Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the contradictory discourse of change among the testimonies within the Finland-Swedish MeToo campaign Dammen brister. It argues that presenting change as both achieved and needed could be considered an affective strategy for creating community and inspiring action.

Paper long abstract:

Sexual violence is a problem that appears much insusceptible to change. Despite tireless work against sexual violence over the past decades, it is still prevalent and ignorant understandings are widespread. The purpose of the MeToo movement was to give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem but it is now often described as having made permanent change in society in regards to sexual violence. Such change was celebrated in many of the testimonies collected within the Finland-Swedish MeToo campaign called Dammen brister. At the same time, other testimonies emphasized a need for change to construct a future free from sexual violence. Thus, change is presented both as having been made and in need of making.

In this paper, I discuss the contradictory discourses within Dammen brister testimonies that celebrate a change made while simultaneously requesting or demanding said change. I argue it would be too simplistic to claim that the testimonies simply praise the progress thus far, while recognizing that sexual violence is not yet eradicated. Instead, I suggest that this ambiguous change–change as both achieved and not–is characteristic to the genre of public testimonies of sexual violence narratives, performing both hope and determination. By presenting change in the cultural structures of sexual violence both in the present and the future, this contradictory discourse could be considered an affective strategy aimed at creating community among Finnish-Swedish women and urging people to action.