FACT CHECK: Are these Finnish women protesting against men marrying one wife?

CLAIM: Women in Finland protested half naked against men marrying only one wife

VERDICT: Misleading

FULL TEXT

An X user shared a video of women half naked, purportedly protesting against men marrying only one wife. According to the post, the protesting women “want men to marry more than one wife as the population of women continues to soar in their country without husbands.”

The post has got multiple likes and shares, and based on the comments, many believed it to be true.

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VERIFICATION

Although the chants of the women were unclear, this reporter confirmed that they spoke French in the video. The official/most-spoken languages in Finland are Finnish and Sweden. Also, the inscriptions on their banners and cardboards were written in French. The inscriptions are as follow:

“Mon corps est: sexuel si je veux Politique si je veux Couvert si je veux Nu si je veux” – My body is: Sexy if I want Political if I want Covered if I want Nude if I want.

“Égales dans nos differences” – Equal in our differences.

“Non à l’hypersexualisation Libérons les tetons!” – No to hypersexualization. Let’s free the nipples!

The protest suggests body positivity and nothing against monogamy or for polygamy.

Further checks by Ripples Nigeria show that the video was shot in Geneva, Switzerland in a protest that featured during the Swiss Women’s Strike of 2019.

According to media reports, the 2019 Swiss women’s strike, tagged online as Grève des Femmes (French), was against the “culture of sexism in everday life of women” in the country. Their agitations included equal pay for women, recognition of unpaid care work, laws protecting women from physical and sexual harassment, and improved representation of women in governmental.

Below is a screenshot of 2019 Twitter post containing pictures from the protest ground:

CONCLUSION

The caption of the video by the X user is misleading. the women were not protesting against monogamy.

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