Music festivals are meant to be joyous places where we can escape the drudgery and tedium of everyday life. But even in 2017 women can't always take this basic expectation for granted, as cases of rape and sexual assault continue to blight the festival scene.
In Sweden, the situation has been particularly bad of late, with the country's largest festival, Bråvalla, recently announcing it would be cancelling its 2018 event after police reports of four rapes and 23 sexual assaults at this year's festival.
But one woman has come up with a solution to the problem – banning men from music festivals altogether until they "learn how to behave", reported Newsweek. While this wouldn't completely eliminate the risk of sexual assault, the idea has garnered support on social media.
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Following Bråvalla's announcement, Emma Knyckare, a Swedish radio presenter and comedian, tweeted: "What do you think about putting together a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome, that we'll run until ALL men have learned how to behave themselves?"
Vad tror ni om att vi styr ihop en asfet festival dit bara icke män är välkomna som vi kör tills ALLA män har lärt sig hur en beter sig?
— Emma Knyckare (@Knyckare) July 2, 2017
Knyckare later confirmed on Instagram that she'd received enough support to start planning the first event for 2018. "Sweden's first man-free rock festival will see the light next summer,” she said.
“In the coming days I'll bring together a solid group of talented organisers and project leaders to form the festival organisers, then you'll hear from everyone again when it's time to move forward."
Swedish festival We Are STHLM was also plagued by allegations of sexual assault in 2014 and 2015 – and the problem stretches far beyond the Nordic nation. In the UK, 28 music festivals took part in an online "blackout" on the 8th May to raise awareness of the issue and promote the #saferspacesatfestivals cause, Newsweek reported.
Glastonbury famously launched The Sisterhood in its Shangri-La area in 2016, a space exclusively for people who self-identify as women that is "intersectional, queer, trans and disability-inclusive". The organisers said at the time they believed that "women only spaces are necessary in a world that is still run by and designed to benefit mainly men".