5 Chapter 5 The Refugee Crisis Cannot be Blamed for Reported Rapes in Sweden

            In 2015, the Swedish government accepted an unheard of 163,000 asylum seekers, many from predominantly Muslim countries. Also in 2015, the number of reported rates spiked (The Local). Many Swedes were quick to make a case for causation between these two events; the Muslim men raped more women. This assumption, however, is not based on any legitimate facts and is nothing more than a scare tactic used to further fuel xenophobic ideologies. While it cannot be debated that there was a rise in the number of reported rapes, the circumstances surrounding the incidents do not support the idea that it could be the result of any influx of migrants. As we see in Sun Storm, rapes are not always (in fact they rarely are) done at the hands of strangers. Rebecka’s rape was perpetrated by someone that she knew and trusted, not the new scary immigrant that recently moved in. Blaming these types of statistics on refugees is a cop out taken by the government in order to allow society to ignore the real problems surrounding rape; legitimate statistics are ignored, the true perpetrators are not acknowledged, and the victims are blamed.

The number one piece of evidence that is used to back up the idea that migrant men are responsible for this rape increase is that the 2015 spike in reported rapes comes in the same year that Sweden let in a record-breaking number of individuals seeking asylum. As stated earlier, this fact is not disputable: the connection is there. The facts, however, are not. Even with 163,000 migrants coming into the country, and the assumption that every single male asylum seeker was five times more likely to commit rape, their arrival could not account for the increase in sex crimes in the country (The Local). In fact, one would have to assume that these asylum seekers are at least 83 times more likely to rape than others (The Local). It is not completely unreasonable to think that young, male, unaccompanied migrants may have a slightly higher risk of committing crime, the likelihood of said risk being 83 times more than others is incredibly unlikely. Jerzy Sarnecki, a criminologist who audited a report on the link between immigration and rapes, tells The Local that “We [Sweden] are not facing an occupation by Muslim men who rape our women. The report shows that the immigration influx has not affected the number of sexual offenses.”

As in the case of Rebecka’s rape at the hands of Thomas Söderberg, rape is generally a very personal crime committed by someone already known to the victim, not a scary man lurking in the shadows. In the United States, 8 of 10 perpetrators of sexual violence are known to the victim (RAINN). When these numbers are not appreciated, rape is not talked about correctly or in a way that would raise awareness. If rape is described as something that happens when you are walking alone down a dark street and a masked assailant drags you into an alley, victims, especially young people, will not view their own assaults as rapes because the concept that someone you trust could do that to you is not presented to them. This will in turn lead to high numbers of unreported rapes and other sex crimes, and could provide the opportunity to the perpetrators to continuously assault their victims as the victim may not realize the true nature of the behavior. The fact that these crimes are committed by people the victim already knows also directly contradicts the idea that refugees are to blame for increasing rape numbers. The aforementioned report audited by Sarnecki found that the increase in the number of reported rapes was linked to incidents that were carried out by perpetrators who were known to the victim and that did not involve any violence and that there was no increase in “outdoor attacks by strangers” (The Local) which would be the types of attacks one would expect to see if a bunch of migrant men were running rampant on the streets attacking passersby.

The rape that takes place in Sun Storm is not the only incident of sexual assault that occurs in the novel. Both Sara and Lova have been, or are currently being, molested by either their late uncle Viktor or their grandfather Olof. The novel stays true to reality by making this molestation a sort of background plot that is not ever the main focus of the storyline. When children are the victims of sex crimes, 93% of the time the perpetrator was known to the victim and 34% of them were family members (RAINN). Often, children do not fully understand what is happening to them or why it matters; another reason that society needs to have the conversation about rape and sexual assault and what that really means. If people are more informed and they in turn inform their children about bodily autonomy and what constitutes as inappropriate contact, the world may become one that is more supportive of survivors and that encourages victims, even children, to recognize when boundaries have been crossed.

Lastly, blaming an increase in reported sex crimes on refugees not only encourages an anti-immigration viewpoint, but also opens up the door for victims (mainly women) to be partially held accountable. When the main suspects of rapes are seen as strangers or monsters lurking in the shadows, a government’s first instinct is often to tell women to be more aware or to not go out alone. While this is pretty decent advice for anyone looking to avoid being the victim of crime, it is an unacceptable response to a “crisis” involving violent attacks. For example, police in Östersund, a city in Northern Sweden (but still about ten hours south of Rebecka’s native Kiruna) recently came under fire for issuing a warning that women should not go out at night or alone due to a risk of being assaulted (Orange). In response to this announcement, the mayor of Östersund, Ann-Sofie Andersson, issued a statement that pretty well sums up the problem with this line of thinking: “The solution can never be to not go out,” (Orange). If police are going to blame migrant men for these attacks, they ought to be out on the street trying to protect citizens instead of calling on the citizens to accommodate these so-called attackers. When people in positions of authority openly place the responsibility on women to not get raped, we see consequences like those faced by Rebecka in Sun Storm.

The response to Rebecka’s rape is a typical example of the way victims are often viewed, especially when the perpetrator is someone generally loved and trusted, much like Thomas was. Thomas’s wife Magdalena, and the other church members “encouraging” Rebecka by letting her know that they forgave her, even though she had done nothing that needed forgiving, is not an uncommon response for people close to a perpetrator to have. Rebecka’s experience is summed up when she is asked to leave the church so that she won’t be a constant temptation to Thomas.

“Rebecka understands exactly why they have asked her to come. Thomas cannot remain in the church if she is a member of the congregation, for then he will be constantly reminded of his sin. And everybody wants Thomas to stay,” (Larsson 250). The rape has been turned back around on Rebecka as something that she allowed to happen and the other pastors make it clear whose side they will choose. Through personal experience of working with rape survivors, I have seen that the victims are often blamed as if they had done something to provoke the rapist; since there’s no way that this person that so many people love and respect could do something like that. I have met women who were asked to change their living situation, or asked if they could just “enroll in a different class so you won’t have to see him”. Too often women are called upon to change their lives and their behavior rather than authorities addressing the actual reason for rape: rapists.

In conclusion, the suggestion that refugees are to blame for the increase in rapes in Sweden is ludicrous when checked against legitimate facts and statistics. Using immigration as an excuse to not have to legitimately address a sexual assault problem paves the way for victims to be asked to accommodate to perpetrators and to be dismissed when or, more accurately, if they ever come forward to report the crime.

Works Cited

Larsson, Åsa, and Marlaine Delargy. Sun Storm. Delacorte Press, 2007.

“New Crime Study: Rise in Sweden’s Rape Stats Can’t Be Tied to Refugee Influx.” The Local, The Local, 29 May 2019, www.thelocal.se/20190529/increase-in-swedens-rape-statistics-cant-be-tied-to-refugee-influx-study-suggests (Links to an external site.).

Orange, Richard. “Police Warn Women Not to Go out Alone in Swedish Town after Spate of Sex Attacks.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 8 Mar. 2016, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/12188274/Police-warn-women-not-to-go-out-alone-in-Swedish-town-after-spate-of-sex-attacks.html (Links to an external site.).

“Perpetrators of Sexual Violence: Statistics.” RAINN, Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 2014, www.rainn.org/statistics/perpetrators-sexual-violence (Links to an external site.).