Ever since
Julian Assange’s rape accusations Sweden has been portrayed, for better or for
worse, as a country with the strictest rape laws in the world. This seems
strange if you are a foreign woman living in Sweden, because in actuality, the
laws play out very differently, if you are to believe the newspapers.
So here is
the latest rape case that was overturned by the Swedish Supreme Court, because
in Sweden, ‘no’ is not enough.
A 15-year-old
girl goes to an apartment with a friend and meets a group of guys. Her friend
gets very drunk; the girl does not (if she had, she might have been able to get
a rape conviction). She consents to have sex with one of the guys, but then he
invites his friends in and 5 more people have sex with her.
She tells
the police she said no, that one of them held her down, but she was too afraid
to do anything. She had not met these people before. She was alone. She was 15.
She said ‘No’
The men
threatened the girl on social media. There were reported videos made of the
act.
But none of
that matters. Why? Because the girl did not show enough physical resistance to
the act to make it rape. By not fighting back, by not being injured by her
attackers, she was thus giving her consent. Her ‘no’, even if the court
believed it, was not enough.
She had no
bruises, she was not too drunk to defend herself, she is to blame for the
situation because she did not defend herself.
This is
what rape law looks like in Sweden. Yes, there is a new law, but this case was
covered by the old.
When are we
going to start protecting our kids? When are we going to start saying to them
that you are not responsible for other people sexually assaulting you.
Sweden is
not a country where feminists have won the battle. It is a country where we
still have a long way to go.
Posts
I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteYou have the audacity to, as an American, talk about feminism? Most of your people haven't even heard the word or associate the it with extremism, leftism and women and gay people solely.
ReplyDeleteAt least this incident has been covered everywhere in media and has resulted in a lot of people supporting the victims cause - either through social media or whatever.
Swedish people are the most equal, when it comes to the sexes, and gender studies in Sweden is a well regarded field of science. Surely, this has to say something?
As a Swedish, feminist man, I am always going to think that every country has a long way to go and I will never think that Sweden is a totally equal country until women earn as much as men and until our government and large companies consist of 50% women, so I agree with you on that. But knowing all the things I mentioned above, I find it a little aggravating to read this from someone who cannot have seen a more feminist country than Sweden. Do you not agree?
Of course I have the audacity to talk about feminism as an American, I hope that in the future more and more of us will talk about feminism -- because it is important and there need to be changes made. I am an American and a feminist living in Sweden, and though many American women don't like the term feminist, I wear it with pride. Would you appreciate if I said that you as a man could not self identify as a feminist? I hope not. Have I lived in a country that is more feminist than Sweden? No I have not. I do agree what Sweden has made immense progress. But I do feel that Sweden spends an awful lot of time patting itself on the back for its progressive feminist ways when it has a long way to go. Equal salaries, equal roles in the home, legal protection for young women when it comes to sexual abuse and rape, are just a few areas where I think Sweden needs to accept that they have a lot of room for improvement. Yes it is a good sign that the media is outraged, but this is not the first time that a minor has struggled to get a rape conviction due to outdated and misogynistic laws.
DeleteAnyways, thanks for your comment, I do think we are, for all intents and purposes, saying the same thing. And I do think, that even as an American, as a resident here in Sweden for over a decade, I also am entitled to my opinion!
As I understand it, it was the Court of Appeal which reversed an earlier conviction. The case hasn't been to the Supreme Court, and isn't likely to since that court is not seen as a further appeals court as such, rather in cases where new legislation must be interpreted to set precedent. At the same time legal experts look foward to testing the new rape law in the Supreme Court. Once there is a suitable case! So the victim was subject to unfortunate timing on top of everything else, the old law applied as you said.
ReplyDeleteIt's so strange, i commented on this post but I see now that my comments were attached to you previous post even though I didn't even read that one. I don't know if you can move them to this post? I had trouble even leaving a comment......technology......or maybe it's just me��. Live you blog btw!
ReplyDeleteMalinOctober 7, 2013 at 12:04 AM
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you! Our rape laws are a joke! There are so many other cases just like this one, where the men have been found not guilty even though it is very clear what has happened. And if the victim was drunk she/ he shouldn't have been and if you where not you should have been able to fight back....
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MalinOctober 7, 2013 at 12:12 AM
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I couldn't enter my whole comment. What I also wanted to say is that the swedish word for rape (våldtäkt) suggests that violence needs to occur for it to be rape. It's old fashion and needs to change, at least in the law texts. Something has to be done and soon!!
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Hi Malin,
DeleteSorry you are having trouble commenting! I will delete the other comments and see if I can figure out what is going wrong. Thanks for reading!
Sorry for being late, and I might be old fashioned (I'm old anyway!), but "if she does not fight, shouts and scratches the other ones", she consented because she liked it. In other words, the victim MUST HATE, abhor the fact and fight back. That makes her a 'victim'. If she does not do this, BOTH parties must be punished: the attackers and the victim. Simple, but it shows RESPECT for the act of creating a human being... even with a condom!
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