'Mixed sex' bathing, where people of the opposite sex bath in partial or full nudity in public baths or pools, has has been part of Swedish popular culture for more than a century. The rise of sexual assaults in recent months, however, has forced Swedish nationals and their families to avoid the practice altogether. The police, who have stepped up their security, have cited the cultural adjustment of newer male immigrants from the Middle East, who have been raised in a more conservative tradition.
In a report published by The Gatestone Institute, journalist Ingrid Carlqvist observes that an increasing number of sexual harassment in various public pools all over Sweden had prompted the managers of these institutions to re-organize the rules and segregate the male and female pools. A total of six females suffered in these incidents last January: one girl at the Eriksdalsbadet swimming arena; a woman and two girls at the Storsjöbadet pool in Östersund, and two 11-year old girls in Vaxio. February saw five females and a group of women, aged from 15 to 35, attacked in Vannesborg and Eriksdalsbadet, respectively.
The assaults came in the form of their private parts being groped to actual rape. The perpetrators were uniformly described as male minors, unaccompanied by adults, of Middle East and North African descent who have come from the refugee camps.
Breibart reports that at least 18 girls, all of them minors, were raped or assaulted sexually at the Olympic Eriksdal baths in Stockholm in January alone. Given the failure of gender-segregated baths to stem the attacks, the police have stepped up security. The number of molestations may be higher but fear may have stopped the victims from coming forward.
The public manager refused to describe any demographic group as responsible for the attack, but explains it as part of the cultural shock of those who had not been raised up in, or are familiar with, the Swedish culture surrounding public baths. The Swedish police themselves have been forbidden from giving the ethnicity of the suspects, possibly due to fear of accusations of discrimination.
The WMD observes that the minors suspected of the attacks mainly come from the Afghanistan refugee camps.
According to Carlqvist, Swedish politicians responded by offering cultural classes to the concerned minority groups to re-educate them on Swedish values, tradition, and way of life.
