Quick reminder: Women are human beings, chickens are farm animals.
Non-profit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), apparently forgot that rather important fact. On Tuesday, PETA tweeted a quote from the organization's president Ingrid Newkirk that read: "Discrimination is discrimination, and it's wrong. Whether you're a woman or a chicken."
(Pause for eye roll.)
The tweet also included the hashtag #StateOfWomen, which was trending on Tuesday for the White House's first-ever United State Of Women Summit. The summit featured conversations about gender equality with activists, politicians and Hollywood stars.
As Jezebel's Joanna Rothkopf pointed out, Newkirk was no where to be found on the summit's website. So PETA may have used the hashtag purely to piggyback off of the focus on gender equality and turn it toward chicken equality.
Although the tweet was most likely a misguided attempt to further PETA's cause, it definitely backfired, with many Twitter users responding with confused and angry tweets. Even after the backlash, the PETA account continued to defend Newkirk's statement.
Scroll below to read some of the hilarious and spot-on responses.
Basically:
PETA has a long history of sexism and misogyny. They have used the overt sexualization of women as a marketing tactic, even going so far as to portray women as actual pieces of meat and compare eating meat to violence against women.
This misguided tweet is ultimately part of a much larger problem with the way PETA pushes its cause.
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