Defenders of women become Sweden's new idols
PERSPECTIVE
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By Mari Manninen in Stockholm
The battle that husky Northern Swedish men are currently waging against the battery of women has drawn cheers and wonder in Sweden over the past few days.
The efforts of the Swedes began when the men were in shock over a brutal murder. A former boyfriend beat a mother of three to death with an axe in October in Piteå. The crime received hardly any attention in the media, but a man killed by a bear was allocated large headlines.
This provoked an angry letter to the editor in the local newspaper. A civic movement, or more a male movement, was born.
Over the past couple of weeks, 300 men have signed up for a network in Piteå that promises to fight for the proper treatment of women, and against violence towards women.
The men have offered to come and support and protect women who are threatened by violence. They promise to intervene and notify the police if they suspect someone they know is beating a woman. They want to crush the traditional code of silence, according to which outsiders should not stick their noses into domestic violence.
"The men of Piteå are my new idols", the website of the Piteå municipality now proclaims. The statement has been signed by famous novelist Liza Marklund, who has actively campaigned on television and in newspapers all autumn against violence towards women.
Marklund's statement embodies the awed wonder that has been evoked by the men of Piteå. The men of the Norrland region have traditionally had the reputation of taciturn chauvinists. But it was the men of Norrland where the core of feminist-Sweden was to be found.
The activism has spread rapidly. First, the men from neighbouring communities used Piteå as an example and decided to form networks, now there are plans to establish male groups all over Sweden, even down in the Southern part of Skåne.
It is obvious that there has been a need to promote the good treatment of women smouldering among Swedish men.
The public discussion on violence faced by women, which has continued for years but grown more passionate of late, has surely had an impact.
A broader feminist debate is also weighing in the scales. There has been much talk about the masculine structures of society that degrade women. Even political parties have proclaimed themselves feminist one after the other.
At times, men have been made to feel the blame collectively. There have been calls for a special additional tax to be paid by all men that would compensate the costs of violence towards women.
I can imagine that there are scores of men in Sweden who are frustrated by the current situation. They would never hurt a soul and they hate other, violent men. Nevertheless, they must bear a part of the guilt. They are also annoyed by sexist commercials and wage differentials. They would like to see a more equal society, but what to do?
The men of Piteå are offering a model where men can prove that they are for change, standing alongside women - or perhaps even ahead of them.
Researchers and public discussants from large cities have written vast amounts of text in their chambers about what is wrong and what should be altered. The men of Piteå are now showing in practice what must be done to change the current state of affairs. The Piteå model can be followed by all men in their everyday lives. All that is required is normal common sense and civic bravery.
Perhaps men are also distressed because of the senseless crimes committed over the past years, where women and children who have just been passing by have been killed in public places.
Men became the heroes of feminism when they promised to begin defending women from the violence of other men. It is hard to imagine a more masculine task for a man.
However, the men of Piteå have struck upon something much larger. They see the roots of violence and the degradation of women deep in society, and have begun to weed out even these roots.
In Piteå, pictures that degrade women are being cleaned from the computers in the schools. In sports clubs, the players or spectators are no longer allowed to call each other names such as bitch or whore.
The men in the network promise to intervene if chauvinistic remarks are made during coffee or cigarette breaks or in men's locker rooms.
But just think what will happen if this civic movement is not just a momentary fad, but really spreads to all locker rooms in Sweden. Sweden may become a better place, for both women and men.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 20.11.2004
MARI MANNINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
mari.manninen@hs.fi
