Women cheer as Swedish man-free music festival opens

Article here. Excerpt:

'Matilda Hagerman laughs with her friends as she queues at a man-free music festival, which kicked off in Sweden on Friday in protest against a wave of sexual assaults at festivals in recent years.

"This festival was necessary because of everything that happened during festivals last year," says the 27-year-old student with long pink hair and purple lipstick as her friends nod in agreement.

Held in Sweden's second-largest city of Gothenburg, the two-day Statement Festival, forbids men but not transgender people. It was announced last year after police received four rape and 23 sexual assault reports at Sweden's largest Bravalla Festival, which was cancelled this year as a result.
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With two main stages for the mainly Swedish women performers, there was plenty of space to rest outside on pink coloured seats at the centre of the site, turning the festival into a convivial place in contrast to traditional festivals.

"This place feels like a safe-zone where women can just get together and have fun and celebrate ... especially in light of the assaults that have happened at other festivals," said Julia Skonneby, a 34-year-old performer.

"It feels like a certain tension is gone... we're here to make a statement together," Hanna Gustavsson, a 31-year-old designer, chimed in.

Statement, launched after raising more than 500,000 kronor (47,000 euros, $54,000 ) through crowdfunding, defines a transgender person as "a person who does not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth".

This means transgender women born as men are allowed to attend.
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After receiving several complaints, the Equality Ombudsman (DO), a government agency that promotes equal rights and handles discrimination complaints, has asked the festival to specify what it means by "cis men".

"We want to examine whether the festival is compatible with discrimination laws," the agency's spokesman Clas Lundstedt told AFP, adding it would take a couple of weeks to reach a conclusion.

Festival-goer Gustavsson said she thought it was fair to bar men.

"I don't believe in complete separatism but I think it's very important to have this festival right now."'