A Women's Festival Has Dropped An Event Which Involved A Rapist Sharing His Experience

The event, “South of Forgiveness”, involves a rape survivor inviting her perpetrator on stage to discuss the impact of his actions.

Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger have previously given a TED Talk together sharing their story of rape and reconciliation, which has been viewed more than 2 million times. The pair have also released a book this year, which is described as “an unprecedented collaboration between a survivor and a perpetrator”. They say they explore “the darkest moment of their lives” and find hope “even in the most wounded of places”.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News Southbank Centre’s artistic director, Jude Kelly, said the Wow festival was created to be “an open, balanced platform for discussion and debate on gender equality and the related critical issues that women and men struggle with every day”. However, she confirmed that “South of Forgiveness” would take place outside of the festival.

“Rape is one of these critical issues and we need to shift the discourse around it, which too often focuses on rape survivors rather than rape perpetrators,” she said.

“Following their TED talk (and their book South of Forgiveness) we programmed survivor Thordis Elva to share her journey of coming to terms with the devastating impact of her rape and her decision to invite her perpetrator Tom Stranger on to the stage, to take full responsibility for his actions,” she added.

Kelly continued: “Having considered the importance of this debate for the widest possible public, and after having further conversations with survivors, support organisations and audiences, we have decided to stage this event on the Tuesday 14 March rather than on the Saturday 11 March as originally scheduled, to enable as many people as possible to contribute outside a festival context.”