On Oct. 13, 2015, Sweden opened a centre for male victims of sexual assault. This centre is the first of its kind in the world, and runs alongside an already-existing clinic for female victims.
Located in Södersjukhuset, the emergency-care department is completely free, and is open all-day, all-year-round. The centre is funded by Sweden’s taxpayers and provides legal services, counselling, and medical treatment for male rape victims.
“We saw the need because men are also victims of rape and they often are afraid to come forward because of the stigma,” said Rasmus Jonlund, in an interview with The Independent on Oct. 17, 2015.
Jonlund is a spokesperson for the Liberal Party in Sweden, which ran the campaign for the new centre.
“So far there has been no specific place for men who are victims of rape to turn to,” said Marie Ljungberg Schött, a member of the Moderate party, in an article published by The Local, an English-Swedish newspaper, on Oct. 15, 2015. “Therefore we in the Alliance have decided to change this.”
The Moderate party is part of the Liberal party’s centre-right Alliance partners in the Stockholm City Council.
Sweden has been in the spotlight for a while since the revelation of the country’s extremely high rape rate. Though many consider Sweden to have the highest rape rate in Europe, it is worthy to note that the statistics are often misrepresented, as many countries record crimes differently according to varying police procedures.
Sweden’s police force makes an effort to record each individual sexual assault separately, while other countries record sexual assault cases per person. For example, if a woman were to report a rape that occurred every day for 30 days, the police would report 30 separate sexual assault cases, rather than one rape case. BBC News brought attention to in 2012, with the article “Sweden’s rape rate under the spotlight.”
Along with opening the world’s first known male rape centre, Sweden has made other efforts to spread awareness regarding gender equality. Sweden’s official website has an entire section dedicated to raising awareness regarding gender inequality, as well as highlighting how the Swedish government proposes to challenge these issues.
The site touches on issues including pay inequality, violence against women, gender-neutral language, and a “history of gender equality in Sweden.” The site provides links to sources that provide further information on various issues regarding gender.