Pamela Anderson Lectures on Vegetarianism at Oxford University

There were two Pamela Andersons on the Oxford University Campus yesterday. One was a philosophy professor who specializes in feminist philosophy. The other was a more familiar face: the former Baywatch star, the Playboy bunny, the animal advocate.

Pamela Anderson arrived at Oxford to promote vegetarianism. She spoke to around two hundred students, and showed them the short film, Glass Walls, narrated by Paul McCartney. The film, which gives an inside look into what happens at slaughterhouses, is particularly appropriate for a U.K. audience right now, as a recent undercover investigation by Animal Aid has led to a call for CCTV cameras in all slaughterhouses.

Anderson believes that her talk, which she gave with PETA's Dan Matthews, had a "profound effect" on the students.

Anderson is also over in the UK to launch her controversial PETA ad campaign. This summer the same ad was banned by Canadian officials for being "sexist." The advertisement is of a bikini-clad Pamela divided into a butcher diagram of cuts of meat, and the text reads "All animals have the same parts."

But the Brits aren't quite as upset by the ad as the Canadians were, with The Guardian shrugging: "Is it art? Is it meat? Is it sexist? Whatever it is, the latest advertisement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is eye-catching."

Harriet Walker, a writer for The Independent, did whine about the ad, stating that although she believes "eating meat will be seen as the great barbaric failure of our age," she thinks it's "distasteful to think of women in the same category as lambs to slaughter." She also says the advertisement isn't convincing enough for her to "forfeit a bacon sandwich."

The most recent PETA ad won't be the last time Pam takes off her clothes for a good cause: She is also slated to appear on the January cover of Playboy magazine, with her earnings from the shoot going to Waves for Water, a group that supplies clean drinking water to countries in need of it. I think it's an amazing use of the money, but I'm not sure what a feminist philosopher would have to say about it. Perhaps we can ask the other Pamela Anderson sometime.

Photo Credit: AnnieGreenSprings