PETA Allies Disrupt Start of ‘Every Woman’s Marathon’ to Decry Anti-Female Dairy Spectacle

For Immediate Release:
November 16, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

This morning, the start of the controversial dairy industry-funded Every Woman’s Marathon was thrown into chaos, as a cadre of mother-led PETA supporters in shirts reading “Milk Marathon: Using Women to Exploit Cows” dropped  “dead” in front of the starting line to slam the race for using women’s empowerment as a façade to promote cow’s milk—a product of the exploitation of female bodies and motherhood. To honor the babies dragged away from their mothers minutes after birth in the dairy industry, the protesting mothers delayed the start of the race until police arrested and dragged them away.

Others in the crowd unfurled a banner showing images of the abuse inflicted upon female cows in the dairy industry—including being repeatedly forcibly impregnated, having their beloved calves taken away from them, and being slaughtered once they no longer lactate. A mobile billboard circled the event, showing attendees heartbreaking footage of anguished mother cows chasing after their stolen babies.

“It’s a new low for the dairy industry to use human women to promote an industry literally built on the exploitation of female bodies,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “This miserable milk race is an exercise in cruelty to cows, and PETA is calling on everyone to stand in solidarity with all females by dumping dairy and going vegan.”

Female cows produce milk only when they’re pregnant or nursing, for the same reason human women do—to feed their babies. Given the chance, mother cows form deep bonds with their young. In the dairy industry, cows are repeatedly forcibly inseminated (raped)—workers insert an arm into the cow’s rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into her vagina. Newborn males are routinely slaughtered for veal, while female calves endure the same fate as their mothers until their bodies wear out and they’re sent to slaughter.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their food-related carbon footprint, and slashes their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.