What is Behind The Sexist Treatment of Finnish PM Sanna Marin?

There has been a sensationalistic furor over leaked videos of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin dancing, drinking and partying earlier this month. 

Some media outlets have suggested that Marin was "dancing intimately" with several men while others have claimed she may have been under the influence of drugs and called upon to get drug tested which she has done.

Marin was only 34 when she was elected Prime Minister in 2019. Currently, she is the third youngest head of state in the world behind only Dritan Abazovic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro and Chilean President Gabriel Boric.  

Had there been video of either Abazovic or Boric drinking and dancing with women I cannot imagine it would generate any scrutiny, certainly not any demands for a drug test. But Marin is a young woman, and to put it bluntly, she is a very attractive young woman. As such Marin is held to a different standard than her male counterparts. Indeed there were other politicians at this party. The response has just been plain sexist.

The question is what is the motivation behind the leak of this video? It was found on an unknown Instagram account. This certainly raises red flags.

While those who oppose the governing Social Democratic Party would have a motivation to leak this kind of video as there will be parliamentary elections in Finland in April 2023. However, I suspect that it is more likely an external force at work here. Let us consider that Finland is on the verge of joining NATO much to the ire of Russia - namely Vladimir Putin. One cannot dismiss the possibility this video was leaked by a Russian source in an attempt to exploit fissures in Finnish society, discredit Marin and perhaps put the kibosh on the NATO ratification process namely by Turkey. Russia has done a bang up job of exploiting and exacerbating crevasses in the United States. So why wouldn't they do the same in Finland?

Now if Marin fails the drug test after denying taking them then that it is another matter. There was the incident in December 2021 in which she went clubbing and left her phone at home. While she was clubbing there was a text message that she had in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 and needed to isolate. While Marin did not contract COVID she was compelled to apologize. 

While a positive drug test would raise doubts about Marin due to her denial in taking them there would have been no test if not for the leaked video. In which case, by virtue of the presence of other Finnish politicians, there must remain a suspicion if the video would have ever seen the light of day had Marin been a man.