“Danish Women Put Up With Less”: Gender Equality and the Politics of Denial in Denmark

TY - JOUR

T1 - “Danish Women Put Up With Less”

T2 - Gender Equality and the Politics of Denial in Denmark

AU - Leine, Marie

AU - Mikkelsen, Henrik Hvenegaard

AU - Sen, Atreyee

PY - 2020/5/1

Y1 - 2020/5/1

N2 - In 2014, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights ranked Denmark as the European Union country with the highest occurrence of male physical violence and sexual assault against women. This report was described as ‘grotesque’, ‘misguided’ and ‘untrustworthy’ in the Danish mainstream media, which cited a number of prominent political commentators and expert researchers who debunked these findings. Using this case of overt public rejection of violent and white masculinity as a central analytical thread, this article explores how the invisiblization of Danish male violence, as well as the projection of sexual aggression onto minority communities, produces a peculiar politics of denial and denialism in Denmark. The authors argue that the nationalist myth of gender equality branded within the Danish mainstream media and society is a variety of gender exceptionalism; which in turn generates racist, reactionary and suppressive ideologies on violence, racial discrimination and social inequality.

AB - In 2014, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights ranked Denmark as the European Union country with the highest occurrence of male physical violence and sexual assault against women. This report was described as ‘grotesque’, ‘misguided’ and ‘untrustworthy’ in the Danish mainstream media, which cited a number of prominent political commentators and expert researchers who debunked these findings. Using this case of overt public rejection of violent and white masculinity as a central analytical thread, this article explores how the invisiblization of Danish male violence, as well as the projection of sexual aggression onto minority communities, produces a peculiar politics of denial and denialism in Denmark. The authors argue that the nationalist myth of gender equality branded within the Danish mainstream media and society is a variety of gender exceptionalism; which in turn generates racist, reactionary and suppressive ideologies on violence, racial discrimination and social inequality.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Denmark

KW - gender and sexual exceptionalism

KW - male violence

KW - politics of denial

KW - whiteness

U2 - 0.1177/1350506819887402

DO - 0.1177/1350506819887402

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1350-5068

JO - European Journal of Women's Studies

JF - European Journal of Women's Studies

ER -