Elise Ottesen-Jensen – the pioneer behind RFSU
RFSU works for the freedom of everybody's right to decide on their own sexuality, to choose who they have sex with and if and when they want to have children. Today, all of these rights may seem obvious, but many people have had to fight hard for the rights we have today. One of them was the founder of RFSU, Elise Ottesen-Jensen.
What Sweden was like in the 20th century
Today, Sweden is somewhat of a pioneer when it comes to sexual freedom. But this has not always been the case.
In the beginning of the 20th century, sex was something to be kept within marriage, homosexuality was forbidden, contraception barely existed, and contraceptive education was forbidden. Knowledge of how to protect yourself against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases was therefore non-existent. Condoms could only be imported and sold by a few institutions and abortion was illegal.
The bans and ignorance created a negative spiral, especially for women in society.
Many married women suffered from not being able to protect themselves against repeated and frequent pregnancies. Their bodies became worn out by childbearing, but they had neither the knowledge nor the access to contraceptives to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies. Unmarried women who became pregnant and chose to have an illegal abortion were taking a huge risk, as the procedure could physically harm the woman and even end in death. In addition, abortion was against the law and could result in legal penalties.
One woman decided to take up the fight against the outdated view of sex. Her name was Elise Ottesen-Jensen.
Who was Elise Ottesen-Jensen?
Elise Ottesen-Jensen was born in 1886 into the Ottesen priest*s family in Højland outside Stavanger, Norway. Elise was child number 17 in a group of 18 children. Elise’s mother was burdened with pregnancies and childbirth, and some of the children died before adulthood.
When Elise’s younger sister Magnhild was 16, she had a secret romance with a boy next door and became pregnant. Magnhild having a child out of wedlock was unthinkable in their strict Christian home and their father solved the problem by sending Magnhild away to Denmark. She was isolated in a new priest’s family and had to give birth without any relatives by her side. Magnhild’s newborn girl was put up for adoption immediately after birth. Magnhild was then rejected by her father, but Elise continued to see her little sister secretly.
What made Elise Ottesen-Jensen so passionate about sexual politics
The priest’s family’s cruel treatment of Magnhild’s illegitimate pregnancy affected Elise deep into her soul. The injustice Magnhild endured led Elise to become involved in civil rights issues as a journalist in Oslo.
In time, Elise began to write more and more about women’s issues and sex education, and in 1914 Elise’s first article about sexual issues was published – a subject that was very controversial at the time. But Elise was a brave woman and passionate about the right to sexual education. The sexual rights issue would become Elise Ottesen-Jensen’s legacy.
Elise’s fight for sex education
1914 was also the year Elise Ottesen met the Swedish political journalist Albert Jensen and the couple settled in Sweden.
In Sweden, Elise continued her fight for women’s rights through her debating texts and educational work under the signature Ottar. Elise was convinced that knowledge was the only way forward for women’s rights, so she began traveling around Sweden – educating people about contraception, even though it was illegal. Elise informed poor women and men about how to protect themselves against STIs and unwanted pregnancies – in barns and community centers, but also in people’s kitchens and gardens. Elise Ottesen-Jensen’s sex education became a model for sex education in schools, and still inspires us today.
Read more about Elise Ottesen-Jensen’s work here..
Elise Ottesen-Jensen filled the benches when she lectured about sexual health in Sweden in the 1920s. Providing information about contraception, venereal diseases and the ban on abortion was illegal, but Elise bravely defied the ban.
During Elise Ottesen-Jensen’s travels through Sweden to raise awareness about contraception, she helped almost 2,000 women to try out diaphragms. Often, pessaries were tested in very primitive conditions – behind curtains, in barns or in the middle of the kitchen floor.
I dream of the day when all children born are welcome, all men and women are equal, and sexuality is an expression of intimacy, love and pleasure. Elise Ottesen-Jensen, founder of the RFSU.
When was RFSU founded?
During the years Elise Ottesen-Jensen had worked with sex education, she had acquired a large network of contacts in Sweden, but also internationally. Elise realized early on that many people needed to get involved to succeed in creating real change, and therefore initiated a democratic membership association where the members themselves would run the activities locally. In 1933, the National Association for Sexual Education (RFSU) was founded.
According to Elise, education was the only way to change the law and the founding of RFSU opened up the debate on sexual policy. During RFSU’s first years of operation, several reforms were pushed through:
- In 1936, RFSU set up an Rådgivningsbyrå (advice bureau) where questions about contraception, abortion options, impotence, frigidity and infertility were answered.
- The ban on condom imports was lifted in 1937 and RFSU opened an RFSU Store where they sold condoms, among other things.
- The ban on contraceptive information was lifted in 1938 and a new law was introduced allowing abortion under certain conditions.
Here you can read more about the reforms that RFSU has helped to achieve.
Elise Ottesen-Jensen and two doctors ran a clinic at Rådgivningbyrån (the advice bureau) for an hour each week. Visitors who had money paid, others could come for free. The first advice bureau opened in Stockholm in 1936, but midwife Gertrud Krägh-Karlsson answered more than 3,000 letters from both men and women around the country in the first year.
When did RFSU start selling condoms?
RFSU’s work for education, justice and change faced strong resistance, and its sexual policy work required funding. When the ban on condom imports was lifted in 1937, RFSU set up a joint stock company and began selling condoms.
But it was not until 1970 that it became legal to sell condoms without special permission from the police.
How does the RFSU business model work?
RFSU’s business model, with a for-profit company that sells sexual health products and whose profits enable RFSU to independently pursue its sexual rights work, is the same today – as when Elise Ottesen-Jensen and her colleagues started selling condoms in 1937.
“Today, a lot of people know about RFSU, not least in connection with our products,” says Anette Otterström, Brand & Communication Manager at RFSU AB. But few know the story of Elise, why she started RFSU and what she managed to achieve.
What Elise Ottesen-Jensen managed to achieve
Elise Ottesen-Jensen worked for and led RFSU until 1967. When she passed away in 1973, Sweden had changed for the better.
- The ban on homosexuality had been lifted in 1944.
- Abortion had been allowed with special permission since 1938.
- Sex education had been obligatory in schools since 1955.
- Contraceptives could be sold without special permission from the police since 1970.
- Midwives were allowed to give contraceptive advice since 1972.
- In 1974, one year after Elise’s death, Parliament passed a new abortion law giving women the right to decide for themselves whether to have an abortion up to week 18.
“Every time you tell the story, it becomes so clear, both to the listener and for those telling the story about Elise’s life’s work, that today we take a lot for granted when it comes to sex education and sexual rights, and that there’s so much that we can thank Elise for,” says Anette Otterström.
Read more about how RFSU’s business model makes a difference.
SRHR stands for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sexual rights mean that all people have the right to control their bodies and sexuality. Reproductive rights include access to contraception and sex education, and the right of women to decide on the number of children they have.
References: RFSU, Swedish Women’s Biographical Dictionary, Ottar & Kärleken (Gunilla Thorgren).
