In defence of Kendall Jones, the Texan teenage hunter.

Kendall Jones is the ultra-glam Texan hunter who posed next to animals she’s hunted and posted the shots on Facebook.

Animal rights groups are up in arms, there is a petition to ban her Facebook page, and a second petition to ban her from Africa altogether.

Jones says her hunts are legal, and actually necessary to control leopard and elephant populations in some parts of Africa.

Nevertheless, the photos have enraged a lot of people. Early on Thursday, it was reported that Facebook has removed some of the shots.

The most worrisome picture is the one where Jones poses next to a white rhino (the species is critically endangered). Jones says that in that case, the animal was merely “darted and immobilized”, and it was actually for injury treatment:

“The vet drew blood, took DNA samples, took body and head measurements, treated a leg injury and administered antibiotics. I felt very lucky to be part of such a great program and procedure that helps the White Rhino population through conservation.”

Liberty News has defended Jones, saying she has a right to pose in the shots and talk about her hunts. Commenting on the 50,000 people who signed the petition to ban Jones, one writer said:

“I wonder how many of those 50,000 eat meat? Do they have any idea how the meat they eat is killed? I promise you in most cases it’s much uglier than what you see in Jones’ pictures.”

The images being used to promote ‘Kendall Takes Wild’ are distressing. So much so, that I started to ask myself what exactly is it that is so shocking about Kendall Jones?

That beauty-pageant face, beaming at you next to dead beasts (and under kilos of makeup) does seem sinister. Terrifying, even.

Kendall Jones is Combat Barbie blown up to human size, and put in a typically masculine setting. That’s probably why she’s just been signed to do a reality show about her hunting adventures in 2015.

The kicker is obviously that real killing is involved — this is not fantasy.

But you know what? Jones is right that her hunts are legal, and she is not the only person posting photos of her kills on Facebook. Hunting (as an interest) has over 4 million likes, and a quick search on Facebook brings up many hundreds of pro-hunting groups where members are invited to post pictures of their ‘trophies’. A lot of those hunters do not even pretend to have conservation as their goal. And the photos are public.

To see pictures of women smiling next to beasts they’ve killed, you need look no further than WomenHunters.com. Take those ladies out of their gear and it just looks like a themed magazine shoot. There are brunettes, redheads, blondes, greying huntresses with lined faces, smilers, sulkers, women who hug their zebras and women who stand sullenly with their rifles near a dead bison.

And speaking of symbols of femininity: there’s even an article about all the ways that pantyhose can come in handy on a hunt. This woman uses it to fix her crossbow, amongst other things.

Nobody is trying to ban WomenHunters.com. So really: why the heat on Jones?

It’s obvious, I think. There are five reasons 1) Her kills are African animals and Westerners find it difficult to believe that they could ever qualify as pests, or that their populations would need to be controlled 2) Jones has commercial backing and is using her Facebook page to promote a reality show 3) Facebook is very popular and the pictures are easy to circulate; it’s also easy to append an outraged status or comment 4) She smiles very creepily when she poses in the shots 5) Kendall Jones is very glamorous-looking.

Judging from the comments, her appearance seem to be troubling people the most.

“How could anyone take the life of such a beautiful animal and SMILE?? I just don’t get it, it’s sick!” one commenter wrote.

“You can see the thrill in her expression and eyes from these photos that she enjoyed the KILLING of these animals,” said somebody else.

In the end, we dislike Kendall Jones because society still has a mixed feelings about active and powerful women. Especially women who get their power by taking charge.

Why do we object strongly to Kendall Jones but less to a male hunter? Or a beautiful girl who marries a hunter and lets him do the dirty work? Or the less-glam ladies on WomenHunters.com?

Kendall herself is circulating an image of beloved president Theodore Roosevelt next to a rhino he shot as part of a conservation effort.

“For some folks, they’ll never understand. For the rest of us … we were born that way. God Bless Teddy,” she says.

If you have a problem with hunting, by all means, campaign against the activity itself. But banning a few pictures from Facebook won’t achieve anything.

Kendall Jones is your ice-bitch cheerleader nightmare come to life. But that doesn’t mean we should ban her photos. It’s not fair to swipe at her because her cold look makes us feel uncomfortable.

Sandra Hajda is a Melbourne writer. Her work has appeared in Killings, Lip Mag, Idiom 23 and Overland.

How do you feel about the photos of Kendall Jones? Do you think the reaction is representative of a societal double standard?

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