Earlier this year, in Sweden, a man drugged a woman and locked her in a sound-proof bunker. I initially heard about this case after having a conversation with a coworker about things that I had been learning through this class. It was so absurd to me that I decided I wanted to research it more. The case turned out to be very real and extremely disturbing.
It involves a 38 year-old man who initially went on a date with a young woman. He went to meet her for a second date and brought her chocolate-covered strawberries laced with Rohypnol. Once she was unconscious he proceeded to abduct her and take her to a cell at his home which was sound-proofed. When transporting her he used masks for both of them to conceal their identities and avoid any trouble. He is believed to have raped her repeatedly over the course of six days with the intent to continue. Police later discovered documents that expressed that the man was planning to hold her captive for 10-years and that as the years went by he was planning on offering her rewards in exchange for more sexual acts.
One thing that struck me as I was reading was the presence of some rape myths that we have discussed in our class. The article made it pretty clear that this case was terrible however they did make sure to constantly refer to him by his occupation, a doctor. The article even included a quote by his lawyer calling him a “a lonely and depressed man” who had been searching for companionship, which I found to be problematic and reaffirming the rape myth of “he’s not the type to do that”.
Overall, I was pretty disgusted by the case and it has made me hyper-aware. As we’ve discussed in class, rape does not always happen with strangers. The survivor was planning on going on a second date with someone who seemed like a nice, normal guy and her life was forever changed.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35399854
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