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By Mollie Fuchs

Throughout the semester we read four books, each based in one country. The country I chose at the beginning of the semester was Sweden, and the book based in Sweden is Sun Storm and was written by Asa Larsson. In this book, there was a situation where children were being sexually abused by either their uncle or their grandfather. Sexual abuse of minors has recently become a major topic in today’s society. Many politicians believe there has been an overall rise in sexual violence. The current conclusion is that sexual abuse numbers are rising due to the topic being discussed more rather than because it is occurring more often.

In Sun Storm Sanna Strandgard has two children, Sara and Lova, who she believes have been sexually abused by her brother, Viktor Strandgard. Vesa Larsson admits “Viktor was aggressive and a danger to children” (Larsson Asa 288). Although having someone admit this, the main character was not sure if it was Viktor who sexually assaulted the children or if it was Olof Strandgard who did. Olof was Sanna’s father, and the grandfather to the children who were being abused. Regardless of who it was who sexually abused the children, the author makes it known that it did indeed happen. The remaining issue at the end of the novel is that the children are still in Sanna’s custody, and therefore still around Olof. This means the children could still be in danger of being sexually abused again.

The Queen of Sweden expressed an interest in the abuse of children recently, claiming that “she wishes there had been a #MeToo movement for children 25 years ago because in the 1990s nobody wanted to hear about violence against youngsters” (Sweden’s Queen). She believed it has been occurring for a while and that nobody wanted to realize it was happening because it was too disturbing. This is shown in Sun Storm by Sanna still having custody of her children at the end of the novel, even though many seem to know the sexual abuse rumors about the children – people have just decided to ignore the situation. The queen became interested in the issue of child abuse “after being shocked by a 1993 case in Sweden involving a young man selling child pornography on the internet” (Sweden’s Queen). Since she has become interested in this issue, she has begun campaigning for abused children, trying to bring more light to the situation. She believes governments and tech have failed at stopping the exploitation of children online. According to the article, The World Health Organization estimates that about 200 million children are sexually abused every year, but most people believe the number is much larger due to most cases being “very hidden” (Sweden’s Queen). If the Queen’s initiative became relevant sooner, maybe Sweden could have started dealing with this issue in a more timely fashion. Relating this to Sun Storm, Rebecka might have been able to get custody of Sanna’s children if the world was willing to notice the sexual abuse occurring.

The first line of the article expresses how large the issue of sexual abuse of children is in Sweden: “One in five children in Sweden is the victim of sexual abuse” (Åkerström). Childhood claims that sexual abuse can be prevented “by breaking the silence that surrounds it” (Åkerström). This article makes it seem like the reason why sexual abuse is happening is because people are keeping it quiet. Childhood goes further to express who is responsible for hiding sexual abuse incidents: “Our elected representatives, authorities, schools and the civilian society is, of course, in part responsible for it happening” (Åkerström). Childhood thinks that if Sweden starts to talk about what sexual abuse is and teaching children more about it that it will be stopped. It is not likely that simply teaching kids what sexual abuse is will stop it from happening. How can a child stop a grown adult from committing these terrible acts even if they know what it is? Sexual abuse to minors cannot be stopped because children have no power to stop it. Teaching children what it is will only stop it from happening again once they tell an adult that someone has committed these actions. This relates to the novel because it proves that sexual abuse to minors will not be stopped by teaching people about sexual abuse, but it may be able to prevent it from happening again. I do agree that preventing sexual abuse to minors – or anyone for that matter – from reoccurring is a good thing. If the characters in Sun Storm were more informed about sexual abuse then Sanna’s children would have been able to avoid it from happening again.

In conclusion, the book Sun Storm included an incident of child abuse, which is also a major concern in Sweden. The Queen of Sweden noticed this problem and has taken steps on getting it to be more recognized in Sweden, as well as finding ways to fix this problem. The Childhood article, which is an organization attempting to solve the issue of child abuse, has come up with a campaign to make people more aware of the issue. This campaign involves teaching children what child abuse is, even though it may be awkward. The campaign is also teaching people how to look for signs of a child being abused. Although Sweden has recognized this problem, there is still much progress to be made to stop sexual abuse to minors occurring in Sweden. The idea that sexual violence is occuring more is simply due to biases, and not due to factual information. If politicians would stop using sexual abuse as a weapon to get more votes, more people could realize it’s not an increasing occurrence issue, but a societal ignorance issue. People need to start talking about things that make them feel awkward in order to put a stop to them.

Works Cited
Åkerström, Åsa Andreasson. “Childhood Sweden: New Campaign Draws Attention to How We Can Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children.” World Childhood Foundation, 1 Feb. 2018, childhood.org/childhood-sweden-new-campaign-draws-attention-can-prevent-sexual-abuse-children/.
Larsson Åsa, and Marlaine Delargy. Sun Storm. Delacorte Press, 2007.
“Sweden’s Queen Wants a #MeToo Movement for Child Abuse.” Edited by Associated Press, New York Post, New York Post, 2 Oct. 2019, nypost.com/2019/10/02/swedens-queen-wants-a-metoo-movement-for-child-abuse/.