PETA plans 'erotica' website to promote cause

NORFOLK

PETA wants to get into porn to make people more aware of animal abuse.

The Norfolk-based animal-rights group has applied to launch a website under the soon-to-be-available ".xxx" domain, which will feature pornographic sites, Lindsay Rajt, the organization's associate director of campaigns, said Monday.

"As soon as we heard that the.xxx domain was becoming available, we thought that would be triple extra effective in helping us bring our important issues of animal rights and eating a vegan diet to a greater number of people," said Rajt, who is based in Los Angeles.

The site, she said, will have nudity and "sexually suggestive content" but not hard-core porn: "A lot of people distinguish between erotica and pornography, and this will be erotica."

The pornographic images, Rajt said, would lead viewers to "information and graphic imagery of how animals suffer in the food industry."

"That's what we hope will shock people, get them talking, question the status quo and take action that benefits animals," she said.

The idea will backfire on PETA, said Daniel Howard, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"It makes them appear as if their organization is extremist," Howard said. "Even though some have accused them of being that way in the past, they're about to confirm it.

"There are a lot of ways to get your message out there," he said, "but doing it through a pornography website is not a socially acceptable way of going about it, at least according to a vast majority of Americans."

Rajt said, however: "We live in a 24-hour news cycle world. We've found that it's the racier things we do that are most effective in grabbing people's attention."

The tactic would extend the group's strategy of using provocative images, often including scantily clad women, to gain attention.

"Nudity," Rajt said, "is a tactic that PETA uses with some regularity." Actresses have been photographed naked for the organization's "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" campaign. And in some cities, such as Brattleboro, Vt., "we are able to do a totally nude demonstration," Rajt said.

That has made PETA a target for feminist groups. Rajt said everyone who participated in previous campaigns and will be seen on the ".xxx" site is acting voluntarily.

"They are willing adults who are dedicated to helping animals," she said. "We think people have the right to use their bodies as a form of political protest."

PETA, Rajt said, applied earlier this month to launch the website peta.xxx with ICM Registry, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The earliest that PETA could receive approval, she said, is Nov. 7. If that happens, "we would be able to put it up that week."

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com