New Found Land kommt zu uns. Die Schwedin spielt am Samstag, 5.11. in der STRAIGHT Box bei der Girls Town im Berliner Gretchen Club. Berlin ist mittlerweile ihr zuhause, doch als Frau lebt es sich in Schweden besser, erzählt sie uns im Interview.
Is Sweden a paradise for women?
Well, to call it a paradise would probably be a bit exaggerated. Sweden is far ahead on implementing a gender & equality thinking in day to day life, as well as in politics. But women still have lower salary/income/pension and still become victims of violence and abuse. Compared to Germany however, Sweden is definitely beyond on gender equality. This was a bit of a negative surprise when I moved here, that the equality discussion is sort of either lacking or a bit aggressive (probably because it’s still so much work left to do).
How visible are lesbians in Sweden?
It has sort of become very ”in” lately to be a lesbian in Sweden, and I think that is awesome! There are a lot of artists who are openly gay (like Silvana Imam & Beatrice Eli i.e.) or openly just themselves doing their thing, you know. Specially women. It feels a bit like a woman-take over honestly and it is sooooo welcome. I think this specially affects young people in a very positive way, but it also inspires me a lot to see that different kinds of people take the stages, the arenas, the space. I mean, when I was a kid there was like one famous lesbian, and one famous gay guy and one hippie dude with a kaftan. Now there is a whole lot of more diversity, different kinds of role models to identify yourself with or get inspired by. Sweden’s definitely on a good path there, I hope we will see something similar soon in Germany.
Where is the difference between Germany and Sweden?
In day to day life, not that big difference I guess, apart from that you in Sweden rarely get cat-called or harassed in the street perhaps. But there are definitely some weird things going on here in Germany, like for starters, if you’re married to a man, when you declare your tax, he is the main person to answer to the tax office. You’re just the wife, the appendix, even if you happen to earn more than him. Also, I recently found out how it works with abortions here. I just knew how it works in Sweden – you have the right to get one up to the 18th week without answering any questions if you don’t want to. You can get free councelling if you like. Germany on the contrary, is said to be a country with free abortion, but in practice it is not. Firstly, it is a criminal offense to terminate a pregnancy, you won’t get punished but it counts as a crime (!). Secondly, you have to go to some counsellor who’s job is to talk you into keeping it, and only if he/she doesn’t succeed you get your referral, but you have to wait some more days before you can get it done. Also, you only have up till the 12th week and while at the clinic you might get bullied by crazy catholic nurses. This feels like medieval to me to be honest. At the same time, we’re just an hour away from Poland, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I like being a person in Berlin, but being a woman is definitely better in Sweden.