"The message, however, went to a work phone that she had deliberately left at home that evening; she had a date night with her husband, Markus Räikkönen, a former soccer player turned tech entrepreneur. The couple had dinner with friends, stopped by a cocktail bar near the Helsinki harbor, and then went dancing at Butchers, a night club named to evoke New York City's meatpacking district."
"Three older male government officials also went out that weekend, but it would be pictures of Marin at the club, young and photogenic, which were splashed across the website of the Finnish gossip magazine Seiska. On Wednesday, amid mounting criticism from her political opponents on the right, Marin, a Social Democrat, held a press conference in front of the parliamentary building to apologize."
"One journalist asked if it was a joke or just a coincidence that she had been drinking a Corona. On social media, the reactions were of a different tenor. A BBC article headlined "Finland's PM Sorry for Clubbing After Covid Contact" took off on Twitter, with users from around the world rallying behind Marin. They posted comments like "hot girl shit" and "Sorry for what? For being cool? A badass? I don't accept her apology.""
Sanna Marin, thirty-six when serving as Finland's prime minister, spent a December night out with her husband and friends and left her work phone at home. The next morning she learned a briefing suggested close contacts of the foreign minister should self-isolate, prompting her to prepare for potential fallout. Photographs of Marin at a nightclub were widely published while older male officials received less attention. Marin apologized at a press conference amid right-wing criticism, while social media displayed both support and mockery and the press often emphasized appearance and personal conduct over policy work.
Read at The New Yorker
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