Stockholm, Dec 22 (DPA) A spin-off debate about non-consensual sex ensued Wednesday in Sweden in the wake of the allegations of sexual misconduct by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
‘Talk about it’, is the name of an informal network where participants share frank accounts about experiences of coerced sex and situations when trust has been violated in intimate relations.
‘There is clearly a latent need to discuss these issues,’ Sofia Mirjamsdotter, journalist and expert on social media, told the Svenska Dagbladet daily Wednesday.
A week ago, journalist Johanna Koljonen made an initial entry on micro-blogging site Twitter. During a Twitter exchange with a friend, Koljonen reflected on the difficulties in realising when personal boundaries have been violated in intimate situations.
Her entry set off a virtual avalanche. Thousands of Twitter messages have since been published under the designated hashtag, Tala om det (talk about it).
Participants include men, gays and transsexuals. Some men have also written of being forced to have sex against their will or being sexually assaulted. The discussion has spread to online social networking sites like Facebook as well as national dailies and radio.
Koljonen said she hoped the accounts and ensuing discussion would help nuance the public debate, but underlined Assange was not the target.
‘I think it is easier on Twitter, you don’t have to look at someone when you talk about it and of course it is easier when many others have,’ Mirjamsdotter, a well-known blogger, said.
