrote Brett Lunceford in Naked Politics: Nudity, Political Action, and The Rhetoric of the Body (2012).

Inspired MAP

Lady Godiva's nude action in the story then inspired many activists in the world as a form of resistance. PETA is one of the organizations that has successfully pioneered it in the present era.

PETA was founded by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco in the US in 1980. This organization was established as a forum for world animal activists to fight for animal rights.

“The PETA founders are trying to give people more of what they can do and give them a way to actively change society. They want to promote a healthy vegan diet and show how easy it is to shop without choosing animal cruelty products. They want to protest loudly and publicly, against animal cruelty in all its forms, and they want to uncover what's really going on behind the thick, soundproof walls of animal laboratories."

PETA Action (Source: peta.org)

In its struggle, many of PETA's actions lead to concern for the survival of the animals so as not to be hurt. Therefore, PETA initially appeared against having animals in any tests in public or private research laboratories. Their action then developed to protest against the cosmetic and drug industry which traditionally still uses animals as guinea pigs for their products.

It didn't stop there, PETA also condemned the many fashion products that used animal hair as clothing material. They consider hurting animals – whatever it is – is an unforgivable heinous act. Even in one of their controversial campaign taglines, PETA said: "To animal, all people are Nazis." After all, any human who harms animals is no different from the Nazis who perpetrated the holocaust against the Jews.

The controversial steps were then wrapped by using nudity as a means of fighting. Therefore, PETA is the most frequent non-profit organization that performs nudity. Thanks to that, his campaign action immediately got the attention of media coverage around the world. This is because naked acts often make people shake their heads. One side provokes hatred for PETA, the other side provokes broad support.

“In Germany and Spain, PETA has held quite extreme demonstrations. The activists were bare-chested in the streets while smeared with red liquid like blood. Not only that, with the tagline I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur, the activists are willing to appear naked to insinuate those who still want to wear clothes made of animal fur.”

“This theatrical approach seems not enough for PETA to oppose violence and the use of animal skins in the fashion world. The reason is that PETA activists don't seem tired of criticizing celebrities who use animal limbs, one of which is fur," said Sifah Nur in Fruits of Courage: Inspirational Stories of Courageous People Who Changed the World (2015).

PETA itself then expanded not only in the US alone. But PETA has spread its wings to Europe, Africa, to Asia. Launching Britanica, PETA's 'weird' action has been responded to by many cosmetic industry leaders. They then stopped the practice of testing the product on animals. In order to ensure that such atrocities do not occur, PETA and 500 cosmetic companies signed a guarantee pledge that they would not be involved in animal experiments.

Inevitably, PETA's action to save animals has received support from world celebrities. These include Keanu Reaves, Ariana Grande, Morrissey, and so on. Meanwhile, through naked action, PETA activists have succeeded in spreading the positive 'virus' to save animals around the world, at least to this day.

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