ANSWER TO 'CULTURAL COMFORT' FROM EAST: Sweden organizes first music festival 'No Men', tickets go on sale in December.

The first non-male music festival organized in response to sexual harassment and rape at concerts in Sweden will be held by the end of next summer

Tickets will be available for sale in two weeks, according to an ironic announcement published on the International Men's Day.

Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare came up with the idea of a musical festival without men in July after the Bravalla festival canceled for reports of sexual assaults and rape charges.

Then the Swedish comedian proposed a "really cool festival where only women were welcome," but she did not even dream what kind of support and success in fundraising would have her idea.

In addition to women, the event, titled "Statement Festival" will also host non-binary and trans persons, and will be held from August 31 to September 1 in Gothenburg. The date and venue of the event was announced on the International Men's Day - November 19th.

The announcement of events in their official social media told readers that they must present some "more important" dates of the event than the International Men's Day.

"We thought it was a convenient day to talk about it - as a reminder of women's issues that still face rape by men," Knyckara said Local.

Some details of organizing the festival are not yet well known, for example. how to ban men entering the festival. However, the creators believe it is important to allow trans people to come to the festival because they are also "exposed to violence, hatred and threats based on the prevailing norms in our society."

"We do not claim that the festival is a solution to the problems of sexual violence - this is a reaction to it," the official page of the festival said, adding that their team hopes that the event will not become "necessary" in the future.

Sweden is confronted with a wave of sexual delict in popular music events. In July, the annual Bravalla festival was canceled due to reports of four rape cases and 22 cases of abuse.

In August, Swedish police confirmed that four teenagers reported having been raped at a festival in the city of Emmaboda, while the other 11 women had experienced sexual abuse.

• 20 Nov, 2017
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