Kajsa Ekis Ekman

Kajsa "Ekis" Ekman (born 1980) is a Swedish journalist, writer, and activist. She is the author of several works about the financial crisis, women's rights, and critiques of capitalism. She writes for the culture section of the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, and is an op-ed columnist at the left-wing daily ETC.[1] She also writes for The Guardian, Truthdig, and Feminist Current. She received the 2020 Lenin Award (Sweden) for her critiques of capitalism.

Kajsa Ekis Ekman at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney

Books

Her book Being and Being Bought,[2] compares the sex industry and the surrogacy industry, and how they both commodify women's bodies. It criticizes the notion of "sex work" as being an unholy alliance between the neoliberal right and the postmodern left, used to legitimize the sex industry. She also argues that "trade unions for sex workers" in many cases are funded by pimps, states, and academics, and have very little to do with labor struggle. The book has been translated into French, English, Spanish, and German.

Her book Stolen Spring [3] describes the eurocrisis as seen from Athens, and the way in which it affected the Greek economy. Ekman criticizes the view that the eurocrisis was caused by the Greek workers, and instead traces it back to changes in capitalism. She was given the prize "Swedish-Greek of the Year" 2016 for her solidarity with Greece. [4]

Ekman was one of the key note speakers at the 2014 Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

In her Ted Talk, "Everybody talks about Capitalism, but what is it?", she speaks about free market as a useful tool, but capitalism as a force unable of moral responsibility, and plan for the climate, the country, and the world. She suggests regulation of the finance sector to avoid crises, and suggests "democracy in all sectors of society, also in the working place".[5]

She was one of the participants on the Freedom Flotilla 2015 to Gaza.

In February 2018 Ekman was scheduled to speak at a conference about pornography and prostitution in Gothenburg. Her talk was cancelled and she was asked to stay away after she had expressed dissent about replacing biological sex with gender identity in law and in society generally in an article for Aftonbladet shortly before the conference began.[6] In a statement on their website the organizers of the conference, the National Organisation for Women’s Shelters and Young Women's Shelters in Sweden (Roks), declared this inconsistent with their values and therefore cancelled the talk.[7] In 2021 the Forum for Gender Studies in Sweden cancelled an invitation of Ekman with the statement that "the Forum for Gender Studies is not a place for transphobia and anti-trans hate."[8]

Awards and honours

References
  1. Kajsa Ekis Ekman at Lybrary.com Archived 2015-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Ekman, Kajsa Ekis: Being and Being Bought - Prostitution, Surrogacy and the Split Self. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2013
  3. Ekman, Kajsa Ekis: Κλεμμένη Ανοιξη Athens: Kedros Publishers, 2014
  4. "Årets svensk-grek"
  5. "Everybody talks about capitalism, but what is it?" TedX Athens 2014
  6. "Könet i knoppen"
  7. "Uttalande angående Kajsa Ekis Ekmans deltagande på Roks konferens 20 februari"
  8. "Universitet ställde in seminarium om Kajsa Ekis Ekmans bok". Sveriges Television. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  9. "The Lenin Award". Retrieved 22 March 2020.
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