1) Many men commenting on Sweden from outside the country, and who claim to be "concerned for women," never seem to have posted anything about feminism, women's rights, misogyny or sexual assault unless they think an immigrant is involved. There's a clear pattern here.
2) When #MeToo hit Sweden in 2017, public debate on sexual assault in relation to immigrants to Sweden was already in full swing. Significant portions of the political right were using ”protecting women” angle to frame all immigrants as actual or potential sexual predators.
3) There was a big difference between discussions of sexual assault in relation to immigration versus #MeToo: the accused in former were largely non-white ethnic minorities and/or Muslim, while the latter group were working in elite industries dominated by white ”ethnic Swedes.”
4) When sexual assault in Sweden discussed in relation to immigrants, words like ”culture” & ”values” used. Sexual assault seen as product of backwardness & even biology. Yet those terms were never used when accusations leveled against many white men in arts, business, education.
5) When "respectable" men were accused, there was concern in Sweden that #MeToo had become a "witch-hunt." Not unusual for accusers to be smeared as over-sensitive, liars, attention-seekers, gold-diggers. Yet this "concern" was all but non-existent when accused were immigrants.
6) These were issues seen across Europe: women’s rights and feminism were trumpeted as core “values” that immigrants didn’t respect, but when there were thousands of accusations against accomplished white European men, suddenly feminism had become too "radical" and "man-hating."
7) #MeToo comparison draws attention to contradictions within a society that identifies itself -- and is identified by others -- as egalitarian & feminist. Those contradictions show themselves in how public debate on harassment & sexual assault differ depending on the accused.
8) Sexual assault a problem in Sweden, as elsewhere. But many Twitter commentators & media pundits who now claim to be so worried for "Swedish women" were all but silent during #MeToo when thousands of "Swedish women" came forward with stories of harassment and sexual assault.
9) Comparing how we discuss rape depending on perpetrator criticized as "Whataboutism," "Rationalization." No. Selective outrage says one crime worthy of attention while other (same) is not. This undermines battle to end violent misogyny for ALL women. And surely that's the goal?
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