The Implications of Neo-Liberalism

It seems like lately, discussions of neo-liberalism have been cropping up everywhere in my life. From academic classes, to discussions with friends over a pint, neo-liberalism has been a force which is being more and more noticed in the circles I travel in, and because of that, more and more discussed. Most of these discussions are on how we hate the way neo-liberalism sets us up to believe we will "win" when in fact we have very little power in our lives.

I think there are a lot of different conceptions of what neo-liberalism is out there, and I really appreciated the Dean Spade talk we watched which gave us a really good base understanding of neo-liberalism. I found this video which has a really interesting discussion of what neo-liberalism is, and interviews a number of different academics, activists to get a concrete understanding of the ideas that circulate around neo-liberalism. It's a really thorough discussion of the economic policies that have led us to where we are and how neo-liberalism intersects with gender, sexuality, race, class, and concepts of nation.

Watching the Dean Spade talk, "Trans Politics on a Neoliberal Landscape" reminded me of another Dean Spade video that I have seen that serves as a kind of manifesto of trans* politics. The "Impossibility Now" video is a really great reminder of neo-liberal politics because he films it outside of state institutions (prisons, schools, etc.). It really reiterated the points brought up in the talk we watched for class.

I also recently read an article by Robert McRuer which discusses the implications of neo-liberalism on the (dis)abled community, which is really interesting and if you have some spare time (maybe reading week if you're eager) I would highly suggest reading it. In it, McRuer states that "neoliberalism is the dominant economic and cultural system of our time. It is a system that positions the market as the answer to everything. And problem is supposed to be addressed - most effectively and efficiently - through the market." I think in regards to sexual assault, this is especially poignant. If we apply this neo-liberal concept to sexual assault, we can see how survivors are expected to invest in their own  recovery and individualize their healing. Evidently then, "trickle-up social justice" is a crucial ideology that we must adopt, as Spade suggests, where we centre survivors of sexual assault and their experiences, rather than economic solutions. And we must also not centre only the "approved" survivors, but all survivors of violence.