RECREATING IGNORANCE?

Abstract Abstract In 2001, the first major study of the extent of men's violence against women in Sweden reported that almost every other woman had been exposed to male violence. This article investigates how this feminist-based survey was negotiated by the press and in national politics. The legitimacy of the investigation was undermined in a number of ways, both in the media and in politics. The report was defined as partial and not as reliable as 'conventional' criminological research. The resistance provoked by the investigation is here interpreted as a way of producing nationalistic notions, where 'Swedishness' is recreated as being woman-friendly, just and equal. Notes I would like to thank Catherine Dahlström for translating this text from Swedish. 1. Sweden as a 'role model country', as political scientist Ann Towns claimed (2002), is perhaps nowadays most often articulated in the field of equality, but also in other areas. For instance, concerning environmental issues, Sweden wants to present itself as an 'international model', as the cabinet minister Mona Sahlin asserted (Sahlin 2005 Sahlin , M. 2005 . Oljan ska vara borta från Sverige år 2020 [No more oil in Sweden 2020] . Dagens Nyheter 1 October, 4 . [Google Scholar]). 2. For some examples, see for instance Regeringens skrivelse 1999/2000 Regeringens Skrivelse 1999/2000:24 [Government Communication] Regeringens jämställdhetspolitik inför 2000-talet [Gender Equality Policy in the 21st century] [Google Scholar]:24 and Regeringens skrivelse 2002/03:140, 7, 20 [Government Communications]. 3. The discussion about the relationship between knowledge, politics and power is far too extensive to be accounted for here. The starting point for this discussion is often the work of Michel Foucault and the pragmatist Richard Rorty (for example, see Foucault 1980 Foucault, M. 1980. Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977, New York: Pantheon Books. [Google Scholar]; Rorty 1981 Rorty, R. 1981. Method, social science, and social hope. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 11(4): 569–588. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1992 Rorty R. . 1992 . The pragmatist's process . In Interpretation and overinterpretation . U. Eco . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . [Google Scholar]). In so-called post-colonial theory, the relationship between power and knowledge is often focused upon, as is gender or ethnicity (see Spivak 1987 Spivak, G.C. 1987. In other worlds: Essays in cultural politics, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Mohanty 1988 Mohanty, C. 1988. Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourse. Feminist Review, 30: 61–88. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 4. See Eduards (2002, 130). Eduards writes of how scientific feminist knowledge is continually dismissed as ideological or political, while researchers who write from other, more established, perspectives are seen as apolitical and free from ideological ties. 5. One of the leaders of this project was Eva Lundgren, who a few years earlier was appointed Professor in Sociology, with special focus on violence against women, a new and unique professorship that was part of the governmental policy of tackling the domestic violence problem. 6. A straightforward inquiry form consisting of 350 questions was sent to 10,000 women, and the response was very good: 70 per cent. 7. Statistics Sweden measures this annually through the so-called ULF investigations where, amongst a mass of other questions, exposure to violence is estimated. It is only violence and threats over the past 12 months which are measured. See also Brottsförebyggande rådet 2002, 14, Violence against Women in Partner Relationships. There are two different investigations here. One is a study based only on cases reported to the police and the other was an inquiry sent to a number of workplaces asking about female exposure to violence. The questions were limited to cases of physical violence (that is to say, sexual violence as well as threats of violence were not included) and the timeframe was the last 12 months. A consequence of limiting the question, both as regards the timeframe and the type of behaviour, means, naturally, that the amount of violence reported is appreciably less than in some parts of Captured Queen where various kinds of violence are put together and the questions concern a whole lifetime. BRÅ's [The National Council for Crime Prevention's] investigation states that 3.8 per cent of women have experienced physical violence. The figure in Captured Queen is somewhat higher; 5 per cent over the last year. 8. For an account and discussion of the feminist perspective on male violence against women, see Lundgren 1995 Lundgren , E. 1995 . Feminist theory and violent empiricism . Trans. Linda Schenck . Aldershot : Avebury . [Google Scholar]; Boasdottir 1998 Bóasdóttir , S. 1998 . Violence, power and justice: A feminist contribution to Christian sexual ethics . PhD thesis. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis . [Google Scholar]; Dobash and Dobash 1998 Dobash , R. , and R. Dobash 1998 . Rethinking violence against women . London : Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Wendt Höjer 2002. 9. It was precisely this unwillingness to make clear distinctions between different kinds of male violence against women that caused a good deal of criticism of the survey. One objection was that major acts of violence were not taken seriously enough; another that such a broad definition of violence labelled even normal men as violent. For a further discussion of this issue, see Nilsson 2005 Nilsson, G. 2005. Slagen dam och tystnaden [Captured queen and the silence]. Nätverket, 14: 65–78. [Google Scholar]. 10. In Finland it turned out that 40 per cent of all women were or had been exposed to violence (Heisikainen and Piipsa 1998 Heisikainen, M. and Piispa, M. 1998. Faith, hope, battering. A survey of men's violence against women in Finland, Helsinki: Yliopistopaino. [Google Scholar]) and for England the equivalent figure was 45 per cent (Walby and Allen 2004 Walby, S. and Allen, J. 2004. Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British crime survey, London: Home Office. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 11. Apart from the reports published by the government's special National Council for the Protection of Women's Integrity, which worked in the years 2000 to 2003, these publications can consist of various brochures, information sheets, compilations etc. 12. These data-bases are called Presstext, Mediaarkivet and Artikelsök. Among the papers studied, the liberal Dagens Nyheter and the conservative Svenska Dagbladet are the most important national dailies in Sweden. Aftonbladet, Expressen and Kvällsposten are evening papers. A number of local papers are also part of the material; important ones here are Göteborgsposten and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. 13. I have taped four interviews of 1 to 1½ hours each with centrally placed civil servants all of whom work or have recently worked on the national political level on the question of male violence against women. These civil servants have typically been working on preparing governmental proposals, evaluating policies or implementing governmental policies on local levels. The interviews were primarily used as a kind of complement to, or as a way of deepening, the analysis of the written material. For purposes of anonymity, the interviewees have not been named. 14. As a government paper put it, 'The investigation strengthens the impression that male violence against women is not a marginal problem' (Regeringens skrivelse 2002/03:140, 85). Individual members of parliament, and various parties, have also been able to extract evidence from the results of Captured Queen which has allowed them to put critical questions to ministers as to what measures are to be taken to deal with violence against women (Fråga 2002 Fråga 2002/03:1389 [Parliamentary Question] . [Google Scholar]/03:1389, Fråga 2000/01:1259, Motion 2003 Motion 2003/04:Ju479 [Private Members Bill] . [Google Scholar]/04:A280, Motion 2003 Motion 2003/04:Ju479 [Private Members Bill] . [Google Scholar]/04:Ju 479). 15. In BRÅs prevalence survey, 3.8 per cent of women report that they have been exposed to physical volence in the course of the last year. One per cent reported that this was at the hands of a man with whom they had, or had had, an intimate relationship. Therefore two thirds of the—admittedly very narrowly defined—violence that the inquiry captured took place outside an intimate relationship. BRÅ also discusses a similar trend in the Central Statistics Bureau's so called ULF investigation where 3.9 per cent of the women reported that they had been exposed to violence, of which 1.5 per cent was at the hands of a close acquaintance. If only the violence actually occurring in the home is included, which may be assumed to make the figure closer to that for partner violence, the result is 0.7 per cent. 16. This tendency to blame 'the Other' for violence against women and oppression of women is, of course, not limited to a Swedish context. Jenny Kitzinger discusses how American and English media tend to connect violence against women to minority- or sub-cultures (2004, 31) and Jill Johannessen (2002 Johannessen, J. 2002. Alternative representations of women in the news: NGOs as a source for gender transformation. Nordicom Review, 23(1–2): 263–276. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) shows how the issue of rape in Tanzania is formulated as a problem that stems from Western culture and lifestyle. The problem is thereby 'removed' from one's own culture/ nation, and from men as a group.

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