Some of you may be familiar with the recent fuss in Finland about the behavior of their prime minister Sanna Marin. She became prime minister in 2019 at age 34, becoming the youngest ever chief executive of a country.. Recently a video was released on social media of her dancing at a private party and clearly having a good time.
Finland’s Prime Minister @MarinSanna is in the headlines after a video of her partying was leaked today.
She has previously been criticized for attending too many music festivals & spending too much on partying instead of ruling.
The critics say it’s not fitting for a PM. pic.twitter.com/FbOhdTeEGw
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 17, 2022
Then questions were raised in parliament about the appropriateness of her behavior and some even suggested that she may have taken drugs other than alcohol.
Opposition party leader, Riikka Purra, called for Ms Marin to take a voluntary drug test, saying there was a “shadow of doubt” hanging over the prime minister.
And MP Mikko Karna, a member of the Centre Party who serve in Ms Marin’s coalition government, tweeted that “it would be wise” for her to “voluntarily undergo a drugs test”.
She denied this but agreed to take a drug test that came back clean.
I thought the whole thing ridiculous and was sorry that she had felt obliged to succumb to a drug test just for dancing. Why should she not be able to dance and have a good time at a party without being judged adversely? She was dancing energetically in a way that young people do but that does not mean that others should try to shame her for it.
Then it became worse. A photo was released that showed topless women in the prime minister’s residence and she was again rebuked for it and forced to apologize.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologised for a topless photo of guests at her official residence.
It comes days after she deflected accusations of having an excessive party lifestyle, by voluntarily taking a drug test – which came back clean.
The latest photo, of two well-known influencers, was taken inside the prime minister’s residence in July and widely shared on social media on Tuesday.
Ms Marin admitted “the picture is not appropriate” and apologised.
In it, two women can be seen kissing each other covering up their bare chests with an official-looking sign reading “Finland”.
On Monday, Ms Marin said the party at her official residence in Helsinki, Kesaranta, happened after the Ruisrock music festival in July. Finnish media report that the photo was taken in the downstairs toilets used by guests.
“We had sauna, swam and spent time together,” Ms Marin said. “That kind of a picture should not have been taken but otherwise, nothing extraordinary happened at the get-together,” she added.
So what if women were topless, especially since in Finland, it is apparently not illegal for women to be topless in public. If it had been men, no one would have said anything, especially since it was a pool and sauna party. I cannot help but suspect that her being a woman added to the sense that she was behaving inappropriately in allowing this to happen.
I had the impression that Europeans in general were more relaxed about this kind of thing. But the Finnish political class seem to be acting like the uptight prudes of the geriatric US political classes who act like paragons of virtue while indulging in all manner of indiscretions in private. They could never dance energetically like Marin and cannot seem to come to terms with the fact that young people think nothing of putting their lives on social media.
I bet if she were a man, it’d be laughed off as a case of ‘boys will be boys’.
Sanna Marin will have to do double her usual quota of forest-raking to atone for this!
She’s young, a woman, and a Social Democrat. Plenty of Other for conservatives.
HOT NEWS FLASH “Young woman behaves like a young woman”
Most government leaders are stodgy and old before their time, so Marin’s choice of down time stands out from the crowd. Some people can’t understand a leader who isn’t in a back room, smoking cigars and pocketing bribes.
It’s not her age. It’s that she’s a woman. And not only that, a woman in a position of power. Of course she has to be an absolute paragon of virtue, any sign of humanity is a weakness, because she’s a woman.
Bojo got sqwarked over Partygate in the UK. AFAICT, he’s not a woman.
With Boris Johnson it was not the partying itself but the fact that the parties broke the pandemic rules that he had imposed on the country, so the situations are not comparable. In Marin’s case, no rules were broken. She was being criticized for behaving like a young person.
Women dancing while having breasts is a frequent terrible crime throughout history.
At least they omitted the traditional witch burning, and consorting with demons accusations, so there’s been a bit of progress.
This is about on par with the U.S. right wingers spreading that video of AOC participating in some dancing video for her college, and somehow thinking it’s something people should be shocked/concerned about.
:/
Business as usual. The opposition party led by Mrs Purra is the Tea Party of Finland. And Mr Kärnä represents Lapland, where religious conservatives are a big part of the electorate.
Lassi, thanks. I take it you might be a local because of your nym and because you used the (now archaic) Mrs rather than the more modern Ms.
…some even suggested that she may have taken drugs other than alcohol.
“Suggested?” If they had any actual evidence, they surely would have done more than “suggest.” Can I politely “suggest” that Riikka Purrra may (or may not) have brutally raped and murdered a teenage girl about ten or so years ago? Just a suggestion.
Opposition party leader, Riikka Purra, called for Ms Marin to take a voluntary drug test…
To which Ms Marin should have replied “Get a fucking warrant.”
…saying there was a “shadow of doubt” hanging over the prime minister.
A “shadow of doubt?” Not a “reasonable doubt?”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologised for a topless photo of guests at her official residence.
God’s balls, please tell me the Finns aren’t emboldening their bigoted loony right the same way we Americans emboldened ours. Apologizing for a perfectly legal and harmless leisure-time action is NOT the appropriate response to such phony trumped-up moral panic.