A new campaign by the Danish Women's Society aimed at stopping violence against women has sparked controversy and was stopped and removed from the internet after barely 24 hours online.
The campaign features a number of small, secretly recorded clips where women hit men in the face (in one instance even a child) and laugh about it. The clips were put together and capped off with a sequence in which two actresses are shown striking a man. In the end, the text appears: “It is never your fault”.
This viral trend, known as “Purse Challenge” and “happy slapping” and is currently flourishing on TikTok. In this challenge, women in relationships in an unprovoked manner hit their partners, spouses and boyfriends with something (often a handbag).
“If you go on TikTok or YouTube, there are plenty of these over-the-line pranks. We want to show what could happen if a woman who was in a violent relationship made such a prank,” Lisa Holmfjord, the Danish Women's Society's director of shelters, explained to Ekstra Bladet.
However, the campaign sparked an angry outcry.
The Men's Center, which advises men in crisis, censured the video. According to its director Jacob Astrup, the subject is “too big and too important a societal problem” to be treated with satire.
“This is how a huge feminist Danish organisation tries to draw attention to violence against women: They use unprovoked violence against men as a comic element to create awareness of violence against women. Cute, right?”, the Men's Council raged.
“The Danish Women's Society doesn't want equality, but considers women as innocent and unequal children and therefore potential victims – for men. The Danish Women's Society should be deprived of all financial support. I despise them,” Karen West, former midwife and a debater on gender issues wrote.
“So there you are! Women live in a world where you can get a box in the ear if you are a happy slapper – their own script says so – and it's not OK, because violence is never your fault, no matter how violent you are. It's a clown world,” comedian Frederik Cilius wrote on Facebook.
Others argued that the video was "completely off" and "lacked finesse".
The Danish Women's Society caved in to the pressure and admitted that it has “created a wrong debate”. The video was removed, yet with a commentary that it “reflects the reality many women find themselves in”. The organisation also said the message was that violence was never acceptable and that it was completely misunderstood by the public.
The Danish Women's Society is the oldest Danish women's organisation. Founded in 1871, the association has worked to promote emancipation and women's rights to education, employment and economic independence, later embracing other contemporary ideas such as the right to abortion. In recent times it has been focusing on issues such as victim blaming, harassment and consent. It has landed in controversy before, for instance for making a porn-styled video on revenge porn.