Men Banned From 2018 Swedish Bravalla Music Festival, Sexual Assault Cited As The Cause

The Bravalla Music Festival is a Swedish event put on for many music enthusiasts. Now, there is a ban on men for the 2018 event due to a sizable amount of sexual assaults and rapes occurring at the 2017 festival. Initially, producers of the event canceled the festival altogether, but now they have decided to prevent men from attending the concert, according to Global Citizen.

Reports of numerous sexual assaults and four rape allegations resulted in this course of action. The CEO of Bravalla’s production company, Folkert Koopmans, made an announcement that the 2018 event would not be happening because “certain men cannot behave.” Koopmans also mentioned it kills the concert-going experience and that the patrons are getting hurt.

Not only that, some performers were also refusing to participate in the event. Mumford and Sons decided to step out of the festival after 2016 due to the number of assaults, adding that they would not be returning unless action was taken.

The head police investigator said that those who reported the perpetrators had “weak descriptions” and had been reported hours or days after the incident had occurred, according to Slate.

Last year, sexual allegations were also prominent. Five women reported that they were raped while others reported the sexual assaults. The only solution was to have attendees wear “no grope” bracelets. Ticket sales have suffered as a result, going from 52,000 in 2016 to 45,000 in sales this year. According to the German organization that heads Bravalla, they said the difference in numbers was due in part of these numerous assaults.

Emma Knyckare, a Swedish radio host, had the idea to have a women-only version of the Bravalla Music Festival. As it stands, the 2018 festival will be only for women.

The Facebook page for the website Mic had tons of comments regarding this action.

https://www.facebook.com/MicMedia/videos/1575652175790900/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Bustle reported that this suggests sexual assault will occur at these public venues and paints all the men with the same brush. Bustle also mentioned this will just be a temporary fix. Although it was said that the concert will likely be enjoyable, do you think these repercussions and outcomes reflect humanity as a whole?

[Featured Image by Matt Cardy/Getty Images]