Finnish political parties

– In the evening in bed I was afraid that I was pregnant and during the day I tried to be just like before, Satu Hassi describes on TV what the two years following the rape were like. Pete Anikari

Satu Hassi, who has been a key figure of the Greens for a long time, talks on TV about the trauma that badly overshadowed his childhood. She is Juho-Pekka Rantalan in the interview Actually heard in the program.

Hassi was raped when she was only 11 years old. At the time of the crime, he was returning from a friend’s house when two boys attacked him in a dark street. Iltalehti has previously reported that the perpetrators were 15 years old.

– Another landed on top of me and started poking my crotch with what I thought was a finger. The boys took turns. In the twilight, I made out the narrow squint glinting from the scapula of the boy who had stood up, Hassi wrote in his memoir published in 2018 Mannerheim buckle and red flag (Bridge).

On TV, Hassi says that at first she didn’t understand what the boys were doing. He asked them a question as well.

– Another said that “at least you will have a child”. That’s when I realized. I had read medical books from my godfather’s bookshelf and learned about ovum and sperm. But they did not tell how the sperm reaches the egg.

It was said in the books that pregnancy lasts nine months. In this case, however, the information did not ease the pain of the small child. Hassi started to fear becoming a mother.

– I was afraid for two years that I was pregnant. It was a terrible shame back then if a girl was pregnant out of wedlock, Hassi recalls in the program.

She was freed from fear only when her period started.

– Yes, it overshadowed my childhood. I felt like I was living a double life.

Hassi did not dare to tell anyone about the rape. He was convinced that exposure would result in eternal shame—for himself. Hassi told Iltalehte that his own world of thought described the atmosphere of the 1960s very well.

– The 11-year-old girl has somehow absorbed the idea that being raped is her shame and something she has to hide in order not to be disgraced and rejected by the community.

Actually heard: Satu Hassi today on TV1 at 20:55. See all TV programs and broadcast times in Telku’s TV guide.