Elise Ottesen-Jensen, also known as Ottar (2 January 1886 − 4 September 1973), was a Norwegian- Swedish

sex educator Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

agitator, whose main mission was to fight for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

to understand and control their own body and sexuality. She was a member of the Swedish

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

union

Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden The Central Organisation of Swedish Workers (; SAC) is a Sweden, Swedish syndicalist National trade union center, trade union federation. The SAC organises people from all occupations and industries in one single federation, including the Unempl ...

. Her followers consider her a pioneer in the field of

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Her personal motto was "I dream of the day when every new born child is welcome, when men and women are equal, and when sexuality is an expression of intimacy, joy and tenderness."

Life and career

A vicar's daughter, Ottar was born Elise Ottesen in the municipality of

Høyland Høyland is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality was located at the innermost end of the Gandsfjorden in the western part of the present-day municipality of Sandnes. The muni ...

(incorporated into

Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest municipality in Norway, and together the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sand ...

in 1965) in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. She was Immanuel Ottesen and Karen Arselle Essendrop's 17th out of 18 children, and as was customary in Norway at that time she was named ''Elise'' after her sister who died as an infant the year before. The name Ottar was her journalist pseudonym and was an abbreviation of her last name, but also a reference to the Norwegian Viking chief Ohthere of Hålogaland (Norwegian: ). Later in life, her father sent away her little sister Magnhild to give birth in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, so that she could be forced to give up her child. Maghild was told nothing about pregnancy or birth, and for nine months she feared that her stomach would just split. She committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

because of the longing for the child she had to leave behind. For this, Ottar could never forgive her father, and the fate of her sister became a strong driving force for her commitment to the struggle for

. Ottar's dream was to become a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

, but an explosion in the chemistry laboratory of her high school injured her fingers, spoiling her chances to pursue a dentist career. Instead she started to work in a newspaper, and eventually became a

. She had always questioned the preachings of her father, and early on arrived at the conclusion that she was not a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. She now found that her sympathies were with the

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

, and it was with them she would struggle for the rest of her life. She made several attempts to organize

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

. But soon they started asking her for advice in sexual matters, asking her questions like "Do I always have to when my husband wants to?", "What can I do to avoid getting pregnant?". By the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in 1913, Ottar met and developed a close friendship with the Swedish anarcho-syndicalist peace agitator . They married in 1931, and Elise Ottesen changed her surname to Ottesen-Jensen. When Albert Jensen was expelled from Norway, she came with him to Denmark. There, she gave birth to their child, who died soon after birth. Ottar and Albert moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and she came to know a doctor who amongst other things taught her how to use a diaphragm. She then set out for her first nationwide tour, in Sweden. She travelled from Scania to Norrland, teaching female workers how to avoid pregnancy. She agitated for the right for women to experience sexual pleasure, for free abortion, for the repealing of the laws against contraceptives, for

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

, and more. What she did was illegal and she risked harsh penalties. In the 1920s, Ottar was a regular writer for '' Arbetaren'', with her own column focusing on feminist issues. After a disagreements with the other editors of ''Arbetaren'' in 1925, she started her own paper, ''Vi kvinnor''. The paper did, however, not last long. A few years later, she also wrote for the anarchist magazine ''Brand''. In 1933, Ottar, together with a number of radical medical doctors and trade union representatives, founded the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (, RFSU). She became its first president, and held this post until 1956. Ottesen-Jensen was also one of the founders of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), in 1953. A paper published by RFSU bears the name "Ottar", to honour Elise Ottesen-Jensen. This paper changed its name to "Ottar" in 2001, and was earlier known as "RFSU bulletin". The name Ottar has also been used to name the Norwegian feminist group , who were officially founded in 2006. She was awarded the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It") is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gusta ...

by the Swedish government in 1951 and honorary doctorate in medicine in Uppsala in 1958.

Bibliography

* ''Ovälkomna barn: ett ord till kvinnorna'' (1926) * ''Könslagarnas offer'' (1928) * ''Människor i nöd : Det sexuella mörkrets offer'' (1932) * ''Sexualundervisningen'' (In Sexuallivet i modern belysning, edited by Arne Tallberg, 1944) * ''Säg barnet sanningen'' (1945) * ''ABC för ett lyckligt äktenskap'' (with Nils Nielsen, 1947) * ''Och livet skrev'' (1965) * ''Livet skrev vidare'' (1966) * ''Arbetarrörelsen – männens eller mänsklighetens rörelse?'' (a selection of Ottar's articles in Arbetaren and Brand in the 1920s, by Ingrid Primander, 1980) Unpublished work: * The archives from ''Riksförbund för sexuell upplysning'', in ''Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek'' * ''Elise Ottesen-Jensens korrespondanse og klipparkiv'', in Planned Parenthood Federation of America Library

Life and career

Bibliography

References

See also

Further reading