• Fri, Aug 17 - 5:55 pm ET

Dear Everyone Criticizing Lady Gaga: Fur Is Not Any Worse A Crime Against Animals Than Meat

There’s been a bit of outcry these past few days over the mildly condescending message Lady Gaga posted in response to PETA’s letter criticizing her for wearing what looked to be a fur coat after previously stating that she didn’t wear fur. (And carrying a puppy, for additional irony, I guess.) The letter reads as follows:

To the fans. i want you to know that I care deeply about your feelings and views, and I will always support your philosophies about life. We’ve been having over-arching conversations about society, equality, and politics for the past five years, and we should continue. I do not however support violent, abusive, and childish campaigns for ANY CAUSE. Particularly one that I respect. “Animal Rights.” I am choosing not to comment on whether or not the furs I purchase are faux fur-pile or real because I would think it hypercritical not to acknowledge the python, ostrich, cow hide, leather, lamb, alligator, “kermit” and not to mention meat, that I have already worn. This should already put me in a category as one who appreciates and adores the beauty of animals in fashion, but am not a strict vegan. I have truly always stayed away from skinned fur, especially i have never been able to afford a nice one, but this does not mean my morals are rigid and that I won’t bend at the sight of an absolute art piece of a coat. I have no chains about this. You see a carcass, I see a museum pièce de résistance. But I am truly sorry to fans who are upset by this, its a fair and applaudable feeling about the health and safety of animals. I respect your views, please respect mine.
And to campaigners, Save your flour to make bread for the children who are hungry. And Kim Kardashian is fabulous.

Translation: “It’s cute that you guys care so much about animals, but you have to respect the fact that I don’t. Paws up!”

As a vegan animal rights advocate, I disagree with Gaga that it’s possible to believe in, or even respect, the concept of animal rights while simultaneously believing that it’s okay to kill animals for the sake of fashion or flavor. (Or even “art.”) But she is right about one thing: if you’re not a vegan (or, okay, a vegetarian), you have no right to criticize Gaga for wearing fur. Because fur and meat are not nearly as different as everyone seems to think they are. Gaga is not a vegetarian, so she’s not a hypocrite if she wears fur or leather, because she believes her own personal desires take precedence over animals’ right to live out their natural lives free of human-inflicted pain. I wish more people would own up to that.

Here’s the thing: for people living in the developed world, neither wearing fur nor eating meat is necessary to one’s survival. People do the two things for the exact same reason: because they feel like it. It just so happens that in this day and age, “I feel like eating a steak tonight” is an urge that’s given much more value than “I feel like wearing a pretty fur coat.” Could it be because fashion is feminine, and steak is masculine, and we live in a sexist society?

“But human beings need to eat meat,” you say. False! Barring an across-the-board allergy to all forms of vegetable protein (which I realize some people have, but not many), it’s entirely possible to get all the nutrients you need out of a vegan diet. (With some clever fortification here and there. Thanks, science.) And depending who you believe, it might even be better for you. Vegans get heart disease and many types of cancer at much lower rates than those consuming the Standard American Diet (SAD), for example.

“But what about happy meat! Surely, a free range cow leads a better life than an anally electrocuted mink?” Perhaps. But the fact remains that there’s no such thing as a painless death, and that cow very much wanted to keep on living. Free-range is better than factory farms, but at the end of the day, both are still privileging the whims of human tastebuds over the life of a sentient being.

I will never, ever understand why some people think it’s all right to eat meat, eggs, and dairy, but decry the use of minks and chinchillas to fulfill an equally frivolous urge. At least be consistent in your support of animal torture! Then again, I guess cows aren’t as cute and cuddly. They should really work on that.

(Via LittleMonsters)

Photo: WENN.com

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  • Emma

    If hypocrisy of any form precludes discussion of issues, we may as well cancel free speech now. And that’s from a vegan working in human rights that gives half her money away and almost never shops… But I also recognize that my choices do not make my opinions worth more than yours.

  • Sam

    The meat industry is a horrible, torturous thing, but I still eat some (albeit extremely minimal, as my fibromyalgia gets better when I eat a plant-based diet). My primary reason for purchasing terror-free, free range meat is that I think it’s integral that those types of farms get as much support as possible in order to give an alternative to those people who will absolutely never give up meat a significantly less cruelly obtained option. I know that there is no way to uncruelly derive meat, but I do sincerely believe that it’s better for the animal to at least live their days in a clean, spacious environment. I wish that we, those who live in the developed world, could collectively just give up meat–it’d be environmentally and humanitarily better for everything on earth–but since I know that to be not presently possible, I’d rather give support to farms that at least are not like the McDonalds/KFC/etc. suppliers.

    I also think it’s completely fair to criticize Lady Gaga for her choice–not because I think I’m morally superior, but because a power, extremely influential celebrity saying “Hey, wearing fur is a-okay!” to hordes of fans (especially young teenagers, many of whom develop their perspectives based on their heroes) can help put into place more of a demand for those fur products. Basically everything Lady Gaga wears suddenly goes into demand after she wears it, so it worries me that this will encourage fur to be more frequently desired and worn by a younger generation, and that’s why I find it irresponsible.

    • Sam

      I really need to re-read my comments prior to posting them. There are a lot of ridiculous run-ons in that. But I’m sure you get the gist, haha…

    • Amanda Chatel

      Ugh. YOU OBVIOUSLY NEED A COPYEDITOR, SAM. (Love you.)

      On a serious note, I love this piece. I love Jamie’s stance on this topic that is important to her. There will always be debates about whether or not you’re allowed to criticize someone for wearing fur while you’re eating meat.

      As a former vegetarian, although I’ve never been a big meat eater outside of chicken and lobster, I have often (back then and now) criticized those who wear fur. But as Jamie pointed out, it is hypocritical of me to feel this way — but I’m also of the mentality of “whatever helps you sleep at night.” I mean that in regards to myself, not Jamie.

      I find zero preaching or a condescending tone in this piece. It’s the honest opinion, something we’re all allowed to have, of a vegan and her thoughts on Lady Gaga’s inability to stick her convictions — which are apparently just as flip-floppy as Mitt Romney’s.

  • jiraf

    Ok firstly, is that really an exact transcript of what Gaga wrote?? If so she is almost illiterate and that is sad. (Hypercritical instead of hypocritical??) However, on to the larger issue, I can’t believe you say: “I will never, ever understand why some people think it’s all right to eat meat, eggs, and dairy, but decry the use of minks and chinchillas to fulfill an equally frivolous urge.” What the what?? I can see that you are trying to equate “eating” and “dressing” as basic needs to make the larger point that people always have “options” as to what they choose to wear/eat but the fact that you describe eating meat, eggs and dairy as “frivolous” is hysterical. Wearing fur is frivolous because it is expensive, unnecessary and inhumane to the creatures that it is extracted from, eating meat is not an extravagant choice that people make, it is just called having a normal diet. Being vegetarian is an alternative lifestyle choice that, to quote Gaga, while applaudable (possibly) should not be used as a podium to condemn anything dissimilar and less such “frivolous” pursuits at eating meat.

  • miu

    So basically you are saying: Wearing fur is as bad as eating meat, so if you are not vegetarian you have no right to be against another form of animal torture?!

    I am vegetarian myself, but yeah, instead of feeling morally superior I am happy that society is at least so far to condemn SOME forms of animal torture.

    I also understand that maintaining a meatless lifestyle ist more difficult, more expensive and more time consuming than just eating meat based meals every day, and that not everyone has the opportunity to do that.

    Your article is not going to turn anyone who is agains fur into a vegan (which I believe may be your intention?!) , but rather give the impression that people who eat meat have no right to care about animal rights at all. Which is wrong.

    • Cate

      I agree most with Miu’s comment. I think this article is condescending and makes something black and white that isn’t. Choosing to be against wearing fur is much easier than choosing to be vegetarian or vegan. Let’s be honest, the economy is in a horrible state and the average person can’t afford to buy the food you need in order to be vegetarian or vegan. Natural produce, anything organic, or anything that claims to be a vegetarian is going to be at least two dollars more than most food you will buy and that will certainly add up. Also, most restaurants don’t offer many vegetarian options and if you are to go to a strictly vegetarian or vegan restaurant the bill will usually end up being higher as opposed to a regular one. I don’t think we should criticize others for how they choose to live their life and say it is wrong because it’s not how we like to live ours. Instead of trying to enlighten people about the possibilities you are basically chastising them for not being vegetarians to begin with and I noticed that you don’t even seem to be happy with someone being a vegetarian. “But she is right about one thing: if you’re not a vegan (or, okay, a vegetarian).” Also, you claim it won’t affect your health, but you can’t know that for everyone. No matter what the statistics say I know friends who have gotten healthier once they stopped being vegetarian and started eating meat again. When I was a vegetarian I gained 30 pounds and have lost it since I started eating meat occasionally and including fish in my diet. Sometimes when you are trying to be vegetarian and you eat out you end up eating foods that are actually much higher in calories than say a piece of grilled chicken. Basically what I’m saying is, I think there are a lot of factors that you ignore or simply choose not to mention in this article. I also think you could get more people to join your cause if you didn’t seem so hypercritical of people who do choose to eat meat.

    • Rebecca

      Cate – I’m not sure how it is where you’re from, but in the UK, vegetarian options at restaurants are considerably cheaper than meat options, in every single establishment I’ve ever visited.

  • Ally

    I feel like this piece is very condescending in a way that says ‘You’re not vegan? You pretentious and animal torturing bitch.’ Obviously that cow or whatever animal is being eaten did not want to die and be eaten but same could be said for every other living thing lower on the food chain. Really, it sucks bunnies are eaten by coyotes but what are we gonna do, force feed them tofu until they stop being so cruel? The meat industry does have a long record of inhumane treatment of animals but the life of a free range chicken is different than that of a caged one. And a mink coat is different than leather shoes because at least the cow’s carcass is used as food while the mink is just skinned and tossed to the side. To me, it’s not as black and white as you put it, and to me you’re basically saying ‘you consume or wear animal products so you torture animals’. Ultimately you can chose to polarize the issue in such a way, or you can realize that animals would get eaten in nature even if people stopped doing so.

    • Rebecca

      The meat and leather industries are two entirely separate things. No leather you find in your wardrobe will ever have come from an animal whose flesh you could have bought and eaten.

  • Topf

    I actually like this article and think it has very good food for thought. Of course some people will be angry and the comments show that. I think you were able to foresee that when you applaud Gaga for at least being honest about what she stands for. I wish the people reading your article did as much. I think we all try our best to stick to our chosen causes and forget that as humans, we can only do so much. We conveniently choose to remember our own humanity but forget about it the moment someone else is in the situation of having to show theirs. I understood your statement to be “unless you’re a perfect and morally impeccable machine, you gotta recognize that Gagas honesty is refreshing. Think about yourself and what you stand for: how honest are you concerning your own limitations? Because only in reflecting on those limitations are we able to work to do an even better job on defending and living our causes”

  • Catie

    I think the issues that Gaga has pointed out – that it’s hypocritical to condemn her for wearing fur when 1) we’re not sure if it’s real fur and 2) that she’s worn any number of animals so why would we expect that she change her stance on this – are well within her rights. While there are plenty of other things to eat and wear in the world, she’s never given any indication that she’s a supporter of animal rights.

    With that said, she’s a huge supporter of tolerance, kindness, and human rights, regardless of a person’s race, creed, sexuality, gender identity, etc. Perhaps this is where we’re seeing the tension in her ethos? That she *ought* to extend this love and support to all those who are unlike ourselves, including animals who have even fewer means to defend themselves? Animals that we don’t just emotionally or physically bully, but rather kill, consume, and wear?

  • Tania

    “it’s entirely possible to get all the nutrients you need out of a vegan diet. (With some clever fortification here and there. Thanks, science.)”

    By definition, if you require fortification in order to get all the required nutrients, you can’t get all the required nutrients from a vegan diet.

    • Amy

      This. I’ve wavered with veganism and vegetarianism over the years and it always creeps me out to see all the faux meat/egg/dairy products out there. How can that be healthy?

  • fred

    This could have been aninteresting article, but your patronising militant veganism just invalidates everything else. disappointing that thegloss becomes a soapbox for this kind ofridiculous extremism.

  • Hannah

    Most of the us know the facts, we’ve watched the videos and we still eat meat, wear leather/fur.
    Trying to convert us doesn’t make you look like a saint it makes you look condescending and maybe even a little narrow minded.

  • Anna

    Lady Gaga has based so much of her character against bullying…..she thinks bullying should be illegal….she herself carries the emotional scars and wounds of having this happen to her….This being said she may not be aware that bullying is an understatement to what happens to these animals. They are beaten, thrown, skinned alive, chilipepper is put in their eyes and anuses while they are beaten and kicked to be slaughtered in the most inhumane way possible.

    I think it’s hypocritical of her to stand up against bullying towards humans but support this brutal bullying of innocent animals.

    Perhaps she ought to watch the film “Earthlings” and it may enlighten her. She may not be aware of how these animals are slaughtered and tortured.

    • Mary

      Many people here say that “we’ve all seen the videos,” but they haven’t. Almost nobody here has seen the truly horrific ones or else they would feel differently.

      Or maybe they wouldn’t. In that case, I would be ashamed to be of the same species as them.

  • MM

    I feel like you’ve missed a big glaring issue of class/wealth here. Being a healthy vegetarian or especially vegan can be a challenge, especially if you are on a limited budget or have limited time to cook. I’ve been vegetarian for years and had issues with iron deficient and B12 anemia for a while in college – I was actually recommended by a doctor to eat meat on occasion. I didn’t, but I totally get why some people would, because meat is an easy way to get most of your essential nutrients.

    Fur, on the other hand, is a luxury product. It’s not hard to give up. You don’t need it to survive.

    Moreover I’ve heard that animals for fur are killed a much less humane way than animals for meat. I am not an expert but there’s a point there.

    • http://twitter.com/Eva_fate Eva Rinaldi

      So much this. I have a very low budget for groceries and would pretty much have to live on nothing but lentils and rice if I became a vegan. Not all of us can afford to eat certain things that make being a vegan easier, even if they exist on our local grocery store shelves.

  • Carrie

    The more I go on the gloss.com, the more I hate this site. All of the articles on here irritate me, especially this one. It’s not a competition. It doesn’t matter, “which is worse”. But if you didn’t see the videos, animals are skinned alive for their fur. Literally. SKINNED ALIVE. As horrible as it is to eat meat, nothing is worse than that. Nothing. I’m not going on this ridiculous site anymore.

  • Oh god

    This is the stupidest thing I have ever read in my entire life.

    • Seriously

      Really? you must not have read much

  • Alwyn

    Why is it that whenever a vegan mentions the benefits of veganism and the horror that is the meat industry, people start pointing fingers and screaming about militantism?

  • LeaT

    “…and that cow very much wanted to keep living.”

    And how exactly do you know that? When did you become privy to the inner thought processes of cows? For all you know that cow was bored and tired and felt that her life would be pointless and empty if her flesh was not eventually used for food. Maybe that is the case, and maybe not. The problem here is that you are taking things for granted which may not even be true and then basing your whole argument on those unproven assumptions. Maybe you are simply projecting your own human viewpoint and anxieties about death onto animals, when they do not actually share those anxieties in the same way we do. If there is no way you can be sure of how animals think and feel, you don’t know any more about the subject of the inner experience of animals being killed for meat than any other random person on the street does.

    • Holden

      Are you KIDDING me? Yeah, all cows are are just DYING to be turned into a McWhoppers. Wow.

    • Mersaw

      Don’t be an ignorant ass.

      All animals just LOVE to die! In fact they come running to the butcher and put their necks on the cutting board so that he can cut their head off!

  • Allanah

    Yeah, cos all of that soy bean farming isn’t at all harmful to the environment or wild animals in the rainforest.

    • MYOB

      One of my students just did a fabulous research paper on how plants show emotions and feelings. It was really incredible and made me think. BUT I’m not stopping eating veggies anytime soon. The reality of life is that animals eat other animals at all levels. There isn’t some sweet gentle animal kingdom out there of vegan animals refusing to kill other animals for food.

      I also know many people who tried to be Vegan and had to go back to eating meat and fish as they became seriously ill. I respect all human beings rights to do as they choose, but stop trying to tell other people what to do. Stick to your own values and leave mine alone.

  • Sabrina

    Oh boy. Jamie, this article was great. All the points you made were extremely valid and intelligent. As a meat eater myself, I would never think that I could judge someone for wearing a fur coat. And I don’t. I also own real leather items, shoes, purses, etc.

    Kudos on being vegan. I think that is a very respectable way of life and I applaud you. Not having the interest in it myself, I commend you. I just like meat too much, but know that it’s definitely not the healthiest way of life or the most responsible to animals. But just because I choose to eat meat and partake in real leather items on occasion, doesn’t mean that I’m going to sit here and tell you you are full of shit because you discussed the benefits of being vegan. Like you said, at least I own up to the fact that I’m consistent in my methods of animal torture! :)

  • Littlemonster

    So true!

    I wish people could think about the bigger picture. Eating meat and wearing fur coats are no different! That’s to say a cow has less rights than perhaps the animals turned into fur! Because I don’t see too many people trying to save cows and chickens from slaughter houses.

    Btw, I love you Gaga <3

  • Caspar

    Firstly to realise that you may be attacking Lady Gaga for wearing fur because “could it be that we live in a sexist society” shows that you are just provoking for the sake of provocation and not attempting to think outside of the sexist box you’ve been unwillingly crammed into. Women have constantly been attacked as dumb, animalistic, cold, etc because they wear fur yet men get no blame.

    And it is possible to care about the lives of animals and wear fur or leather. I don’t look at a pet cat and think – ‘when you’re back is turned I’m going to skin you and wear you because I’m a cold hearted bastard’ because we form emotional attachments to domesticated pets but probably won’t to a cow and certainly not a mink because they are vicious creatures. I am equally emotionally detached to all the meat I eat as much as I would be to fur… but I still like animals and that doesn’t make me evil or hypocritical. You have to draw the line somewhere and my line is – if it has been born and bred specifically for the purpose of being consumed as meat or worn as fur or tested on medically then it’s life wouldn’t exist without that purpose. If you take away that purpose their lives wouldn’t even be up for debate.

    People need to understand that some people just don’t see animals, such as cows and mink, on the same par as humans because….. they are just not. Humans, though not perfect, are obviously better. We are masters of the world and this will be our ultimate demise. Until we wipe ourselves out, other animals will just have to deal with being beneath us.

    In the meantime there are much more pressing matters in the human world that need dealing with instead of worrying about an animal be skinned alive for fur. And to the people who are so against hurting/torturing animals do you feel the same compassion towards a fly, a spider or a mosquito? Do you only feel compassion towards mammals? Very few people have mentioned fish and their rapidly declining population that is predicted to run out in 35 years time. At least we can still breed cows on our farms. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FISH?!

  • kiki2u

    Actually, that only applies if you EAT the animal the fur comes from. Most people don’t eat chinchilla, mink, or fox. I don’t care if you wear leather, we EAT beef in this country. If she is too stupid to know the difference than she has no business providing advice on the subject.

    • kiki2u

      And as for the author of the article, you’re pretty pathetic too if YOU don’t know the difference. You will never get everyone to be vegan, you’d spend much better time getting people to at least treat the animal humanely.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=674905536 Virginia Althen

    I really liked your article and thought it very poignant. The ignorance and narrow-mindedness of some of the people commenting here is very unfortunate.