Sweden is considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, ranking highly in global indices of gender equality. Sweden has the most generous parental leave policies in the world, a small gender wage gap compared to other developed nations, and high representation of women in political bodies. Despite these strides in equality, sexual violence is still rampant and rarely are perpetrators held accountable. The Swedish state has strengthened its response to sexual violence in the past two decades, beginning with the 1998 kvinnofrid law. Since then, the Swedish government has debated, passed, and implemented progressively broader and more comprehensive laws criminalizing sexual assault and rape, and dedicated significant state resources to combatting the problem. Most recently, feminist activists advocated for a consent-based law, which went into effect in July 2018.

Simply based on the law, Sweden could be considered a highly-responsive state to the problem of sexual assault. However, the popular discourse and the statistics show otherwise. Recent social media movements in Sweden, #PrataOmDet (“talk about it”) from 2011 and #MeToo from the past year, brought attention to the problem of sexual violence, and the ways in which men’s violence against women is normalized in Sweden.

The case of Sweden represents a puzzle for feminist sociologists, activists, and others interested in eradicating sexual violence. Despite a well-developed administrative apparatus and a social and political commitment to gender equality, women in Sweden still regularly experience sexual assault and fear being victimized. When they are victimized, they rarely report to the police and find justice through the legal system. This paper seeks to understand the gap between the discourse of gender equality and the practice of sexual assault prevention and intervention, through an analysis of the history of sexual assault legislation in Sweden and interviews with key informants who have been active in research, activism, and policy-making on sexual violence.

Caitlin Carroll is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, and for the academic year 2018-19, a visiting doctoral student at Uppsala University in the Centre for Gender Research. Her dissertation looks at Swedish legislation on sexual assault and rape in Sweden, and how legislation is implemented in the criminal justice system and in state institutions. She questions if progressive and feminist policy on sexual violence can be implemented within patriarchal institutions in a way that supports victim-survivors and holds perpetrators accountable without reproducing gender regimes wherein women are assumed weak and vulnerable and men, aggressive and violent. Her dissertation fieldwork is currently funded by a fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation as well as support from the Swedish Excellence Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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