A week ago I took my old laptop in use again. Pretty much exactly a year ago the police had completed the investigation on it trying to find some trails leading them to the source of my blackmailer. Something strange came up in another country. But it wasn’t enough for them to chase due to our laws.
Since I got my laptop back, it has stood in a corner behind the couch in my office, completely untouched. Somehow, my laptop had become the villain through which the evil was thought to have emerged. And it just sat there, constantly reminding me of the blackmailing.
Truth is, I was scared to turn it on. I believed that if I did, my blackmailer would get access to all of me again. And maybe the next time it would be worse.
I knew that all I would need to do is wipe my laptop completely, and then I could keep using it. But this thing that I had loved so much, and had enjoyed so much creation on, it felt hard having to look at it in such a way. It sounds silly, I know. It really just is a ‘thing’. But that’s just it - any 'thing' can become the focus of blame in the absence of the true predator.
A year on, I have experienced such a depth of love and support I earlier could not have imagined and for last year’s International Women’s Day these women joined me to stand up against the predators in the world.
We are making a statement that all women are in charge of their own bodies and no-one - NO-ONE - can shame them for their desires, their sensuality, their sexuality, their desires or their expression or their bodies.
We stood - and still stand - together for all the women who have been slut-shamed.
We stand together for all the women who have been shamed for how she expresses herself.
We stand together for all the women whose power has been removed.
We stand together for all the women who have been harmed.
We stand together for all the women whose temples have not been treated with love or respect.
We stand together. For all the women. For each other.
We stand together to disarm the predators.
Never have I felt such support before.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Enjoy our statement.
Photographed by Jenny Perklén
Edited by Darrell Burke (IG)
Feat the gorgeous women Linda Törnström, Daniela Ragnell, Pamela Lundberg, Hanna Hindersson, Christel Abborre, Amanda Abborre, Anna Hellén, Amanda Lilja, Heidi Wasström, Ellie Westerlund and me.