The camping site of the Bråvalla festival. Photograph: Tt News Agency/Reuters.
A Swedish Music Festival is taking to heart the Michelle Obama mantra of “when they go low, we go high” with a gendered twist. A few days have passed since the organizers of Sweden’s four-day Bravalla festival announced their cancellation of next year’s event after news broke that four rapes and 23 reports of sexual assault happened at this year’s iteration of the fest. “Certain men … apparently cannot behave,” said organizers in a report. “It’s a shame.”
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Rather than go without a music festival next year, Swedish radio host Emma Knyckare tweeted that she wanted to see “a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome” that would go “until ALL men have learned how to behave.” Now, she’s making that dream a reality. She has since written on Instagram that a “man-free” festival will take place next summer. “In the coming days I’ll bring together a solid group of talented organisers and project leaders to form the festival organisers,” she told BBC. “Then you’ll hear from everyone again when it’s time to move forward.”
The “man free” festival idea follows the Womyn’s Musical Festival that was regularly held in Michigan for nearly four decades. That festival was a haven for lesbians and queer women, but ultimately shuttered after protests against its trans-exclusive policy. The Swedish festival hasn’t announced specifics in regards to how transgender communities will integrate into the man ban, but we’d expect them to be a bit more flexible.
Well, here’s hoping that transphobia doesn’t dominate the man-free festival, and I hope it’s a success.
The Guardian has the story on Bråvalla, Out has the story on the replacement.
These types of spaces always put me on edge, anyways.
I imagine they do. I’m not sure inclusivity is truly possible as yet, but hopefully, Sweden will give it a better try.
How long before the MRAs will be screaming discrimination? (Fuck ’em!) If it was in the US, it would have probably already been protested by them.
The sad truth is that there will always be men who will try to take advantage of women, and therefore, do not know “how to behave”. I am ashamed of that.