Yesterday I saw an article about rapes rates around the world. Sweden have the second highest rates in the world. But why??? I am shocked. I wasnt ecpecting that. I thought that sweden is a peacefull nation on of the best to live in. But why there are so many rapes? Can someone explain?
IIRC, Sweden has a broader definition of rape than other countries, even some things that would not be termed even sexual assault in the US or other countries.
You have to realize that Sweden is a highly developed country, and pretty liberal. Therefore reported rapes would be high, and it would distort the reality of it compared to other countries. Many societies hold stigma with rape and a lot of people don't report it when it happens to them. Even North America has a lot of unreported rape cases. I'm just assuming that it is Swedens progressive attitude, and relatively low crime rate, that makes rape become much more widely reported, I don't believe that there is soething about Sweden that causes more rape, it's just as said before more reported.
Sweden is not the utopia the English-speaking world pretends. Scandinavia is not the paradise the Anglosphere is led to believe it is. Sweden has problems such as an illegal sex trade (exploiting a lot of women from poorer areas who come to Sweden for a better life), to sexual violence, and just plain misogyny. On top of that, men who are raped face similar problems of delegitimisation just as male rape victims all over the world do. Like any country, Sweden isn't immune from rapists, nor is it immune from those who defend rapists, consciously or in more subtle ways. However, going of WooEEE's comments, it's also true that Sweden has better social services and better response to rape than the US or Britain. I wouldn't be willing to say that Sweden has a lower rate of sexual violence, but I will believe that it has a higher rate of reporting. Rape and other sexual violence isn't easily looked at through statistics; we know there are so many people who don't come forward that it's hard to judge accurately.
In response to Aussie792: Maybe I'm just oblivious, but I have lived in Sweden all of my life and the fact you stated about illegal sex trade seem wrong. I doubt illegal sex trade in Sweden would be any worse than anywhere else in Europe. Especially considering how progressive Sweden is on these matters. About the rates. From my own experience of our society and media we are very well aware of rapecrimes and often encourage victims to speak up. Which would be one reason our rates are so high. It might also, as someone said above, have to do with what is considered as rape in Sweden.
On a somewhat unrelated note, was India #1? I get the sad feeling it is, and it's such a shame to see a country go through the rape epidemic India has. As for Sweden, that surprised me. I'd think their rape rate would be near the rest of Europe.
