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Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin held a press conference in Helsinki on Friday after leaked videos showing her partying drew criticism.
Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
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Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin held a press conference in Helsinki on Friday after leaked videos showing her partying drew criticism.
Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
Finland’s prime minister said on Friday she had taken a drug test following a public backlash against videos released this week showing her dancing and singing with her friends.
“I consider these charges to be very serious and, while I consider the request for a drug test to be unfair, for my own legal protection and to dispel any doubts, I took a drug test today for drugs, the results of which will come in about a week,” Sanna Marin told reporters on Friday.
Objections to his party and behavior came after two private videos were leaked. We see Marin dancing and singing with his friends, among them Finnish celebrities and Finnish pop star Olavi Uusivirta, reported the BBC.
Marin said she knew she was being filmed, the Finnish outlet Yle reported, but added that the videos were meant to be kept private.
“I’m upset that these videos have gone public,” Marin said. “It was about me having a night out with friends. Partying – even in a loud way – dancing and singing.”
The prime minister previously said she did not use any drugs and just drank alcoholic beverages.
Reactions were mixed
Calls for a drug test came from members of opposition parties. And while some have criticized the prime minister for his behavior on social media, others have the famous. And this is not the first time that Marin’s behavior after work has been commented on.
The 36-year-old has previously been pictured at music festivals wearing cut-off denim shorts and a leather jacket. While some questioned her professionalism, others applauded her reliability and ability to balance work and personal life.
His tenure has not only been filled with celebrations. Marin was elected as Prime Minister in 2019 and became The youngest Prime Minister of Finland ever. She represents the Social Democratic Party and during her tenure the country weathered the global pandemic, looked after its neighbour, Russia launching a war in Ukraine, and most recently Finland prepared for join NATO with Sweden.
Many have asked how gender plays into the scrutiny
The scrutiny Marin has faced this week has many wondering if this behavior and subsequent reactions would be the same if a man were to serve as prime minister and was filmed doing the same activities.
“There’s a tendency to focus on women’s personal lives, how they look, and in general I would say that compared to men, women are more likely to have to really prove their credentials as capable politicians” , said Farida Jalalzai, associate dean of global initiatives and engagement at Virginia Tech.
Women are often caught in the trap of having to go above and beyond what is expected of others to prove they are professional, Jalalzai said, adding that Marin’s gender and age likely play a part in the cover of these videos.
On the other hand, men in positions of power aren’t discussed as often in such a personal way, Jalalzai said, leaving women to pay the highest price in terms of the language used to describe them.
“Women have to kind of go out of their way to do even more than a male politician to try to stay out of those kinds of situations. And it’s like, is that [Marin] really something wrong if we really only talk about dancing?” Jalalzai said.
“It just comes back [to] this time when women’s behavior had a lot to do with the respect they received or their families received in society – and that seems a bit archaic,” Jalalzai added.