Though the night is dark and cold, the little garden behind the Gender Museum in the Aarhus city center is illuminated by hundreds of flickering lights. Here at Mathilde Fibigers Have, people light a candle in memory of Mia Skadhauge Stevn, a young woman that was abducted and possibly killed in Aarlborg the week before.
The commemoration in Aarhus was organized by the Everyday Sexism Project Danmark and the IKKE ÉN MERE movement, who aim to fight gender-related oppression and discrimination.
As one of the founders of IKKE ÉN MERE, which translates to “Not One More”, Signe Uldbjerg Mortensen helped organizing the event. For her PhD project at the University of Aarhus, she is currently doing research on digital sexual assault.
Because of that, he incident wasn’t as shocking for Signe as it might have been for others: “I work with these issues a lot, so in some kind of awful way, I get a little bit used to it”, she admits. “What affected me a lot has been to see everyone else stepping up, supporting Mia and being very visibly touched by what has happened.”
When asked about the idea for the memorial, Signe explains: “We could feel that there was a need to have a place to mourn collectively.” She adds that the event was also an opportunity to focus on gendered violence and the many victims that don’t get as much attention as Mia.
Young Aarhus citizens are deeply affected
Mie Lhyn Jensen, a student from Aarhus, remembers a similar violent experience she had three years ago: “It hurts a lot. So I wanted to pay my respects and light a candle to remind people to not forget about these things. I hope this is an eye opener, so we can discuss it more and be more open about the subject. Because sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes you’re not.”
For scholar Marie Refshauge Kronvang, it is very sad that a normal girl close to her age died on a regular night out: “I think I can relate to her just going to the city, and then something so tragic happened. Me and my friends have talked about how it could have also been one of us.”
In comparison to other countries, the crime rates in Denmark seem to be quite low. Additionally, according to data by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, more men are victims of homicide and the majority of women are killed by somebody they already know. Nevertheless, women seem to be more afraid to go out at night:
Even though cases like Mia’s get a lot of public attention, they rarely lead to political action: “I think people in power see it, they are touched by it, they want to do something – and then it’s just not at the top of the agenda”, Signe assumes.
In her opinion, Aarhus already does quite well in making the city a safer place, for example by getting more lights in dark places or offering a night bus. Still, there is room for improvement. The municipality of Aarhus and the Eastjutland police didn’t comment on the safety situation in Aarhus.
Signe thinks that the community can also do a lot to prevent gendered violence: “We can’t wait for politicians to try and do something, we also have to find other ways if we want to change anthing. For example by speaking up about gendered violence in our every day lives. Being aware of the signs of someone developing misogynist or severely sexist attitudes towards women and minorities – and approaching them to make sure they don’t get away with it.”