Victoria N. Bateman, a British feminist economist and academic, specialising in macroeconomics and British economic history has posed nude to teach about the consequences of Britain exiting the European Union.
Bateman who is a fellow in economics at Gonville and Caius College delivered an hour-long lecture against Brexit at the Cambridge Junction while naked then asked the audience to sign her body as a petition.
Her controversial performance was ahead of Prime Minister Theresa May’s meaningful vote. The odd protest, which happened two years after Britain voted to quit the bloc, began with her opening statement: “Brexit will happen over my naked body.” She then went on to lecture attendees for five minutes about the dangers of Brexit. She declared: “Art has a power to go beyond what academic writing alone can offer.”
She then blasted UKIP in Cambridge for criticising a prior naked performance for lacking incredulity.
Dr Bateman said: “Can women, who have bodies, not also have brains?”
She then went on to list the positive contribution made to the UK by EU migrants and slammed the decision made by 52 percent of British voters to turn their backs on “free trade” and a “ a “free, open, and tolerant society.”
She then moved swiftly onto the topic of feminism before she invited members of the audience up on stage to sign her naked body.
After the so-called protest performance, Dr Bateman took a swipe at Brexiteers and said that “Project Fear was coined by Brexiteers in the hope of discrediting expert economic opinion on the effects of Brexit”.
Dr Bateman’s naked protest against Brexit is one of a handful of odd demonstrations and performances she has graced the public with.
In July 2016 – one month after the referendum result – she showed up to a meeting naked in protest of the Leave result with Brexit scrawled over her bare breasts.
But despite the dramatic statement on the UK’s exit from the European Union, no one in the meeting at the nation’s oldest university said a single word about her unorthodox display.
A source that also attended the meeting said: “This was a standard meeting about the teaching of economics and we moved away from her state of dress.
https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1085266622904971264
Though #Brexiteers piling on Twitter last night to tell me to #CoverUp certainly hasn't endeared me to their cause! What age/country are we living in? #MyBodyMyChoice #BrexitLeavesBritainNaked #individualfreedom https://t.co/rcM1VUEos3
— Dr Victoria Bateman (@vnbateman) February 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1093452378408407042
https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1093182514691276800
https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1092340667697819649
