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Tuesday, August 09, 2011 2:15:33 AM
Utoya massacre: a married lesbian couple, an act of heroism and a media silence
Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen.
(Photo: Helsingin Sanomat)
By Tom Chivers
Last updated: August 2nd, 2011
There have been several reports, since the horrifying attacks in Oslo and Utoya island two weeks ago in which 76 people died, of the heroic actions of civilians who risked their own lives to save teenagers fleeing the gunman. The New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/world/europe/30oslo.html ] and we at the Telegraph [ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8658437/Norway-shooting-German-tourist-hailed-a-hero-after-saving-30-lives.html ] both mention a German tourist, Marcel Gleffe, who recognised the sound of gunfire and leapt into his boat to go and rescue victims. A BBC report [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14266456 ] mentions a man known only as Helge, who took five youths, including two seriously wounded, from the island in his boat. Yahoo News hailed Otto Loevik [ http://news.yahoo.com/norway-rescuer-shot-making-life-death-choice-171820518.html ], who came under fire from the gunman as he rescued “40 to 50 terrified youths”, and is still haunted by the choices he had to make of who to pick up and who to leave behind. I think we can all agree that these are heroes by any definition you care to choose.
Two names who you may not have heard mentioned are Toril Hansen and Hege Dalen, a married couple who rescued 40 teenagers from the shore of Utoya. Their boat was hit by bullets after their first run, but they returned for a second – and a third, and a fourth. Again, pure heroism – but, seemingly, ignored by the press, only picked up by a few specialist blogs, a Finnish newspaper [ http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Sankaripariskunta+pelasti+kymmeni%C3%A4+leiril%C3%A4isi%C3%A4/1135268014839 ] and thousands of people on Twitter [ http://twitter.com/#!/search/married%20lesbian%20couple ].
The reason for that near-silence, some are suggesting, is because Hansen and Dalen are a lesbian couple.
The blog Talk About Equality asks: “If a married lesbian couple saves 40 teens from the Norway massacre and no-one writes about it, did it really happen [ http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/if-a-married-lesbian-couple-saves-40-teens-from-the-norway-massacre-and-no-one-writes-about-it-did-it-really-happen/ ]?” It points out that the “heavy hitters who usually kill for hero stories like this have remained silent.”
Is this fair? Have the media ignored a gold-plated tale of bravery and heroism just because they don’t like the sexual orientation of the protagonists? I don’t know, obviously. But it’s not as though it’s just traditionally minded, conservative news organisations, who might be expected to have misgivings about homosexual marriage, which have not reported on Mrs Hansen and Mrs Dalen’s heroism. The Guardian and The Independent – and, indeed, the aforementioned New York Times – are all proudly liberal papers, but none seem to have covered it.
Of course, in the hours after the event, they would most likely have got their stories from newswires and local press, so it’s conceivable that – for whatever reason – those sources had their own biases. Maybe a lesbian couple doesn’t fit the mould of heroic rescuer that we in the media are used to, so the interview-hungry hacks at the scene gathered around burly, bearded Scandinavian men who more easily met their preconceptions. But I think it’s more likely that it’s just that, in the panicked days after the attacks, they just never happened to speak to a journalist. I can’t imagine many reporters ignoring their story if they met them; indeed (no great improvement though this might be) the lesbian “angle” might make it more appealing to a certain, more salacious brand of journalism. I may be wrong, I may be ignoring a deep-seated strain of homophobia that runs through the press of Europe and America alike, but in general I tend to assume cock-up rather than conspiracy [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor#Origins_and_similar_quotations ].
Whatever happened, whatever the reason, though, they deserve to be honoured. If I do have the great privilege of being the first person from a major national US or UK newspaper to mention them – which, by now, surely I can’t – then I am happy to say the following to the guys and girls at Talk About Equality: it did happen; Mrs Hansen and Mrs Dalen are heroes of the first order; and I am proud to write about them.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2011
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100099405/utoya-massacre-a-married-lesbian-couple-an-act-of-heroism-and-a-media-silence/ [with comments]
===
Lesbian couple deserve their place in Norway's heroic narrative
Flowers are laid in memory of the 69 youngsters killed by Anders Behring Breivik at Utøya island, Norway.
Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
Roz Kaveney
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 August 2011 14.00 BST
In lots of ways, it is the ideal human interest story. It is the story of heroism [ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/couple-braved-gunfire-to-rescue-40-in-water-at-utoya-2330879.html ] in the face of the unthinkable. Yet we did not get to hear about it until a week later, and it is worth asking why.
Two campers on the other side of the lake from the island of Utøya, where the Norwegian massacre happened [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/23/norway-attacks ], heard gunfire and screams while they were eating their supper. Without thought for their personal safety, they took their boat and crossed towards the firing. Bullets hit the boat, but they pulled the fleeing youngsters from the water and crossed back and forth repeatedly. It was not a very big boat, so it took four trips to save 40 teenagers who may otherwise have been shot, or drowned trying to escape. Without them, the massacre could have been considerably more bloody even than it was. So why have we hardly heard about them?
In the first place, Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen are women. A lot of the press like their tales of heroism to fit standard narratives, in which men protect and women nurture. In action films, women are mostly there so that the manly men can be rivals for their love, and to make sure that audiences never ever think that there is anything even the littlest bit gay about the boyish tussling for supremacy they enact while being heroic. Women are not, in these narratives, supposed to be competent: they don't drive well and they twist their ankles running away in unsuitable shoes.
In the second place, Dalen and Hansen are lesbians. In television narratives, the few heroines we are allowed to see are always heterosexual; even when they are allowed to be competent, and wear sensible action-adventure outfits, they always end up melting into some man's arms in the end. Mainstream culture does not like the idea of lesbians being people who would put themselves in danger to save teenagers, probably heterosexual teenagers, that they have never met. We are far more used to lesbian couples, in very special issue-driven episodes, being in danger, and having to be rescued themselves.
Third, they are a married couple and you can just imagine news editors in Washington worrying that, if they pushed the story, they would be accused of promoting "the gay agenda". American rightwing pundits that came close to saying [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/26/glenn-beck-norwegian-dead-hitler ] "well, we disapprove of Breivik's methods but you have to understand that there is something quite sinister about a summer camp of leftwing youth activists" was never going to be happy with lesbian heroism, and married lesbian heroes would just have made their heads explode.
It is a shame. We all need stories about people who put themselves in danger to save lives when bad things are happening; we all need to know that there are people out there who are not ideologically driven killers. In particular, gay teens need to be told not just that it gets better, but that they, personally, may one day get the chance to step up, be heroic and make it better.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/03/lesbian-couple-norway-utoya-massacre [with comments]
Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen.
(Photo: Helsingin Sanomat)
By Tom Chivers
Last updated: August 2nd, 2011
There have been several reports, since the horrifying attacks in Oslo and Utoya island two weeks ago in which 76 people died, of the heroic actions of civilians who risked their own lives to save teenagers fleeing the gunman. The New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/world/europe/30oslo.html ] and we at the Telegraph [ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8658437/Norway-shooting-German-tourist-hailed-a-hero-after-saving-30-lives.html ] both mention a German tourist, Marcel Gleffe, who recognised the sound of gunfire and leapt into his boat to go and rescue victims. A BBC report [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14266456 ] mentions a man known only as Helge, who took five youths, including two seriously wounded, from the island in his boat. Yahoo News hailed Otto Loevik [ http://news.yahoo.com/norway-rescuer-shot-making-life-death-choice-171820518.html ], who came under fire from the gunman as he rescued “40 to 50 terrified youths”, and is still haunted by the choices he had to make of who to pick up and who to leave behind. I think we can all agree that these are heroes by any definition you care to choose.
Two names who you may not have heard mentioned are Toril Hansen and Hege Dalen, a married couple who rescued 40 teenagers from the shore of Utoya. Their boat was hit by bullets after their first run, but they returned for a second – and a third, and a fourth. Again, pure heroism – but, seemingly, ignored by the press, only picked up by a few specialist blogs, a Finnish newspaper [ http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Sankaripariskunta+pelasti+kymmeni%C3%A4+leiril%C3%A4isi%C3%A4/1135268014839 ] and thousands of people on Twitter [ http://twitter.com/#!/search/married%20lesbian%20couple ].
The reason for that near-silence, some are suggesting, is because Hansen and Dalen are a lesbian couple.
The blog Talk About Equality asks: “If a married lesbian couple saves 40 teens from the Norway massacre and no-one writes about it, did it really happen [ http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/if-a-married-lesbian-couple-saves-40-teens-from-the-norway-massacre-and-no-one-writes-about-it-did-it-really-happen/ ]?” It points out that the “heavy hitters who usually kill for hero stories like this have remained silent.”
Is this fair? Have the media ignored a gold-plated tale of bravery and heroism just because they don’t like the sexual orientation of the protagonists? I don’t know, obviously. But it’s not as though it’s just traditionally minded, conservative news organisations, who might be expected to have misgivings about homosexual marriage, which have not reported on Mrs Hansen and Mrs Dalen’s heroism. The Guardian and The Independent – and, indeed, the aforementioned New York Times – are all proudly liberal papers, but none seem to have covered it.
Of course, in the hours after the event, they would most likely have got their stories from newswires and local press, so it’s conceivable that – for whatever reason – those sources had their own biases. Maybe a lesbian couple doesn’t fit the mould of heroic rescuer that we in the media are used to, so the interview-hungry hacks at the scene gathered around burly, bearded Scandinavian men who more easily met their preconceptions. But I think it’s more likely that it’s just that, in the panicked days after the attacks, they just never happened to speak to a journalist. I can’t imagine many reporters ignoring their story if they met them; indeed (no great improvement though this might be) the lesbian “angle” might make it more appealing to a certain, more salacious brand of journalism. I may be wrong, I may be ignoring a deep-seated strain of homophobia that runs through the press of Europe and America alike, but in general I tend to assume cock-up rather than conspiracy [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor#Origins_and_similar_quotations ].
Whatever happened, whatever the reason, though, they deserve to be honoured. If I do have the great privilege of being the first person from a major national US or UK newspaper to mention them – which, by now, surely I can’t – then I am happy to say the following to the guys and girls at Talk About Equality: it did happen; Mrs Hansen and Mrs Dalen are heroes of the first order; and I am proud to write about them.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2011
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100099405/utoya-massacre-a-married-lesbian-couple-an-act-of-heroism-and-a-media-silence/ [with comments]
===
Lesbian couple deserve their place in Norway's heroic narrative
Flowers are laid in memory of the 69 youngsters killed by Anders Behring Breivik at Utøya island, Norway.
Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
Roz Kaveney
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 August 2011 14.00 BST
In lots of ways, it is the ideal human interest story. It is the story of heroism [ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/couple-braved-gunfire-to-rescue-40-in-water-at-utoya-2330879.html ] in the face of the unthinkable. Yet we did not get to hear about it until a week later, and it is worth asking why.
Two campers on the other side of the lake from the island of Utøya, where the Norwegian massacre happened [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/23/norway-attacks ], heard gunfire and screams while they were eating their supper. Without thought for their personal safety, they took their boat and crossed towards the firing. Bullets hit the boat, but they pulled the fleeing youngsters from the water and crossed back and forth repeatedly. It was not a very big boat, so it took four trips to save 40 teenagers who may otherwise have been shot, or drowned trying to escape. Without them, the massacre could have been considerably more bloody even than it was. So why have we hardly heard about them?
In the first place, Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen are women. A lot of the press like their tales of heroism to fit standard narratives, in which men protect and women nurture. In action films, women are mostly there so that the manly men can be rivals for their love, and to make sure that audiences never ever think that there is anything even the littlest bit gay about the boyish tussling for supremacy they enact while being heroic. Women are not, in these narratives, supposed to be competent: they don't drive well and they twist their ankles running away in unsuitable shoes.
In the second place, Dalen and Hansen are lesbians. In television narratives, the few heroines we are allowed to see are always heterosexual; even when they are allowed to be competent, and wear sensible action-adventure outfits, they always end up melting into some man's arms in the end. Mainstream culture does not like the idea of lesbians being people who would put themselves in danger to save teenagers, probably heterosexual teenagers, that they have never met. We are far more used to lesbian couples, in very special issue-driven episodes, being in danger, and having to be rescued themselves.
Third, they are a married couple and you can just imagine news editors in Washington worrying that, if they pushed the story, they would be accused of promoting "the gay agenda". American rightwing pundits that came close to saying [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/26/glenn-beck-norwegian-dead-hitler ] "well, we disapprove of Breivik's methods but you have to understand that there is something quite sinister about a summer camp of leftwing youth activists" was never going to be happy with lesbian heroism, and married lesbian heroes would just have made their heads explode.
It is a shame. We all need stories about people who put themselves in danger to save lives when bad things are happening; we all need to know that there are people out there who are not ideologically driven killers. In particular, gay teens need to be told not just that it gets better, but that they, personally, may one day get the chance to step up, be heroic and make it better.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/03/lesbian-couple-norway-utoya-massacre [with comments]
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"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
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upon the Right of Election, 1790
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