Solidarity with Sanna

The scrutiny reached such a fever pitch that Marin undertook a voluntary drug test after some commentators heard ‘flour’ shouted in the background of the video. In Finland, it’s a euphemism for drugs. The incident also recalled a previously leaked video when Marin was filmed in a nightclub in the early hours of the morning, while a picture of two topless women at her home was also recently leaked.

Women politicians also used their platforms to show their support for Marin. US congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reposted her own famous video of her dancing – into her office. AOC’s original video was a response to conservative critics who had dug up video of AOC dancing in college and used it to try to undermine her credibility before starting her then-new political position. It didn’t work and instead “drew a wave of support for the liberal lawmaker on social media”. Her playful response was seen by many to give her an authenticity that people found relatable – one of the positive elements of high-profile figures using social media. We wrote about it here.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten and Hilary Clinton also posted pictures of themselves partying to support Marin, as did folk music and counterculture icon Joan Baez. Other users took the opportunity to celebrate Marin as a fashion icon, while one person even immortalised the video by inking Marin singing on their skin.

Demonstrating how social media responses to these kinds of scandals can inform public opinion through traditional media outlets, the New York Times ran a story headlined, ‘Partying Prime Minister Draws Tuts, and Cheers’, and questioned whether she’s ‘held to a different standard than older, male leaders’. Considering the behaviour of some past and present male politicians, it could indeed be seen that way - in the same month, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese was cheered for sculling a beer. This harks back to former Labour prime minister Bob Hawke's penchant for sculling beers, captured on broadcasts at the time and kept alive today on social media cuts, which was perceived as demonstrating a common touch and relatability, and seemed to signal 'I am human', just like Marin in her apology below.

As Kathleen Farmilo writes in a Pedestrian article titled 'Sorry But It’s Pretty Sexist To Cheer Albo’s Beer Chugging But Slam The Finnish PM For Partying':

" We love it when a male politician is seen as a bit loose, as a bit of a lad. As soon as it’s a woman though, she’s forced to defend her job. I don’t see anyone demanding Albanese take a breathalyser test or imply that going to concerts and drinking makes him any less fit to be PM."

Hopefully, the support shown to Marin on social media will help shift these seemingly double standards.