Liberal Vision

Super Liberal Women

For a while I was hesitant to contribute my thoughts on the latest feminist furore de jour. I feel as though I have said everything that needs to be said; government is not responsible for the self esteem of young women. To be fair, the advertising industry, should be commended for making some significant progress.

Jo Swinson is now persuing some ‘war on pink’ nonsense. I really do wonder what type of women she thinks she is representing when she goes on these crusades though. Are there really women and young girls who fall to pieces upon glimpsing an overly airbrushed ad? Do they crawl weeping to the telephone to make a complaint to the ASA and then drag themselves to the bathroom to purge themselves of every last morsel? Is every woman in the country becoming Daily Mail columnist, Liz Jones? (I think you’ll agree that’s a frightening prospect.) What has happened to womanhood?

Feminists have never been particularly good at making women feel anything other than angry and miserable and I think Swinson is falling into the trap. She has got some ads banned but she is not projecting another appealing feminine ideal (and that’s not really her job either…). The feminist solution used to be dress like a man and cut your hair short – as if femininity and assertiveness are in someway mutually exclusive. Everytime I hear the phrase ‘real woman’ it is accompanied by a picture of some overweight, miserable looking creature in dungarees. If that is real then I want to be ethereal, unreal, surreal. Or better yet, let’s drop this ‘real woman’ crap and think about what is the Super Liberal Woman? I hope she is a healthy, althetic, feminine, interesting and assertive individual who laughs heartily when she sees a ridiculous ad in a magazine, then goes about her daily business (and dreams at night of 4% flat rate of income tax…).

There will always be a media ideal of feminine beauty. The truth is that women have the freedom to pick as much of it or as little of it to aspire too as they so wish. The emphasis should be on teaching girls and young women how be strong when they are made to feel bad about it – not insulating them from it – because you never truly can.

Reformer of the Week…

is Liberal Vision’s own ANDY MAYER!

Is it just me or has Liberal Vision suddenly gone more than a little mainstream? Feels weird. Weird and dirty.

Freedom Forum: 1st – 3rd April 2011

Last month Students for Liberty, an organisation that seeks to support student groups that hold a wide-range of philosophical beliefs that all share an underlying dedication to liberty, hosted the 4th Annual International Students For Liberty Conference at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Founded in 2008, it’s not hard to see why this organisation has grown. The excellent attendance (500+ delegates increased from around 300 in 2009) shows that the liberty movement in the United States is thriving in the face of widespread dissatisfaction with the jaded left-right dichotomy. But it’s not just that. This organisation is incredibly high quality, run for student, by students. It began with pure energy and has gathered momentum ever since. I had the pleasure of attending ISFLC and it was the most invigorating experience in my time as an activist. The quality of the sessions and debate was excellent. The atmosphere was electric. Aside from hosting Conferences, SFL distributes literature and support for pro-liberty groups across the United States and international partner organisations through its network of some of the most competent and dedicated student organisers I have ever had the pleasure to work with.

One of those organisers is Anton Howes, a student at King’s College, University of London and a member of the incoming SFL Executive Board. Along with Will Hamilton and James Lawson he has founded the UK Liberty League, a non-partisan organisation that seeks to further the pro-liberty network in the UK.

On the 1st to the 3rd of April, the Liberty League have organised the first annual Freedom Forum. If you are a likeminded student, professional or academic, this is an event you can’t afford to miss. Book your ticket now, spread the word and be part of enriching the liberty movment here in the UK.

Not your Hegemon of choice? Tough!

I found the programme The Chinese Are Coming broadcast on BBC 2 last night fascinating. The documentary looks at the operations of Chinese businesses in Africa and considering the state of Africa’s industrial and agricultural development, I welcome the Chinese into Africa. I’m genuinely glad they’re there. They’re behaving like the excellent capitalists they are: spurring competition, specialising and trading, giving African locals jobs and building up vital infrastructure. True, they’re not my hegemon of choice largely for the reasons mentioned in the show. They’re not keen advocates of human rights, good pay and conditions for workers. But the agricultural policies e.g. subsidies, chosen by the more human-friendly hegemons of the EU and the USA are devastating to Africa and have effectively ruled out further USA and EU involvement in the continent and will continue to do so until they are overturned. I found it a little hard to swallow the moralising from presenter Justin Rowlett since China has merely filled the gaps left wide open by bad trade policy decisions in the West. For approximately every $3.4 Billion the West gives in aid to bolster the economies of developing countries other policies deprives them of $17 Billion. With friends like the West it is no wonder that, for Africa, China can hardly be considered an enemy.

As for the baby elephants mentioned in the show…”You’re always going to have that threat from poaching so long as that demand is there…” lamented an animal sanctuary owner. But that’s not true is it? You could stop the poaching very simply by making the ivory trade legal and farming elephants for ivory, meat and game hunts.

Men lie to get laid shock…

So what’s new about that?! You may ask… Well, what we didn’t know until now is that it is allegedly the official policy of the Metropolitan Police. Undercover police have permission to bed activists upon whom they are spying!!.

Or so say some of their ‘victims‘, who now appear to be demanding officers should require warrants to enter their premises…

“Undercover police officers routinely adopted a tactic of “promiscuity” with the blessing of senior commanders, according to a former agent who worked in a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police for four years… with women in very, very, very promiscuous groups such as the eco-wing, environmental movement, leftwing, or the Animal Liberation Front…

Sex was a tool to help officers blend in, the officer claimed, and was widely used as a technique to glean intelligence. His comments contradict claims last week from the Association of Chief Police Officers that operatives were absolutely forbidden to sleep with activists…

He said undercover officers, particularly those infiltrating environmental and leftwing groups, viewed having sex with a large number of partners “as part of the job”….

You cannot not be promiscuous in those groups. Otherwise you’ll stand out straightaway…

Female activists converge on Scotland Yard tomorrow to demand that the Met disclose the true extent of undercover policing. The demonstration is also, according to organisers, designed to express “solidarity with all the women who have been exploited by men they thought they could trust”…

The part of me that would normally be impressed in these circumstances is cancelled out by the part of me that projectile vomits at the thought of fornication involving two of my least favourite sub-groups. All those un-washed, hemp-wearing, deeply misinformed hippie activists and people who work for the state.

*shudders*

The long term consequence of this expose is likely to be a large number of desperate men attempting to join left-wing groups, and not just Guardian journalists. For now, a second protest outside MI6 was cancelled when it was explained that James Bond is a fictional character and tends to aim a little more upmarket.

Officer Mark Kennedy – aka what passes for *hot* in your average ‘left-wing activist’ group…

Scrumptious…