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So first let me say that I do not believe that small-l liberalism necessarily aims toward the elimination of social opprobium; most people do not chase the idea of liberty all the way to Ancapistan. But "not what anyone actually wants to happen" is probably asserting too much. I don't think it's a coincidence that the essay where the term "anarchocapitalism" was coined was first printed in Playboy in 1969; perhaps most notoriously, it was Playboy Press that published nude glamour photos of a certain 10-year-old celebrity in 1975. This was one year after the initial publication of Richard Farson's Birthrights, which contains the following passage (page 147-148 in the hardback I just pulled from my shelf)--
This is typical of bleeding-edge conversations surrounding sex and gender in the 1960s and 1970s. Nudity and sexual activity, being "natural," could not be bad; any shame or embarrassment or reticence felt in connection with one's body and its functions was a social construction in need of deconstruction. Meaningful harms were not the result of human activity, but of systemic oppression. Practical considerations like "bear[ing] the costs of enforcing violations of a notoriously hard to prove nature" scarcely entered into the conversation, except perhaps with hidebound conservatives whose opprobrium could be safely dismissed as mere patriarchy.
In hopes of maybe steelmanning American counterculture circa 1960, it's probably worth observing that there were (and arguably are) indeed many oppressive aspects to American culture! But people fighting for "freedom" do not typically concern themselves with the nuances of application, as we see even today with the "burn it to the ground" mentality of various anti-capitalist, "woke," or otherwise revolutionary types. These often find themselves hoist from their own petard, as it is not the elimination of social opprobrium they crave, but rather it is control of social opprobrium they crave, and when this becomes evident, many of their "anti-authoritarian" views turn out to just be different authoritarian views, and they lose their punk cred.
But there are purists out there, whether by naiveté or aspiration, who either believe or at least aspire to believe that what would really be best, is total independence from the all the pressures imposed by society. I think it is an unrealistic attitude. But I can grasp the appeal, the dream, of simply doing as I please, all the time. For the wealthy and powerful, it is more often a live option, and their revealed preferences routinely paint a startling portrait.
Sure. "Anyone" is too strong. These sorts of optimists exist.
I guess my take is that this sort of hope is like one of those strange particles that exist for rare and fleeting moments. Like those who think they're going to turn Seattle into an autonomous zone or Occupy was going to reshape all society: they get overtaken quickly by events and more pragmatic/ruthless people.
It may be the first step for the movement is to question norms. But college kids need some guidelines when there's a he-said, she-said. Workplaces need rules. Someone got abused (or "abused") by a famous man and needs to make sense of that. There needs to be consequences for legal yet unethical behavior.
Liberty from both government and society (as anything other than the privilege of the few) isn't a thing. Sooner, reality will force you to pick. In fact, destroying norms forces you to default to the government to enforce rules so you already picked.
There may have been people arguing that shame was all socially constructed but that certainly didn't drive the MeToo movement. Because none of that shit would have been helpful.
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