P52-67 Specter PETA Fact.L.Ps
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A REPORTER AT LARGE THE EXTREMIST The woman behind the most successful radical group in America. BY MICHAEL SPECTER ach year, Victoria’s Secret puts on PETA activists have crawled through the that it takes as many as a hundred chin- Ea show in which two dozen of streets of Paris with leg-hold traps chillas to make such a coat, and she the world’s most alluring models stroll around their feet; they have dumped described the process. “The preferred down the runway dressed in nothing buckets of money soaked in fake blood method of killing chinchillas is by gen- but stilettos and lingerie. Last Novem- on audiences at the International Fur ital electrocution: a method whereby ber, the spectacle was held at New York Fair. Recently, the group ran ads com- the handler attaches an alligator clamp City’s Lexington Avenue Armory, and paring the deaths of women murdered to the animal’s ear and another to her scalpers were selling tickets for five and dismembered by a serial killer to genitalia and flips a switch, sending a hundred dollars. Celebrities like Don- those of animals killed for meat. Offi- jolt of electricity through her skin down ald Trump, Susan Lucci, and Woody cially, PETA does not engage in violence, the length of her body. The electrical Harrelson were there that night, and but its leaders wholeheartedly defend current causes unbearable muscle pain, eleven million people watched on net- and encourage guerrilla groups like the at the same time working as a paralyz- work television. Security was unusually Animal Liberation Front. In fact, Bruce ing agent, preventing the animal from tight: New York City police were on Friedrich, one of PETA’s most promi- screaming or fighting. hand in large numbers, as were many nent leaders, says in a speech that is “You’ve been so good to animals in private bodyguards, along with a highly readily available on the Internet, “I the past,’’ the letter stated. “Now more experienced team hired by Victoria’s think it would be a great thing if, you than ever they need you on their side.’’ Secret. To enter the armory, guests had know, all these fast food outlets and To help make her point, she included a to wait half an hour, then file through a these slaughterhouses and these labora- graphic video. Affleck replied at once. checkpoint where their bodies were tories and the banks that fund them ex- “You have opened my eyes to a particu- scanned and their bags searched with ploded tomorrow.’’ larly cruel and barbaric treatment of an- great care. One of PETA’s best-known slogans is imals,’’ he wrote. “I can assure you I do None of that prevented four mem- “I’d rather go naked than wear fur,” and not endorse such treatment and will not bers of People for the Ethical Treat- the group has made good publicly on do anything in the future that supports ment of Animals from infiltrating that promise so many times that the it. I thank you for your letter....A the audience. As the Brazilian model fashion community has come to expect contribution to your organization is Gisele Bündchen made her way down it. Not long after the Victoria’s Secret forthcoming.’’ the catwalk, dressed in a beaded bra show, I called Gisele’s manager, to ask Neither Gisele Bündchen nor Ben and black panties, the women leaped about the episode. She told me that it Affleck is likely soon to forget their ex- onto the stage, unfurling signs that said was important to know that “in real life periences with fur—and that is exactly “Gisele: Fur Scum.” The women from Gisele doesn’t wear fur. It’s just not who what PETA had in mind.“There is no se- PETA, as the animal-rights organiza- she is. You will never run into her on the cret about why we attacked those peo- tion is always called, were gone in less street in fox or mink. Never. ple,’’ Ingrid Newkirk, who is PETA’s than thirty seconds—dragged off the “Gisele did the Blackglama ad be- leader, told me later. Newkirk is a fifty- runway, then arrested, arraigned, and cause of its history,’’ she continued.“She three-year-old woman with sharp blue deposited in the Tombs. Gisele, the saw Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis eyes, an oval face, and a bowl of tidy hair world’s most highly paid model, and and Maria Callas, and they were leg- that has recently begun to gray. She the current face of the Blackglama fur ends. And that is the motto. Gisele saw often wears sporty, casual clothes, and at ad—“What becomes a legend most?”— it that way and so did I. We did not see first glance looks more like a soccer seemed unfazed by the commotion; CBS this as a product.’’ (Neither Blackglama mom than one of the country’s more shot the segment again, and the show nor Victoria’s Secret was willing to talk widely reviled political activists. New- went on. But film clips and news stories about the show, PETA, the unwanted kirk founded PETA two decades ago out about the attack appeared throughout publicity, or the ads.) of a room in her suburban Maryland the world, dominating coverage of the A few days later, Us Weekly reported home, and it has remained very much show and infuriating Victoria’s Secret. that Ben Affleck had bought a chin- under her control as it has grown into the It was not the first such event that chilla coat in Las Vegas for Jennifer world’s largest and best-known animal- PETA had disrupted, of course. There Lopez. PETA’s special-projects coördi- rights organization. have been hundreds—in the United nator, Carrie Beckwith, immediately “Gisele is a famous, beautiful model,’’ States, Europe, once even in Beijing. sent Affleck a letter in which she noted she continued. “Ben is one of the most ETIENNE, NEW YORK GALERIE ST. “EGG MACHINES” (1991), SUE COE. COURTESY 52 THE NEW YORKER, APRIL 14, 2003 TNY—04/14/03—PAGE 52—133SC.—#2 PAGE popular movie stars alive. People pay Nutritionally, PETA has a point. Yet ject both fur and leather completely. attention to them and want to be like alcohol abuse has become such a seri- Sir John Gielgud once made a public- them. So they needed to be reminded ous problem on college campuses that service announcement condemning foie that if they make horrible, cruel deci- the ad enraged thousands of people. gras just by explaining, in powerful de- sions there will be unpleasant conse- “It’s an irresponsible, recycled publicity tail and at great length, how it is made. quences. Humans need to know that. stunt that literally puts cows before kids. (Metal tubes are shoved down the throats They need to understand that if they It’s appalling,” Wendy Hamilton, the of millions of male ducks and geese; support the torture and misuse of other president of Mothers Against Drunk they are then force-fed until their livers animals they will be made to pay. The Driving, said.“For Christ’s sake, lighten swell to at least four times their normal animals are defenseless. They can’t talk up,’’ Newkirk replied, when I asked size. At that point, the tubes are with- back, and they can’t fight back. But we her about the campaign. “We simply drawn, the birds are killed, and the livers can. And, no matter what it takes, we said that milk is so pathetic that there are on their way to the table.) always will.’’ are even more nutrients in beer. MADD Naked women also play a central role should be happy—they got more press in PETA’s demonstrations and advertise- eople for the Ethical Treatment of than they ever could have hoped for. ments, and if a political organization PAnimals describes itself as an “abo- We didn’t know they would come after can be said to have a muse, then the litionist organization,’’ and its thirteen- us, but I am glad they did. We are always actress Pamela Anderson is PETA’s. In word mission statement, while simple, is disappointed when people don’t come March, she appeared on a gigantic new breathtaking in its ambition: “Animals after us.’’ billboard in Times Square, wearing are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on That is rarely a problem. PETA’s pub- three strategically placed lettuce leaves. or use for entertainment.” PETA believes licity formula—eighty per cent outrage, (“People enjoy sex,’’ Newkirk explained. that animals—and by this it means ten per cent each of celebrity and truth— “It’s a big part of human nature. So we all animals, from crustaceans to chim- insures that everything it does offends appeal to that as often as we can. And panzees—are on earth to occupy them- someone. At the end of February, the who could ask for anyone better than selves and for no other reason. That hu- group began travelling with what may Pam? People drool when they look at mans take advantage of other animals in be its most vilified exhibit yet. “Holo- her. Why wouldn’t we use that? We any way, simply because we are stronger caust on Your Plate’’ compares in great need all the drooling we can get.”) In or smarter, PETA sees as the abiding detail what humans routinely do to February, Anderson travelled to Vienna, moral outrage of our time. The organ- other animals to Hitler’s systematic an- where she had been invited to the an- ization has offended so many people in nihilation of six million Jews.