A lesson in multiculturalism

Via Dhimmi Watch:

Another much-debated topic in Norwegian media during the same period was an unprecedented rape wave in the capital city of Oslo. “We have seen a dramatic increase [in the number of rapes],” said Endre Sandvik, head of the emergency ward. The number of rapes in Oslo this summer was more than twice as high as it was last year. Brit Opjordsmoen from DIXI, support centre for rape victims, stated in a questions and answers session with Aftenposten’s readers that they don’t know what percentage of these rapes are committed by people with immigrant background, and that most of these speculations are just “prejudice.”

With all due respect, I’m pretty sure that’s incorrect, since I’ve been writing about and documenting this issue for so long that I’m almost getting tired of the subject. The situation is even worse in neighboring Sweden.

Aftenposten have conveniently enough forgotten an article they printed five years ago. In 2001, two out of three charged with rape in Norway’s capital were immigrants with a non-western background. Another Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, quoted Unni Wikan, a female professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo as saying that “Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes” because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative. One reason for the high number of rapes by Muslims was that in their native countries “rape is scarcely punished,” since Muslims “believe that it is women who are responsible for rape.” The professor’s conclusion was not that Muslim men living in the West needed to adjust to Western norms, but that “Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it.” [emphasis added, ed]

Posted on August 24th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: culture, politics

3 Responses to “A lesson in multiculturalism”

  1. A radically spiritual progressive libertarian, on August 24th, 2006 at 8:39 pm Said:

    You shouldn’t reprint stuff from the Onion without attribution.

    This is from the Onion, right?

  2. pwyll, on August 24th, 2006 at 9:24 pm Said:

    Alas, no. Wall Street Journal:

    Writing in Partisan Review, Bruce Bawer tells a story that shows where this kind of thinking leads:

    In September 2001 (only five days, in fact, before the destruction of the World Trade Center), the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported that 65 percent of rapes of Norwegian women were performed by “non-Western” immigrants–a category that, in Norway, consists mostly of Muslims. The article quoted a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo (who was described as having “lived for many years in Muslim countries”) as saying that “Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes” because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative.

    One reason for the high number of rapes by Muslims, explained the professor, was that in their native countries “rape is scarcely punished,” since Muslims “believe that it is women who are responsible for rape.” The professor’s conclusion was not that Muslim men living in the West needed to adjust to Western norms, but the exact opposite: “Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it.”

  3. Paco Malo, on August 30th, 2006 at 10:12 pm Said:

    A good source of information on why rape is a hate crime can be found at .

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