Has the peace been won? Resistance, resilience and rabble surrounding gender-based violence in Sweden

Abstract

In Sweden and elsewhere, the period since the mid-1990s has been one of substantially increased awareness about the issue of gendered violence against women and innumerable measures to reduce its frequency. This has not occurred without resistance. Difficulties in Sweden have in part reflected differences in definitions, interpretations, and terminology. While primarily based on work by feminist researchers and the women's shelter movement, the production of knowledge surrounding men's violence against women has been called discursive battlefield. The general will to counteract violence and oppression in the private and sexual spheres has nonetheless resulted in a major reform package, calling for several amendments to the criminal law, and an overhaul of public agencies' treatment of women victimised by violence. In particular, the police and other criminal justice actors, the social services, and the health care system were directed to further educate their personnel, to establish improved routines, and to develop methods for multi-agency coordination. An evaluation of these efforts led to strong critique of many actors. Underlying tensions further rose to the surface following a television documentary claiming to expose extremism among many actors in the field. The ensuing and often dramatic backlash can be linked to relatively subtle but important changes in the discourse on gendered violence, although official commitment to the issue remains powerful. Official documents and reports, newspaper articles, and reactions to the film are being used to monitor these developments and to describe the state of affairs as Sweden enters the second decade of the Kvinnofrid reform. Language: en