Our tendency to attribute human characteristics to animals has contributed to strong standards of animal welfare. Yet it also has a troubling downside. Equating human beings with animals diminishes the relative status of human beings and contributes to their dehumanisation—a prerequisite for many of the worst things people are capable of doing to one another. “In suffering, humans and animals are equal. There is no difference. A pig is as intelligent as a child with an intellectual disability.” It has been twenty years since a former spokesperson for the Green Party Youth of Sweden compared people with intellectual disabilities to…
Subversivt
Legal abortion is often portrayed as a way for parents—usually fathers—to evade responsibility. In reality, such legislation could instead provide children with protection from disengaged and unsuitable parents. Parents can already abandon their children today; legal abortion would simply mean losing the right to resume parenthood whenever it suits them. A ridiculously low maintenance payment. That is often the only legal consequence when a parent relinquishes responsibility and disappears from a child’s life. Despite the fact that children’s rights frameworks emphasise a child’s right to a relationship with both parents, there is virtually nothing that regulates a parent’s obligation to…
A sex doll brothel has opened in Helsinki, and the phenomenon of sex robots provokes reactions so strong that some are calling for them to be banned. Yet creating and maintaining moral taboos around sexuality is a far greater offence than having sex with a doll, argues Hanna-Karin Grensman. A protruding stomach beneath a creased shirt. A dark line of dirt and skin residue visible inside the collar. An ill-fitting polyester suit carrying the unmistakable smell of sweat embedded deep within the fabric. Thin black hair combed carefully across a balding scalp. Glasses with narrow metal frames that constantly slide…
Greater regulation of parental leave does not lead to greater gender equality, despite what the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees’ (TCO) Equality Index implies. On the contrary, it risks pushing people into situations that are every bit as restrictive and damaging as those that existed when parental leave was effectively regarded as a women’s responsibility. Kristina takes all the parental leave with little Anna because her husband Karl-Oskar’s farm would otherwise go bankrupt. When Karl-Oskar comes in from the cowshed, he takes over responsibility for Anna and also carries out virtually all household work during the remaining sixteen hours of…
Traditions matter, and denying or downplaying their significance is a profoundly misguided position. When the media fills with arguments about cancelled Saint Lucia celebrations and banned gingerbread costumes, the resulting concern reflects something genuine: a fear that important values are being lost. That concern deserves to be taken seriously. The script is almost painfully predictable. It begins with reports that a school has restricted or cancelled some aspect of a traditional celebration. The familiar cast of characters soon appears: the outraged parent, the upset child, and the teacher who explains and defends the decision. In the next act, a senior…