Sweden will have its first man-free music festival next summer, reports The Independent, following a series of sexual assault reports at music festivals across that country. For example, the country’s largest festival, Bråvalla, just announced that will take a year off because police received reports of four rapes and 23 sexual assaults at the 2017 event.
After hearing this news, Swedish radio presenter and comedian Emma Knyckare tweeted:
“What do you think about putting together a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome, that we’ll run until ALL men have learned how to behave themselves?”
Vad tror ni om att vi styr ihop en asfet festival dit bara icke män är välkomna som vi kör tills ALLA män har lärt sig hur en beter sig?
— Emma Knyckare (@Knyckare) July 2, 2017
After support for her idea poured in, Knyckare later confirmed on Instagram that Sweden’s first rock concert sans men will happen next year.
She posted that she will put together a solid group of organizers and project leaders to form the festival organization team. Knyckare said she would announce when it was time to move forward from there.
Sweden is not the only country with high sexual assault rates at festivals. Twenty-eight British festivals staged an online “blackout” in May in accordance with the #saferspacesatfestivals campaign.
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