Why Cambridge lecturer Dr Victoria Bateman likes to strip off
Economics fellow appeared naked on Good Morning Britain to discuss Brexit
A Cambridge lecturer is facing a barrage of abuse after using her naked body to deliver a political message on breakfast television.
Economics fellow Dr Victoria Bateman, from Gonville and Caius College, stripped off on Good Morning Britain today to reveal an anti-Brexit message written across her breasts. The stunt comes just days after she bared all during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Bateman told the ITV show that Brexit is “the emperor’s new clothes”, with pro-Leave campaigners having promised the country something that is “just not possible to deliver”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
Has Bateman stripped off before?
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.
What is it all about?
In the Twitter video, which went viral, 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.
How have people reacted?
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.
Speaking to news site Pluralist in July, she said: “I believe that fundamentally every woman should be free to do what she wants with her own body - whether to cover or uncover, to control her fertility or not, to be a homemaker or to pursue a career, and to monetise her brain or her body.
“‘My body, my choice’ should be the mantra for everyone. It sounds simple enough, but, increasingly, it’s a phrase from which people tend to pick and choose - to pick aspects that are important to them personally while ignoring those that are equally important to other women.”
Others have come out in Bateman’s defence, with a Twitter user posting a message last week that said: “Sad that there are so many haters out there, that so many men and women alike are afraid of what a real woman looks like.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The history of Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories
The Explainer How the 2024 Republican nominee has consistently stoked baseless fears of a stolen election
By David Faris Published
-
Two ancient cities have been discovered along the Silk Road
Under the radar The discovery changed what was known about the old trade route
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
'People shouldn't have to share the road with impaired drivers'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Will voter apathy and low turnout blight the election?
Today's Big Question Belief that result is 'foregone conclusion', or that politicians can't be trusted, could exacerbate long-term turnout decline
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published