Are Swedes really all blondes and Vikings?
Published: 6 Mar 13 14:44 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46572/20130306/
What is the quintessential Swedish stereotype? Blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful and bearded? More importantly, how do Swedes react to these claims? The Local took to the streets of Stockholm to find out.
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But is any of this really accurate?
Armed with a blond wig and a pointy helmet of our own, we took to the streets of central Stockholm to find out if these claims are mere clichés or actually hit closer to home than one might think.
Join us as we meet characters like bearded Bengt, who's convinced that Swedes should be known for their sense of humour, and mohawk-sporting Anton who blames it all on the Germans.
But is it the three German tourists who get the last laugh when we ask them about Swedish men?
In any case, check out the video below and be sure to let us know what other stereotypes we may have missed for next time.
More from the streets of Stockholm: asking Swedes about untranslatable words
Oliver Gee
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To answer to the above question, you should refer to history, for example Eugenics in Sweden.
Eugenics (genetic composition of a population) existed in Sweden for more than 4 decades till 1976, longer than any country in the world. According to the "Eugenics and the welfare state in Sweden by Alberto Spektorowski and Elisabet Mizrachi":
"… although the ideological core of Swedish Social Democracy remained reformist and universalistic, there were strong tendencies towards a Fabian concept of industrial democracy and an exclusionist concept of social welfare. This was the basis for social eugenics: a welfare community for 'the fittest'…."
'The fittest', is what the present immigrants and refugees have to face everyday. It is what you find in the bases of social structure in Sweden! It is unimaginably hard to be different in such society, a different kind of person than Swede. An immigrant or refugees has to face not only the normal hardness of adaptation like any other country, but also the extra hardness of being exactly like a Swede to be considered 'The fittest'!
And the most gay too. Add to that, the most shallow and boring too.
That was my opinion. I have different standards of beauty in men , different from yours it seems..., and i think that swedish men are best looking. That doesn't means all of swedes are hot but most of them are :D .
Furthermore, Swedish women by far are lest attractive women on the planet and they are a reflection of their men. Most (90%) have shapes that resemble men. One should not be surprised that they seek partners that are non-white.
And I´m so sick of seing those helmets with horns, they didnt exist back then, they are made up. Why would a viking, or anybody, wear something like that?
I agree. The viking helmets did not have those silly horns.
P.S. Many gayish people here speaking of gays. Wrong thread I believe.
Although from a fellow male point of view , hotness covers a lot of attributes,not least of all charm, politeness, sense of humor and ability to communicate. And looks must also include masculinity, manliness and self control....
Most of the above are in short supply in Swedish men.....although we could always go shopping at Ikea.... or H & M......Doesn't that sound like fun?
It`s clear that you are just trying to provoke and haver no idea what a Swede or albino looks like. How can you make such general claims about what Sweden men lacks? Have you met them all? Same goes for Beatrice saying that Swedish men are hot, she can hardly have met them all.
@Khazara
So all Swedes are homosexual? Inbred mutant albinos? Swedish women by far are lest attractive women on the planet? Most (90%) have shapes that resemble men? What a joke, you seem very narrow minded, homofobic and bitter.
I am having a good life. My opinion, you do not need to accept it.
I didn`t question your view of your life, I spoke up about what I think of your comment. I don`t need to accept or respect it, I respect the right you have to express it but not the opinion itself. I also have the right to make my opinion heard about what I think about your views and I think they are a joke.