Thordis Elva

Thordis Elva is an Icelandic playwright, author and activist who is notable for writing the book South of Forgiveness, which documents her experience of having been raped by Australian national Tom Stranger, with whom she later collaborated as a public speaker. She was voted Woman of the Year 2015 by the Federation of Icelandic Women's Societies in Reykjavik. She currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden.[1][2][3][4]

South of Forgiveness

In 1996, Tom Stranger, aged 18, was offered a student exchange trip to Iceland where he met 16-year-old Thordis Elva at a theatrical event organized by the school they both attended.[5] They began a romantic relationship in Reykjavík, and had been in a relationship for over a month prior to the sexual assault taking place. Stranger took Thordis Elva home on the night of a school Christmas dance where she had become intoxicated by alcohol. She was raped by Stranger in her home. Tom ended their relationship two days after the rape and returned to Australia when his exchange program was completed.[5]

Nine years later at the age of 25, Thordis Elva, suffering from emotional trauma from the event, contacted Stranger by email and he responded. After 8 years of communicating via email, they arranged to meet in Cape Town, South Africa for a period of one week to focus on "reconciliation and forgiveness".[5][6][3][4] During their time together, Thordis Elva, in collaboration with Stranger, authored the book South of Forgiveness.[7][8][9]

Public speaking

Thordis Elva and Stranger have toured together and spoken publicly about their experiences, appearing on TED talks, BBC Newsnight and at London's Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre.[5][10]

Controversy

When Thordis Elva and Stranger were due to appear at the Southbank center, their appearance was initially delayed due to a petition signed by over 2000 signatories, who were opposed to their appearance.[2][10] The scheduled talk at the Women of the World Festival (WOW), a UK-based event that celebrates the achievements of women and girls, was moved to a later date after complaints and demonstrations from women's rights campaigners, who argued that the inclusion of their talk in the festival risked normalizing sexual violence instead of focusing on accountability and the causes of rape. Jude Kelly, the Southbank Center director responded to the complaints in a statement, saying that Thordis Elva's inclusion in the event and her decision to invite Stranger to the stage was designed to shift the focus of the talk to the perpetrator rather than the survivor.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Thordis Elva; Stranger, Tom (5 March 2017). "Can I forgive the man who raped me?". The Guardian.
  2. 1 2 "Women of the World event drops rape victim and her attacker - BBC Newsbeat". Bbc.co.uk. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  3. 1 2 BBC Newsnight (10 March 2017). "'Why I wrote a book with my rapist': Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger - BBC Newsnight". YouTube.
  4. 1 2 Taylor-Coleman, Jasmine (15 March 2017). "Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger: Should a rapist be invited on stage?". Bbc.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger: Our story of rape and reconciliation | TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript". TED.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  6. ↑ "Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger: Our story of rape and reconciliation | TED Talk". TED.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  7. ↑ Thordis, Elva; Stranger, Tom (2017). South of Forgiveness. London. ISBN 9781911344056.
  8. ↑ Elva, Tom Stranger Thordis (8 March 2017). "South of Forgiveness". Scribe Publications – via Amazon.
  9. ↑ "South of Forgiveness | Book | Scribe Australia". Scribepublications.com.au. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  10. 1 2 Other Articles (2017-02-13). "Stop applauding a rapist for admitting he raped someone". Huckmagazine.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  11. ↑ "Women of the World event drops rape victim and her attacker". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.