In Norse mythology, Odin – Allfather, the archetypal male and king of the world- symbolises traits that feminism derogates as ‘toxic masculinity’ associated with the feminist conception of patriarchy. The proposed amendments to the sexual consent law in Sweden can be analysed as a symbolic castration of the Nordic male, but a further symbolic implication is that of nuetering his female partner Frigg, the goddess of fertility, motherhood, love and marriage – Earthmother, the archetypal female and queen of the world – whose divinity is tied to the libidinal potency of Odin.
In my earlier article Semantogymnastics about Microconsent I have evaluated an emerging trend in the jurisprudence of sexual consent. It appears that the first country to apply the associated principles to criminal law will be Sweden.
Sweden plans changing the law to require explicit consent before sexual contact (The Guardian) and at each step of sexual encounter (RT). I have contacted the Swedish Ministry of Justice for comment and have been advised by Kristoffer Strömgren that the wording of the draft legislation has now been amended by removing the ‘explicit consent’ requirement in favour of just ‘consent’.
The Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven previously attempted to clarify the meaning of the proposed legislation by stating that you should not engage in sex unless you are sure that consent had been granted – “If you are unsure, then refrain!” (The Independent). This seemingly innocuous answer does not clarify the matter at all – it is now unclear what would constitute a reasonable ground of being sure that consent had been granted. It also implies a requirement of strict certainty rather than all-things-considered subjective judgement that would allow for the possibility of fair misunderstanding – on one view, we can never be sure about the state of mind of another.