I have always been a huge animal lover. I've rescued various wildlife throughout the years: 2 baby robins who fell from a tree, a pheasant with an injured wing & a garden snake with a gash in it's side to name a few. My dog was a rescue from a puppy mill raid. My cat was a stray kitten who got stuck between my neighbor's fence & mine. I've been a vegetarian since middle school.
Despite this I've also thought for quite a while that the organization known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was a bit nutty with some of the stunts they've pulled. However, this one takes the cake:
Several lovely ladies on an Infertility message board I frequent have brought to the community's attention the truly disgusting contest to "Win a Vasectomy from PETA". While I applaud anyone's commitment to responsible family planning (birth control) the fact they are billing this as being in honor of NIAW is sick. Think I'm kidding? Here's a direct quote from their website: "In honor of National Infertility Awareness Week (April 24 to 30), PETA will give one free vasectomy to a man who has recently had his companion cat or dog neutered".
Apparently PETA does not understand the definition of the word "honor". A quick look at an online dictionary gives the definition of honor as "to regard or treat (someone) with admiration or respect". There you have it: respect. How on God's green earth is this being respectful to those of us dealing with a diagnosis of infertility? It's not. Not at all.
As for me, I have lost all respect for PETA at this point. How can I possibly honor or admire an organization who would do such a hurtful thing to a demographic group that I would argue (based on my experience) is among the most thoughtful, caring & supportive I've witnessed?
Infertiles cry for each other's failed cycles. We shout for joy (sometimes to the confusion of our spouses or co-workers) when one of us gets a BFP. We donate unused meds to those who lack insurance coverage. When one of us has a loss we send kind words & often gifts of sympathy. We are among the most selfless people you'll ever meet. We are strong. But we are also human. And it hurts when someone exploits us for their own gain.
4 comments:
Very well said! I think PETA lost many fans with that dumbass move.
Arg! That makes me very unhappy. They don't understand anything about infertility or what it means. They should be ashamed!
Someone posted about this very subject on her blog.
I wonder how many of these PETA-philes are also highly fertile, easy breeders with several children?
They think they can sit there smugly dictating to the rest of the world how many or how few children we can have.
I have signed the petition and am getting my fellow IFers to do the same, this is just not on.
Besides being completely offensive, I think these guys really screwed up on not knowing their supporters. You know who are the biggest animal lovers I know? Infertiles! I think their anti-reproduction stance is going to get them exactly nowhere, which is where they belong.
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