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Insights / ”after Metoo”
”Too many people — men — have too much to lose in a society that is equal”
On why we don’t talk about the global movement like we did 5 years ago
IRENA POZAR
20 Apr 2022

Pozar is a journalist, newspaper columnist, and Editor-in-chief at VeckoRevyn, Sweden’s only magazine for young women. Five years after Metoo started, she’s just released a new book, Backlashen (The Backlash), analyzing what went wrong with the global uprise.

First, when Metoo first happened, do you remember your first impression and what you felt?

— I felt overwhelmed. And strong, but also frustrated and sad. I mean, I was well aware of the sexual abuse and harassment that women in Sweden experience, but it was hard to process all the testimonials, she says.

Tell us about this new book.

— It’s a short book, circling the backlash against the Metoo movement that we have seen in the last five years. In order to be able to describe it, I’ve analysed the historical backlashes that the feminist movements have come upon and tried to find similarities. And, as it turns out, the backlash always looks the same. I hope that we, as a society that values equality, can use this knowledge of how a backlash is created and how we are all a part of it, to fight it.

Do you also remember a particular moment when you realized that it wouldn’t become as we all expected?

— I think the breaking point for me came during spring 2018, Pozar says. I started to notice how words like ’witch hunt’ started to dominate the way we talked about the Metoo movement. And, at the same time, the men that had been accused of sexual misconduct got to speak up in the media about their feelings and how their lives had been ruined…

What’s the main reason why we haven’t seen the fundamental societal changes?

— Patriarchy. Too many people — men — have too much to lose in a society that is equal. 

And what’s needed in order to accomplish these changes?

— More female rage and a new Metoo movement — we need to keep going and do so no matter how hard the backlash is, Pozar concludes.

Backlashen by Irena Pozar.