Boy Talk: Too Risqué?

Today I went an hour out of Stockholm, to the north. It was a rainy and overcast day and we drove through great swathes of countryside, past fields of rich, brown soil and typical Swedish wooden houses painted in a traditional dark, iron-red colour. With the Radio Fri team I went to see boys living at a young offenders' institute. They were there for a range of crimes, from shoplifting to murder. Some of them were illegal immigrants who had come to Sweden alone, without parents or a guardian, but criminal activity had eventually brought them here.

The environment was less pretty and idyllic than the girls’ place yesterday although there were still mature conker trees and brown cows grazing in the fields, plodding up to the fence whenever anyone walked by. The “school” was set in grounds, but there weren’t any cute cottages with porches. Instead the accommodation was in utilitarian blocks, a bit like the prefabs built after the 2nd World War in the UK. Posters like the one in the picture where everywhere. The words are: Respect, Thoughtfulness, Clarity. The accommodation was of a very high standard though, with spacious rooms which had large TVs. There was a “seg” unit in the block I toured, which was a blank room with a single mattress in it, used when a boy got out of control. They could be locked in there for 24 hours, but the normal time was just 25 minutes. Classes are on offer here but boys aren’t forced to go. They can just sleep through the day if they want, but the idea is to motivate them to take up education by choice.

The Radio Fri team (Nadia and Arash) met up with 6 teenagers in a large and colourful room. Not really a classroom but somewhere where learning takes place. Three sofas were dragged in, as well as a few single chairs, which meant that boys laid out on the couches when they felt like it, just like being at home, watching TV. Two guards, one with the look of a nightclub bouncer, were also there as well as a teacher who did her knitting whilst listening, watching and sometimes contributing. Radio Fri carried out a brainstorming exercise encouraging the boys to think about what “home” meant to them and then the kind of questions they could ask to entice interesting answers out of interviewees. That way they could make a compelling radio piece about “home”. Then two boys were given some recording equipment and one interviewed the other in front of the others.

The Radio Fri team also “pitched” the idea of getting involved in radio to boys who hadn’t had a go at it yet. They did this by playing back two interviews previously recorded with two boys from the same group. A translator talked me through some of the key points as the audio rolled and I watched the boys reacting to it. The two boys were teased as their words came out of the speaker but they took it in their stride, obviously used to this kind of provocation and banter. There was a lot of dramatic, faux displays of alarm and shock, childishness and fooling around.

I must admit I was very uncomfortable with what I heard. One interview was about the end of a boy’s relationship with his girlfriend who – according to him – had changed for the worst over time. He cheated on her and she found him in bed with another girl. Alarm bells rang loud for me. If this is being broadcast on the public airwaves, what about his ex-girlfriend and her reputation, as well as her possible vulnerability? The professional radio producers reassured me that nothing could identify the girlfriend. In the second interview an eighteen year old spoke about his preference for sadomasochistic sex. Alarm bells rang even louder. Don’t you risk offending listeners with a piece about niche sexual-behaviour which is still taboo to some, especially if this is to be broadcast in the afternoon? The radio producers said the interview was squarely in the context of a consensual relationship, it wasn’t explicit, it's not an illegal act and we should recognise that the boy shares his predilection with others in society. Both interviews were unique and valuable audio, they said, because the boys weren't just talking about sex, but about their feelings too which is extremely rare. I have to take their word for it because I don’t understand Swedish, but whether I could editorially justify this kind of content created by a serving offender is something I’m still debating. My gut reaction is to say no, because it could attract negative headlines that would be unhelpful to a radio project which is trying to do good.

Despite my reservations I was impressed by these boys’ controlled deliveries, and their deep, bassy voices were very attractive to listen to. In almost perfect English they told me what they got out of making radio programmes and recording interviews. One of them was in for attempted murder and one for robbery and drugs. Their crimes were not associated with sex or relationships. They both said that their radio pieces might help listeners understand them more and what it's like to live in an institution like this. One wanted to explain how “good” his fellow inmates were and the other said he wanted to give more details about the crime that brought him to prison and explain his side of the story further. The Radio Fri producers said this was impossible and it went against their editorial guidelines. Making “prison radio” is not a platform to appeal against your conviction they said.