Jay Severin thinks he speaks for all men? He obviously hasn’t talked to my husband, who, when he sees ultra-thin models on TV, says they’re too thin for him, that boning them would be like boning a skeleton.

As another fellow who falls into that category I’m pretty certain that it’s a way of for those men who identify as ‘masculine’ to marginalise others for their preferences and thus reinforce the power of their brand of partiarchy. There are quite a lot of parallels between the ridicule of so-called fat admirers and open homophobia since both are intended to promote the exclusive ‘normality’ of conventional masculinity, but I should probably leave it to someone better versed in gender studies than I to explain them. To me Severin isn’t claiming to speak for all men, he’s claiming to speak for all NORMAL men; an important distinction.

I do want to say that I’ve had some problems with organized libertarian parties, however, because they seem to close their eyes to the abuses of transnational corporations and to transnational associations like the International Trade Association (?). What are we going to do when these corporations — and capitalism itself — overextends itself, inhibiting our liberty? What about corporations that choose to fire fat employees or corporations that refuse to offer them insurance to cover their medical expenses? Places like Russia show how truly oppressive corporations can become, with many younger women having to have their tubes-tied in order even to get hired. Do we need government, then, to balance the power of these transnational corporations?