"Offensive" art in Sweden

Some Swedes find certain types of art offensive. And they take action. They remove it, change it, or vandalize it. Here are four examples.

1. Recently, the Swedish parliament removed this painting by the baroque artist G E Schröder

because it "offended feminists and Muslims".

2. A few years ago, a group of Swedish vandals smashed the photographs in an exhibition "History of Sex" by the New York Artist Andres Serano in an art gallery in Lund. While destroying the photographs, they shouted “we don’t support this,” plus an expletive. A woman tried to stop them but was frightened by the axes carried by the perpetrators. 

3. A couple of years ago, when it was decided that some pedestrian crossing signs should be changed to female one, some Swedes found the female clip art too offensive (it had short skirt and pointed breasts) and replaced it by another female with shorter breasts and longer skirt. Full report on this in my previous posting.

4. Recently, I was told that some people removed some lovely portraits of 18th c. astronomers (like Celsius) from the department of astronomy at Uppsala University because they were men. According to those who removed the paintings, there should have been women too. Unfortunately, there were no women professors 2 centuries ago.

Jenny Strömstedt and gender-neutral toys

Some time ago, a certain Jenny Strömstedt, a journalist of sorts, working for one of the world's worst "newspapers" (called Expressen) wrote an article criticising the Telegraph (respectable British newspaper) for making fun of her because she supported the decision of the American company Toys-R-Us to produce a catalogue, for the Swedish market, with "gender-neutral" toys.

I looked at the Telegraph article and then looked at the Expressen article and immediately saw that the politically-correct, gender-neutral, and so on, Jenny Strömstedt's article was accompanied by an advertisement on breast enlargement for women. I immediately thought that I should write to her to tell her that this alone makes her article appear silly. A politically-correct, all-feminist, gender-neutral "journalist's" article next to a "breast augmentation" picture. I told her to change jobs. Of course, she didn't reply.

For the sake of book-keeping, here is my letter to Ms. Strömstedt:

from:     Takis Konstantopoulos
to:     redaktionen@expressen.se
date:     Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 11:38 AM
subject:     A message for Jenny Strömsted
mailed-by:     gmail.com

Dear Ms Jenny Strömsted,

I read about your argument against the Telegraph writer Thomas Pascoe who criticized the Swedish toys catalogue for attempting to mingle the roles of boys and girls. I read about it here: http://www.thelocal.se/44824/20121203/#.UMKGmqyBorg

I am not going to comment on the topic which, of course, is weird, but on the fact that the appearance of your article in Expressen immediately weakens its weight. Indeed, Expressen is not a serious publication; it is a low-quality tabloid, a paper full of offensive advertisements, big sensationalist titles, full of disagreeable colour images, void of any content, a paper which my American friends would immediately classify as "trash". In comparison to the Telegraph (which itself is not the best newspaper in the UK), Expressen can only be used for cleaning windows by those who are interested in reading a newspaper (I am aware that there are many who, unfortunately, are amused by trash publications, and I feel sorry for their lack of intellect).
Thomas Pascoe wrote an article in a rather respectable newspaper. You wrote in a newspaper favoured by the poor in the spirit. I would be ashamed to have anything published by the Expressen. If you think your article has any merit please try to publish it in a serious forum. Not in Expressen!
Sincerely yours,
Takis Konstantopoulos

P.S. I am now looking at the URL of your Expressen article

http://www.thelocal.se/44628/20121124/#.UMKNCayBorg

and that of the Telegraph article.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/thomaspascoe/100021481/swedens-insane-anti-discrimination-laws-have-created-a-generation-of-lost-women/

The second contains a couple of small size discreet *still* advertisements. The Expressen URL contains dozens of *animated*  (hence annoying) advertisements including one on bröstforstöring (breast augmentation). This is not a good place for a feminist article. Unless breast augmentation is for men too. I doubt it though, because, below your article, there is, clearly a woman with rather large breasts who obviously wants to make them bigger. Now, this contradicts the spirit of your article doesn't it? Like I said, seek an alternative publication venue!
PPS. For your information, here is the advertisement below your article.

breast_270x180_46937.jpg
26K   View   Share   Download