Voices: The sinister truth about ‘those’ images of Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin

Heard about the latest “scandal” in politics? No, it’s not the photographs of the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, enjoying his second holiday in two weeks during a cost of living crisis, at a time when he should still be running the show. It’s not former US president Donald Trump, and his bizarre defiance in the face of being investigated by the FBI, after some 700 pages of classified records were found at Mar-a-Lago.

It’s not even the fact that the same former leaders (lest we forget) have raised eyebrows for their conduct, including their treatment of (and comments about) women. It was recently alleged that Johnson tried to offer his then-lover (now wife) a top government job while foreign secretary, after being found in an allegedly “compromising situation”. He also stands accused of presiding over a pervasive and widespread culture of misogyny at Westminster; has been blasted for previous comments about how voting Tory can “cause your wife to have bigger breasts” – and that’s before we even get to the lockdown parties at No 10 during the pandemic.

His US counterpart, meanwhile, has boasted in the past about grabbing women “by the pussy” and bragged about his attempts to have sexual intercourse with a married woman who rejected his advances; insisting he had the right to do “whatever he wanted” as he was a “star”. And he’s currently trying to sue the FBI and appoint a “special master” to investigate the documents he took with him when he left the White House.

Forget all that, though – put it aside, for the latest political drama gripping the headlines is far, far worse than that. More eye-popping. More salacious. Shocking, even. That’s right: Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin has been outed for... having a party with her mates. I know. I KNOW. Oust her at once!

You must have heard about it: Marin is young, she’s dynamic – and she’s been shamed on social media for drinking, dancing and having fun. The horror. Not only that, a second scandal has now developed thanks to the leaking of a photo of two topless influencers kissing while covering their breasts with a Finland sign at Marin’s official residence in Helsinki after a music festival.

There is, of course, one very real and very sinister reason for all of this ridiculous outcry, which I’ll outline here. And I’ll keep it simple: misogyny.

How else to explain the frothy-mouthed, puritanical outpouring of dismay by some on social media; the calls for drug testing and for public apologies? Apologies… for what? For having a good time? Take us all away, Fun Police, and throw us in the chokey.

Marin, to her credit, has done what most women do when we encounter sexism: rolled her eyes and got on with it. She has apologised for the allegedly “inappropriate” photos. She’s also done a drugs test to counter the wicked whispers from certain conservative corners of the internet. It came back negative. Surprised? You shouldn’t be: even us wayward women can stay away from Class As and still have fun.

But she didn’t need to say sorry really; not in my book. She didn’t need to prostrate herself at the altar of prissy, pious, hypocritical righteousness. How many of the politicians (and self-appointed social media pundits) condemning her have – truly – never had a drink and a laugh with their mates? Never had their BNO (Big Night Out) posted to anyone’s Instagram stories? (That’s if they have mates. Having a go at Marin is certainly a “I don’t have a social life” self-own. I wouldn’t put them on my guest list any time soon.)

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No, Marin has nothing to regret when it comes to her behaviour, when you consider that the words “I’m sorry for slacking off” or “I’m sorry for my conduct” have so rarely left the lips of our own PM. Those berating her are doing it from a place that screams sexism: a stance that we’ve seen replicated countless times.

Just look at the different ways our own MPs are treated when they have affairs, because women continue to be judged through a different lens to men (as explained so succinctly here).

This completely OTT reaction to what amounts to nothing more than a boogie and a bit of a booze-up is another manifestation of the type of sexism that leads to men being massively overrepresented in the political landscape, as opposed to women. As data scientist Dr Pragya Agarwal puts it forThe Independent: “This is not the first time a male politician’s transgressions have become public news; and in this way, it has become somewhat normalised. Women, on the other hand, are held to higher moral and ethical standards. Gender raises the ethical bar.”

She adds: “According to a 2014 Pew poll, 34 per cent of people surveyed believed that women in high-level political offices were more honest and ethical than men.” It wouldn’t, then, seem much of a stretch to assume that these types of gender stereotypes and attitudes and meted out when it comes to our expectations of male vs female behaviour for high-profile politicians, either.

The reason I believe Marin has been judged so harshly is thus: because she is a woman. And women aren’t “supposed” to be anything other than nice, good, sweet and docile.

But “good” girls are fighting back. Marin is 36 – she’s allowed to have a personal life. No wonder thousands of women in Finland and elsewhere are posting videos of themselves to Twitter, dancing, to show solidarity with the PM. There’s even a hashtag: #SolidaritywithSanna. That’s because every woman knows one thing, and one thing above all else: that girls just wanna have fun.