On February 12, a Swedish reporter Christian Peterson published a video on Twitter, where during a visit to The Gambia he unexpectedly encounters the Left Party’s legal policy spokesperson Linda Snecker, a politician who has not infrequently had angry outbursts against white men.
The 39-year-old politician has attracted attention for her attacks on white men as well as for her proposals to impose harsh penalties on white men who buy sex from women. At first she appears quite friendly, but when she is asked what she has been doing in The Gambia and if it feels good to be far away from white men, she is clearly bothered and asks Peterson to “fly back home”.
For just over a week, Christian Peterson, a reporter for the Swedish channel Exakt24, has been in the African country to prepare reports and news items, including about the extensive sex tourism in the country involving white women. Unlike in Thailand, for example, where young teenage girls or boys are often exploited, The Gambia has for decades become a paradise for older, white women who buy sex from young, black men for a fee. The sex trade involving white men is condemned collectively across the political spectrum, while white women are somehow excused.
In fact, sex tourism practiced by affluent, older, white women has often been portrayed as “sexual liberation”. Among other things, the Swedish author Kerstin Thorvall, who died several years ago, has written romanticized travelogues of how she has traveled to The Gambia, among other places, to be satisfied by black men, where white men, on the other hand, have been portrayed as boring. In general, female sex tourism to Africa has not been condemned to be nearly as severe as that practiced by men who travel to Brazil, among other places.
Like Thailand and Brazil, the predominantly Muslim The Gambia has a reputation for sex tourism. It is quite common to see older European women hanging onto Gambian men half their age on the infamous Senegambia strip. Prostitution and paedophilia are illegal in Gambia, but not one tourist has been prosecuted for it, Njundu Drammeh, the national coordinator at The Gambia’s Child Protection Alliance told AFP.
“They visit every year and they look after us,” one young black male prostitute told The Telegraph. His white “girlfriends” send him money throughout the year. And the parents of young children who become ensnared in the sex trade of minors, are only too happy to receive a “sponsorship”. Sex tourism from rich the UK, Netherlands and Scandinavia had contributed to around 16 percent of GDP in 2014 already.
In researching female sex tourism, Christian Peterson from Exakt24 had traveled to The Gambia. On February 12, he came across a somewhat unexpected visitor to the country, namely Linda Snecker, the Left Party’s legal policy spokesperson.
Snecker has often spoken out in favor of increasing the penalties for buying sex, and also for criminalizing sex purchases made abroad. At the same time, she has made statements suggesting that some criminals do not become less criminal by being in prison. Snecker’s comments have primarily been aimed at white men, or rather white men who buy sex, both at home and abroad.
When Christian Peterson came across Snecker, she was clearly surprised, but at first unaware that she had come face to face with an intrepid reporter.
When Peterson interviewed Snecker, she claimed that she and some other left-wing parties had been visiting the country, partly to meet political representatives, and also to take a short holiday.
“And you are here filming…?” Linda Snecker wanted to know. At first she does not realise that she is face to face with a reporter from Exakt24, and she continues to ask Christian Peterson about how exactly he knows her. Peterson then says that he has seen her from time to time on the news and on Twitter.
However, the next question posed to Linda Snecker about the reason for her being in the mecca for sex tourists, elicits a strong reaction: “You tend to make rather negative comments about white men. Is that why you’re in The Gambia, because you don’t have to deal with white men?” the reporter wanted to know.
Then Linda Snecker’s smile stiffens, and she blushes: “Please, dear. Fly back. Fly back where you came from.”
The female politician then quickly turns her back to the camera and marches away with brisk but firm steps, noticeably embarrassed.
