Work-Life Balance, Dancing Women and Cheap Shots
Sanna Marin’s overnight international stardom — and its curious timing.
Sanna Marin was an unknown to most until last week. Unless you follow international politics, you might not have known much about the Prime Minister of Finland. Today, she’s one of the most interesting women in the world: just because she was ‘caught dancing’.
The so-called scandal, as well as its consequences, is quite reminiscent to the viral AOC dancing video which aimed to discredit her — but ended up making her even more popular and beloved. How many other women will be shamed for dancing and having fun before the ‘brilliant minds’ behind the leaks realize this kind of thing just doesn’t work anymore?
Or perhaps ‘they’ are counting on distracting the world from bigger issues?
Sanna Marin has a life and refuses to apologize
So, what exactly happened? Let’s dismantle the whole thing.
Defending Work-Life Balance
Sanna Marin had a weekend off.
“We didn’t have any government meetings that weekend, I had time off, and I spent it with my friends, and did nothing illegal,” the Prime Minister commented. Although she said that she considered the demand for her to take a drug test unjust, she took one in order to protect herself legally and finally put a stop to such serious allegations. She tested negative.
The video that was supposed to discredit PM Marin, with the opposition accusing her of taking drugs and partying instead of focusing on her work, showed Marin in what seems to be somebody’s home or another kind of rented private space with several friends, dancing, singing, and drinking what seem to be alcoholic drinks. Marin did not deny any of the above. Instead, she strongly defended her right to party.
“I represent a younger generation,” Marin said. “I think I’m an individual, a person, a real person also, even though I’m a Prime Minister. So I won’t change the way I behave. Of course, I have to be careful of what I say because it can be represented as the whole government — but I’m still a person, and I will be one in the future also.”
Marin further commented that she resented that the private videos from a private space became public, but regretted nothing else about that, or any other night.
What is this “new generation”?
Sanna Marin is a Millennial. She’s a social democrat, multilingual, a vocal feminist, an advocate for the four-day work week, creator of Finland’s Equality program with a strong emphasis on gender being a choice. Coming from what she calls a ‘rainbow family’, she was raised by two mothers. Pretty Millennial so far, right? Generation Y also loves clubbing and festivals — Sanna Marin does as well. When it comes to the work place, the thing Millennials value the most is work-life balance which resulted in the so-called ‘quiet quitting trend’. Marin is promoting work-life balance right now.
When she says that she represents a new generation, PM Marin is insinuating that neither her age nor the culture of her generation should be disregarded (she is now 36, having been the youngest person to hold office when she became the Prime Minister at the age of 33). Millennials certainly go about things a different way than the previous generations, especially when it comes to Millennial women. Her unapologetic stance in pursuing her interests in her free time (which include clubbing and festivals), while holding the highest office in her country, sets a particular example: an example of how one can be successful, credible and competent without sacrificing their private life or their personality.
PM Marin, in Millennial style, often takes to social media to share parts of both her personal and professional life. Alongside photos and personal commentary on official and public events, Marin has shared photos from her wedding, of her pregnancy, as well as an occasional selfie — because why not?
The “Woman” Problem
The ‘dancing video’, as it is now known, is definitely not the first time Marin has been under fire in the public eye. Being so young, a woman on top of that (good looking, even!) and holding so much power did not sit well with many. The age of “old white guys” running the show isn’t over yet, and PM Marin stuck out wherever she went.
One of the first criticism she received was for giving an interview for Trendi, a women’s lifestyle magazine. Critics of the cover story which, by the way, focused on work, exhaustion, and the difficulty of balancing work and family life, had a problem with her being on the cover a women’s magazine in the first place. Appearing in such an ‘unworthy’ publication was deemed to be a waste of the PM’s time in the middle of the Covid19 crisis. Funnily enough, speaking to publications that don’t cater to women has never been a problem.
To top it off, Marin was photographed in a pantsuit, but her blazer gave an inkling of there being no blouse underneath. Mari Paalosalo-Jussinmäki, director of women’s media at A-lehdet magazine group which owns Trendi, reflected that there was enormous backlash against the photoshoot and cover story in Finland, mostly from men. She continued to tell CNN that she was quite surprised by such backlash, and such a clear gender divide when it came to critics, as the way PM Marin was styled was simply fashionable for the time and had been seen many times before. The critics, once again, had a problem with Marin not hiding her femininity. Being female, still, seems to be some sort of a tragic flaw that should be hidden in order to succeed and be taken seriously.
The women of Finland reacted to this ‘scandal’ by supporting PM Marin on social media — a new trend arose in which women, professionals, public figures, or general supporters, took photos in similar blazers copying her style. Just the fact that everyone had one at home was more proof that the outfit was quite ordinary. Marin’s biggest flaw was, at the end of the day, being young and attractive.
The ‘dancing video’ set off the same response. #imwithsanna is trending, as women from all over the world, but especially Finland, have started posting videos of themselves dancing.
The Trouble Doesn’t End Here
The bigger question than should a PM attend legal parties on their days off (let’s not forget how many illegal ones her male counterparts from all over the world have attended in the last couple of years... khm Boris khm Trump khm Strache, just from the top of my head), is definitely why someone is so hell-bent on taking PM Marin down.
Right after she was cleared from the drug test and the world started falling in love with her, a photograph was released. Two female influencers took a photo at the PMs residence topless, kissing and covering their breasts with a sign which says “Finland” — the kind you see in front of the PM at international meetings. The two influencers are Marin’s friends and the photo was taken in July during the afterparty they threw at Marin’s seaside residence, having come home from a festival. Marin did condemn the photo, saying “In my opinion, the picture is not appropriate. I apologize for it. That kind of a picture should not have been taken.” However, she’s not backing down from defending her lifestyle. “Otherwise, nothing extraordinary happened at the get-together,” she continued.
Curious timing?
PM Sanna Marin is holding her ground and re-affirming her stance on, well, everything, through this stormy patch of scandals. From a cultural point of view, it’s quite interesting to observe how society is reacting to a new generation of world leaders. Our politicians are becoming younger than ever, more diverse than ever, and more and more women are seizing power. It is to be expected that this might not sit well with everyone.
However, it would be prudent not to discard these attempts to undermine Marin as simple sexism. One must not forget that, after all, all this is coincidentally happening right as Finland applies to join NATO.
