Animals are victims of ‘human supremacy,’ growing student organization claims

Students Opposing Speciesism is a quickly growing organization in the U.S. and Canada that aims at 'total animal liberation' and opposes 'human supremacy.'

Backed by PETA and run by students aged 13 to 24, the organization has seven registered 'hubs' on college campuses, including UC Davis, UT Austin, the University of Maryland, and others.

Students Opposing Speciesism (SOS) is a quickly growing organization in the U.S. and Canada that aims to achieve “total animal liberation” and opposes “human supremacy.”

Backed by PETA and run by students aged 13 to 24, the organization has seven registered “hubs” on college campuses, including UC DavisUT Austin, the University of Maryland, and others.

Speciesism is defined by SOS as “the belief that all other animal species are inferior to humans,” but SOS seeks to it that “all animals deserve equal respect and consideration.”

[I]n the ways that matter the most, [animals and people] are all the same,” their website states.

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As an example of speciesism, SOS cites the cruelty towards chicken embryos in the meat industry. 

Back in April, SOS placed an undercover worker in a hatchery. SOS writes on its Instagram that the undercover worker “described the nightmare the embryos were subjected to.”

“One moment they were curled up, warm and secure, inside an eggshell—the next, they were on the floor, under the heel of a boot, or drowning in a bucket of rotten egg waste and the putrid remains of their siblings,” according to the undercover worker, “...before being trucked off to be raised and slaughtered for their flesh.”

The treatment of chicken embryos in hatcheries described by SOS closely resembles the treatment of human embryos in the abortion industry. 

Testimonies of past abortion providers describe the mangled bodies of babies before they are sold to Tissue Procurement Organizations.

[RELATED: ‘Gender studies prof blames ‘capitalism,’ ‘white supremacy,’ and ‘patriarchy’ for deaths of shelter animals’]

SOS is frequently active on its Instagram page, posting content such as illustrations of hypothetical scenarios where human and animal roles were switched. 

Pictures include a leather jacket made of human flesh and a restaurant where human limbs are being sold to chickens.

Through training and activism packets, SOS equips students with the resources to organize and attend demonstrations and protests. On their contact page, SOS also offers advice to minors on how to get parental approval to organize a protest.

SOS has organized protests at businesses such as In-N-Out and retail stores, where they hold signs displaying slogans such as “cheese is murder” or “wear your own skin.” 

Although SOS claims to support all animals equally, they have never spoken on the violence of abortion.

Campus Reform reached out to Students Opposing Speciesism, UC Davis, UT Austin, the University of Maryland for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.


Follow the author on Twitter: @emily_fowler18