A Cambridge professor is facing a barrage of abuse after using her naked body to deliver a political message to her students and to her critics.
Dr. Victoria Bateman is an economic fellow at the University of Cambridge and a passionate feminist who’s built a name for herself by using nudity to draw attention to women’s rights.
Appearing in a recent video with the words, “My body my choice” inked across her body, Bateman argues that many of the restrictions women face in society have been brought about by the association of women’s bodies with sin.
“From foot binding, to female genital mutilation, from restrictions on women’s ability to work, to restrictions on their travel – what’s the common factor behind all of those historic and current limitations on women’s freedom across the world?” she asks.
“One factor; the association of women’s bodies with sin, something that results in society’s desire to mutilate them, to cover them up, to keep them within the home, to restrict women’s ability to work and travel. And how do we tackle that? Not by adding to it, but instead, by challenging it, and how do we do that? With the simple message, ‘my body, my choice.’”
WATCH:
There is *so* much to be gained by challenging the notion that women’s bodies are sinful – & by standing up to the presumption that if a woman’s body is on show, she is trashy, stupid, worthless & deserving of less respect. That’s why I for one will *not* be told to cover up. pic.twitter.com/8mVg1LkVrW
— Dr Victoria Bateman (@vnbateman) February 7, 2019
Asked whether she was an “exhibitionist”, she said: “Why should I as a woman only be able to use my body for sex and babies? Why shouldn’t I also be able to use my body to deliver an important political message?”
Bateman added the only thing shocking about her nudity was that, unlike women in pornography, she has a voice.
Bateman herself responded to some of the criticism, saying that she wouldn’t be “bullied into covering up my message”. According to the professor, some people just “seem threatened by a body not under ‘their’ control — & by women who are comfortable & confident in their own skin!”
The academic first made headlines when she posed nude for a portrait shown at a Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London five years ago.
Since then she has bared all at a number of events, including a university function last summer where she wore just a transparent leotard and evening shoes. Weeks later, she posted a video of herself on Twitter in which she covered “her modesty with only a handful of £5 and £20 notes”, according to the Daily Mail.
Bateman explained that she had been at a conference at the Office of National Statistics, where she spoke on the topic “feminism meets economics”.
The university lecturer said that her attire for the conference, comprising just the bank notes, was a “fitting combination of feminist and economic symbolism”.
Writing on the social media site, Bateman argued that feminism in economics is vital to create a more “prosperous, equitable and sustainable economy”.
By posing naked, she aims to make “the female presence felt in a clear and powerful way” and to challenge the idea that women’s naked flesh is sinful or shameful, the academic explained.
Bateman says she receives a lot of verbal abuse on Twitter over her naked protests, from both men and women. But she argues that comments such as “put it away love” and “get a razor” simply prove her point.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: Taphaps, The College Fix
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