"Swedish [men] beat women to show them that they are still in charge of them, in spite of the fact that they have lost the power over them outside the homes"
~ Swedish ambassador to Brazil, Margareta Winberg, during an interview with the magazine Veja
The Brazilian magazine Veja recently interviewed Margareta Winberg, Swedish ambassador to Brazil and the former Swedish minister of equality. During the interview Winberg said that 40 percent of Swedish women are exposed to violence and that the numbers have climbed steadily as equality has increased. The Brazilian journalists were quick to explain that equality was harmful to women, noting that violence towards women was only 11 percent in the less equal society in Spain.
What the Brazilians journalists failed to understand is that Winberg is a radical feminist, quoting "research" from another radical feminist. The figures stated by Winberg was based on the government-sponsored report "Beaten women", which had been conducted by the controversial feminist researcher Eva Lundgren. Lundgren has "discovered" that over 40 percent of Swedish women are abused by men.
The definition of abuse in her report includes having been shoved, having been exposed to verbal threats or having been given an unwelcome hug, at least once since you were 16 years old. Any women who has admitted to have been shoved once by her brother after the age of 16 years old has been included in the same category as women who are regularly beaten by their husbands. This "research" report is a manifestation of lunacy which has been financed by taxpayers' money. It is also a disgrace against any women who has actually been subjected to abuse. More importantly, it is a warning to other countries of the consequences of giving left wing feminists too much influence.
“So far as feminism seeks to adjust [woman's] legal position to that of man, so far as it seeks to offer her legal and economic freedom to develop and act in accordance with her inclinations, desires, and economic circumstances, so far it is nothing more than a branch of the great liberal movement, which advocates peaceful and free evolution. When, going beyond this, it attacks the institutions of social life under the impression that it will thus be able to remove the natural barriers, it is a spiritual child of socialism. For it is a characteristic of socialism to discover in social institutions the origin of unalterable facts of nature, and to endeavor, by reforming these institutions, to reform nature.”
~ Ludwig von Mises in Socialism
The radical feminists have infested Swedish universities with their government sponsored ideology "genus science". This political doctrine is constantly imposed on the universities and the schools. The University of Gothenburg, one of the largest in the country, has for example enforced a policy where each scientist who wishes to get funding must include a "genus perspective" in his or her research proposal in order to get funding. "A research project in mathematics you say?, how will this help to bring down the male-dominated system of society?" This might sound like a joke, but is unfortunately the hard reality for researchers in every scientific field in the University of Gothenburg. Courses in "genus theory" are given in many major Swedish universities and colleges. Many of them are obligatory and enforce postmodern Marxist ideas on young Swedish students.
The feminists have also taken over the organization ROKS, which has as its goal to help women who have been abused. As left wing feminist ideology grew in the organization, the main objective became hatred against men. Eva Lundgren had a major role to play in this organization, forming theories about how Satanist male sects routinely murder young women in Sweden. Many young women who have been in contact with ROKS have been brainwashed into believing that Satanist sects are out to kill them; individual women have even been forced to live in small cabins in our neighbor country Norway in order to avoid the imaginary sects. Many other women have been brainwashed by ROKS into believing that they have been exposed to sexual abuse during their childhood.
The sects of radical feminists in Sweden are currently working on establishing a new political party. Their front figure is Gudrun Schyman, former leader of the largest communist party in Sweden. It is difficult to say whether the party will be successful or not, but it is safe to say that Swedish feminists are on the rise in the same way as the environmentalist movement were during the 1980s. Sure, they have wacky socialist ideas and little contact with reality, but they can create public opinion for their ideas and literally brainwash millions of young people through their influence in the universities and government. Hopefully, libertarians in other countries will see Sweden as a sign of warning and question the publicly-financing of feminist ideology.
July 8, 2005
