Icelandic women in the #metoo group “Fjölskyldutengsl” (En. Family Relationships) published a letter last night containing 52 accounts of gender-based violence perpetrated by relatives and others close to them. RÚV reported first.
The group contains around 600 women in total. Many were subjected to sexual abuse as children at the hands of relatives. Others experienced abusive husbands and exes.
In one account, a woman describes her husband raping her when she took rohypnol to treat life-threatening depression. “This happened often, too often to count, and worst of all was that I discussed it with him, actually begged him crying to leave me alone while I slept,” she writes.
Another woman says it took her 20 years to realize the seriousness of the violence she was living with at the hands of a well-known Icelander who publicly takes a stance against domestic abuse.
The group’s letter commends women in other #metoo groups for coming forward about abuse. “We believe it is important to remember that women are most likely to experience violence in their own home. Violence within the family and in close relationships is a social issue that we must address and uproot together,” it reads.
The group is at least the ninth to come forward in Iceland, having been preceded by women in politics, theatre and film, and media, among others.
