lunes, diciembre 20, 2010

SI QUERÉIS ENTENDER MEJOR el problema que tiene Assange en Suecia por sus 'aventuras sexuales', leed este artículo de la revista Time:
Foreign visitors to Stockholm's lively bar scene might be struck by the assertiveness of the nation's women — the typical Swedish female seems to have no qualms about approaching men to start a conversation or initiate a romantic encounter. To Swedish feminists, that confidence is just one part of the country's wider effort to promote women's rights. "The whole society now expects women to be as forward with their sexual will as men. That, after all, is part of achieving gender equality," explains Karine Arakelian, chairwoman of Terrafem, a shelter organization for abused women.

But despite having the freedom to dictate their sexual encounters, Swedish women face a troubling fact: Sweden has by far the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe, and one of the lowest conviction rates in the developed world. Various international bodies — from the U.N. to Amnesty International — have slammed the country for the prevalence of sex crimes committed by its citizens. In response, the Swedish government has in recent years undertaken aggressive measures to toughen up its sex-crime laws.

And it's in this context that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently under police watch in London, finds himself awaiting possible extradition to Sweden to face questioning related to five different sex-crime allegations. The claims, which include rape, stem from sexual encounters Assange had with two women in August that began as consensual but, according to his accusers, became nonconsensual. Assange and his attorneys have claimed that Sweden's public prosecutor is pursuing the former hacker at the behest of the U.S. government, as retribution for the embarrassing diplomatic cables published recently by WikiLeaks. But it's much more likely that political pressure of a different sort has landed Assange under police watch: Sweden's campaign to aggressively pursue all accusations of sex crimes.

On Thursday, a British judge released Assange on conditional bail. Assange had been granted bail on Tuesday but spent the next two days in prison while Swedish prosecutors appealed the decision. Assange has not been charged with a crime, and he denies any wrongdoing. But his arrest is another piece of Sweden's internal dialogue about how the country can counter its sex-crime crisis.
Leed el resto. También puede incidir algo, conociendo a mis colegas masculinos, que después de estar tomando un par de copas en un bar, ver cómo un peazo de sueca inicia una maniobra de aproximación hacia ti se presta a malentendidos... Uno tiene horas de vuelo nocturno y sé bien que los tíos "arrancamos" de forma casi refleja, y no todos saben parar a tiempo.

Y por supuesto no lo digo como justificación, y mucho menos en el caso de Assange en el que no consta que hubiese alcohol de por medio y, si lo hubiese, tampoco excusaría nada (podéis saber lo que opino del tema si me habéis leído aquí, o en mis discusiones en Twitter con gente que hasta ahora tenía por muy razonables y que en este tema se obnubilan, en plan carajillero, casi como el Alfredo Landa de las películas del desarrollismo, acodados a una barra de una tasca, riéndose del incidente y calificando a Assange de "pichabrava"; uno casi parece oír "jo, jo, qué tio, en el fondo un héroe por tirarse no a una, sino a dos suecas"). Pero la naturaleza humana explica bastantes cosas también. Además del factor que comenta el artículo, que como decía, os recomiendo leer.

Incluido el final: "And for the Swedes who are grappling with the disturbingly high rates of sexual crimes against women, when it comes to nonconsensual sex, what happens behind closed doors should never remain a secret. If anyone can understand that compulsion to expose injustice, it's Assange."