Drug Story Hour is “nothing more than the indoctrination and sexualization of children,” Sweden Democratic Party politician Jonathan Sager argued in 2022 at the local parliament in Kalmar in southern Sweden. He was reacting to plans to organize a Drug Story Hour event. At the local library, drag queens read books that challenge gender and sexuality norms to children. He asked (unsuccessfully) for the event to be canceled.
To those not familiar with recent political developments in Sweden, Sager’s views may seem out of character for a country known for its tolerance and progressive approach to sexual minorities. However, like other countries, Sweden has also experienced backlash against Drug Story Hour events. Public libraries have repeatedly been the target of hatred and threats from far-right groups, including politicians. The culture wars often associated with the polarized political climate in the United States are now firmly entrenched in Scandinavia.
In the US, opposition to drag queen story hours forms part of a larger wave of protests against LGBTQ+ content in libraries, which has also been reflected in attempts to ban certain books. Book bans are less common in Sweden, but tensions have arisen over what children are allowed to read and to whom.
As a result, public libraries, especially their efforts to promote reading for children, are now at the center of a polarizing conflict between the radical right and its opponents.
Sweden is by no means immune to the global expansion of far-right influence. The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna or SD) became the second largest party in parliament after the recent elections in 2022. The current government needs their support to function. The party has neo-Nazi roots, and its representatives, despite their facade, still openly promote anti-immigrant, white supremacist views.
Like many radical right parties, SD promotes conservative views on culture, gender and family, so its opposition to Drag Story Hour is not surprising. But here too there are deeper conflicts over the future of Swedish society.
We investigated five cases of political conflict over drug events in Swedish libraries and found a common theme: disputes over culture and what constitutes a good society.
“Protect” our children
In the city of Kalmar and Trelleborg, another municipality in southern Sweden, local Sweden Democratic Party members have unsuccessfully tried to block reading time in libraries, claiming they are “protecting” children. ). At Kalmar, organizers were accused of “sexualizing children”, as if there was something inherently sexual about drag queens in dresses. Sager argued that “gender-creative, gender-critical, norm-critical” material should not be used at events involving children.
Historically, reading promotion efforts have been part of a concern for this harmful effect. For example, certain types of fiction have been portrayed as having a demoralizing effect, leading to efforts to encourage children to read “quality literature” instead. In Sweden, there is not much debate over the content of children’s literature, so there is no American-style debate about banning books. However, the act of reading can lead to heated conversations, especially with children.
By reading together, children can uphold democratic values, such as developing empathy and understanding. Drag Story Hour fits well into this perspective, as it promotes the values of acceptance, diversity, and positive self-awareness. These are values that express the characteristic emphasis on equity and pluralism in Swedish cultural policy.
But in checking these boxes, Drug Story Hour collides with the politics of the radical right, and that conflict becomes emblematic of a larger struggle over the direction of Nordic cultural policy.
The safe space dilemma
The controversy over Drug Story Hour has also intensified debate about the meaning of safety in modern society. Is implementing security in libraries the safest option, or does security itself endanger libraries as safe spaces?
In the cities of Älmhult and Olofström in southern Sweden, libraries have decided not to hold drug story hours due to safety concerns. They felt bringing in security was not an option as it was “totally inconsistent” with the library’s openness. Visible security measures were seen as incompatible with being a safe space.
In Malmö, the drug story time progressed with security guards in place. Here, security measures have been decided to make the library a safe space through Drug Story Hour.
Controversy continues over drag queen reading events held at public libraries in Sweden. Recently, the Drag Queen Story Group accused 106 people of hate crimes, including five SD politicians. At the same time, public libraries in many parts of Sweden continue to report successful storytelling mechanisms in the face of opposition from the radical right.
