People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), has done it again. Apparently never tiring of offending women with its horrifically misogynistic campaigns, it has now gone and upset British film-maker Victor Schonfeld over its use of footage from The Animals film, first released in 1982. Schonfeld, himself committed to animal rights, has long criticised Peta's vile anti-women gimmickry and has taken serious offence at his film being exploited by them. Many decent people – men and women – do not wish to be associated with an organisation that depicts women as pieces of meat in order to challenge folk that treat animals as, er, pieces of meat. A Peta spokesperson claimed that Schonfeld has "an axe to grind". I sincerely hope he has. We need all the support we can get to put a stop to this dangerous promotion of women as stupid slags, sexy sluts and brainless bimbos.

Peta does not just dehumanise women, although we are definitely its favourite target. Racist imagery can also be found in more than one of its campaigns – such as the juxtaposition of a photograph of African American men accused of raping white women being lynched in the American deep south with that of a bull being strung up in preparation for butchering. Then there was the campaign that depicted a semi-clad black man as a "wild" animal in a cage.

Females with low self-esteem due to weight or size can also rely on Peta to make their lives just that little bit worse. A billboard erected in the US had "Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian" in massive lettering next to a picture of a woman in a bikini. In a press release, Peta executive vice-president Tracy Reiman said: "Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach."

Peta is unrepentant and unconcerned when confronted about images of extreme acts of violence against women, such as a poster showing a woman being murdered on the street. It also does few favours for many animals. Peta received $32m in public donations last year and yet it does not run animal shelters. According to public records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Peta euthanised 2,124 pets in 2008 and gave fewer than 18 to adoptive homes. Since 1998, a total of 21,339 dogs and cats have died at the hands of Peta workers, making it more like a slaughterhouse than an animal rights campaign.

Peta using working porn stars in its campaigns such as Sasha Grey confirms its liking for an industry that sexualises the notion of women as meat. Peta is as guilty of doing so as Hustler magazine, which famously put a picture of a woman being pushed head-first through a meat grinder to make hamburger in the 1970s, one album cover shortly afterwards displayed a woman's naked, clingfilm-wrapped body sectioned off like cuts of meat in a butchers shop. Men are often heard guffawing at dinner when asked if they want "leg or breast".

The wonderful Carol J Adams, animal rights activist, feminist and author of the acclaimed, The Sexual Politics of Meat, is a staunch critic of Peta. "People say 'sex sells'. I say sex sells sex. Peta conflates sexualisation and animal exploitation and this harms animals."

In my opinion, having made several complaints to Peta over the years, it will never care what you or I say to them about the offence and suffering it causes for women. The attitude of Peta staff and volunteers I have spoken to in the past reminds me of the small number of hunt saboteur extremists who planted shards of glass in Epping Forest a few years ago to "make a point" about fox hunting. My dog almost died when cutting herself on the glass, which was meant for the horses. When I interviewed a Peta campaigns director a couple of years ago, she told me:

"Using a woman's body to show that animals are made of flesh and blood and bones, just like you, is a very serious point that we are trying to put out, so that people can think of animals as sentient human beings, not just pieces of meat on supermarket shelves. The results we are getting for the animals is part of our main aim, which is to alleviate their suffering."

Let us stop bothering to appeal to Peta's better judgment. Now is the time for serious action against the organisation. Let those of us who care about the harm it is doing try to shut them down. The harm they do to both women and animals is enough to justify calling on even the most passionate animal rights activist to support us in the campaign to close this hate-filled organisation.