Statement Festival was the first major all-female festival and was started following a host of issues in the previous year with sexual assault and harassment. The Swedish festival required all involved – security, artists and visitors, to not be cis-male.

It seemed mostly in response to the stats behind the country’s biggest festival as its main influencer, with four rape allegations and heaps more sexual assault counts, a worrying figure for any female who likes music and the festival life. The festival hosted a bunch of acts, the majority Swedish and I hadn’t really heard of them, but our knowledge of Swedish female artists isn’t the largest here at Stoney!

The festival crowdfunded 300k to get itself off the ground and honestly, that’s definitely something we can get behind. Safe spaces are always important so if you see something say something, and if you don’t agree with us, well you probably should.

While the festival itself had no issues, there have been complaints from some people regarding discrimination against males and it’s one of those things that we will have to wait and see how it pans out with the Equality Ombudsman.

Tell us what you think, is this an idea you think should be implemented worldwide?