Women shower for animal rights, right on Pennsylvania Ave.

[Guest guest]

(AXcess News) Washington - Temperatures reached the low 80s Friday at lunchtime

- but it got hotter when two young women dropped their bathrobes and took a

shower, right on Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

They set up a makeshift shower stall, which mostly shielded them from onlookers,

in front of the National Archives, home to the Constitution and the Declaration

of Independence. And they spoke freely about going meatless.

 

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wanted Washingtonians to know

that producing one pound of meat requires about 2,400 gallons of water, the

equivalent to six months of showers.

 

" I do this stuff all the time, " said Kelsey Jaye, 18, a PETA intern from

Norfolk, Va. " It's for a good cause. "

 

Jessica Levin, 24, PETA's media placement coordinator, who lives in Maryland but

wouldn't say where, joined Jaye in the wood and plastic shower stall.

 

Within seconds, a crowd gathered, as water from a rubber bag poured onto the

women's vegan-fed figures.

 

With net scrubbers and soap at hand, they washed themselves and each other

behind a banner that read " Clean Your Conscience: Go Vegetarian! "

 

" Facts and figures alone aren't enough to engage most people, but when they see

two women showering on the street they're naturally curious, " said PETA Senior

Campaigner Ashley Byrne.

 

Byrne said demonstrations like this are meant to raise awareness of animal

rights and environmental issues.

 

" It's showing people that if you are an environmentalist, there is simply no way

you should be eating meat, " Byrne said. " The most effective thing that we can

all do right away is choose to eat vegan at our next meal. "

 

The women, wearing high-heeled sandals, lathered in soapsuds as a stream of

water trickled off the wooden booth and onto the sidewalk.

 

Reporters waited, expectantly.

 

Several parents scurried away with their children. But other curious observers

stopped to read the fliers PETA intern Line Moeller, 19, from Denmark, also clad

in a short, white bathrobe, handed out.

 

Most who stopped declined to comment.

 

Some, mostly men, raised their cameras and took photos, or just ogled.

 

Three D.C. police officers arrived toward the end of event, responding to

reports of a commotion. They took no action.

 

The shower demonstration has hit the streets of several cities, including San

Francisco, Austin and New York, at Times Square. PETA campaign planners said it

attracts attention from their target audience, everyday people.

 

" It's on a busy street where a lot of people would be on their way to and from

lunch, " said Byrne, who has participated in her share of pro-vegan, often

bikinied demonstrations. " Hopefully, if they saw the demonstration that would

give them something to think about before they eat their next meal. "

 

In the past, PETA has received negative feedback from its often provocative

demonstrations and marketing campaigns.

 

" We have a lot of women and men who are willing to bare some skin to bring

attention to the fact that adopting a vegan diet is the best way to stop animals

from suffering, help the environment and their own health, " Byrne said.

 

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire