ACTIVISM

Only women in cages

By Noah Bruce

On October 23 in Tommy’s Park, a mostly male crowd of about 40 was treated to the sight of a young woman naked but for orange and black tiger stripes done in body paint, a black bikini bottom, and a sign covering her chest, kneeling inside a small mesh cage. The woman, Lisa Franzetta, is a demonstrator with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and she was in Portland to protest Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus’s treatment of animals.

It’s a strange thing watching an all but naked woman in a cage protesting the circus on a chilly, drizzly day. Yeah, she drew a pretty good crowd, certainly more than she would have had she worn clothes. Still, considering the participants, the event was somehow anticlimactic. The crowd stood and watched while she kneeled and talked to reporters. Aside from one hot dog vendor who pointed out loudly that animals don’t wear bikini bottoms, there were no cat calls or whistles. The fuzz parked nearby but made no arrests. The picture that appears with this story shows a hot girl painted like a tiger with a PETA sign, and the photo in the papers was probably her goal, but in the moment, the scene seemed kind of sad.

Despite the gloomy feelings, the Phoenix managed an interview with Franzetta just after Bill Nemitz was finished with her (we don’t mind sloppy seconds):

 

Phoenix: That was Bill Nemitz, Portland’s most famous journalist. What did you think of him?

Franzetta: He was nice.

 

Q: He wasn’t an asshole?

A: No. He was nice.

 

Q: Why is it necessary to take off your clothes?

A: Ringling Bros. has a big advertising budget to push their agenda. PETA has very little money, so we have to do things that are eye-catching to get people’s attention.

 

Q: Is your goal to end Ringling Bros.?

A: Our goal is to end the use of animals in circuses. We have no problem with circuses that just use people like Cirque du Soleil.

 

Q: You know Ringling Bros. mailed us a big packet talking about how great they are to their animals and how they have a big park where they breed elephants and allow them space to run around. What do you say to those claims?

A: The fact of the matter is there are 215 elephants in circuses and 189 were taken from their homeland, from the wild. These are animals that once knew freedom and now can only dream of it. And the babies that are born in captivity are taken away from their mothers and have to perform.

 

Q: Are you a vegan?

A: Yes I am.

 

Q: OK. Thank you very much.

A: Thank you, Noah.