Category: Lifestyle

Sing in Christmas with Europe’s oldest gay choir

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Did you know that Sweden has a very large number of choirs? Singing in a choir is in fact one of Swedish people’s favorite pursuits. That means that there are lots of choirs to meet various needs and interests: gospel choirs, political choirs, church choirs, integration choirs, indie choirs.

So, it’s not surprising then that the first gay choir to be established in Europe came out in Stockholm. 35 years ago to be exact, just a short time before London’s Gay Men’s chorus was founded.

As a conclusion of their 35 years’ celebrations, Stockholm’s Gay Choir is holding two Christmas concerts on Sunday 17th December at Playhouse Theater in Stockholm. Tickets can be bought via this link biljettkiosken.se/itschristmas or in the foyer an hour before the concert. Or find the choir on Facebook or their website.

Buy a ticket, support a good cause and contribute to Sweden’s diversity. And get a bit of Christmas gaiety at the same time! See you there!

100 years of Swedish actresses who conquered Hollywood

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

alicia and greta

It can hardly have escaped anyone’s attention that Swedish actress Alicia Wikander is currently the sweetheart of Hollywood. Receiving an Oscar, marrying film star Michael Fassbender, coupled with fantastic acting ability, grace and poise, has positioned her firmly as the actress of her generation.

As I read about Alicia, I became curious about other Swedish actresses who have conquered Hollywood. To my surprise, she is the latest in a list of Swedish actresses stretching back 100 years. I found that there was at least one Swedish actress who broke through per decade (with questionable exception of the 90’s) and who made the Transatlantic step from Nordic success to international recognition and fame.

Here’s the list,

  • 2010s – Alicia Wikander
  • 2000s – Noomi Rapace
  • 1990s – Urma Thurman (pushing it I know – she has roots in Trelleborg)
  • 1980’s – Lena Olin
  • 1970’s – Maud Adams
  • 1960’s – Ann Margret
  • 1950s – Anita Ekberg
  • 1940’s – Ingrid Bergman
  • 1930’s/20’s – Greta Garbo (dominated the 20’s and 30’s)
  • 1920’s – Sigrid Holmquist
  • 1910’s – Anna Q Nilsson 

Other internationally-famous Swedish actresses, past and present

  • Rebecca Ferguson (2010’s)
  • Sofia Helin (2010’s)
  • Malin Åkerman (2000’s)
  • Britt Ekland (1960’s)
  • Viveca Lindfors (1950’s)
  • Zarah Leander (1940’s – Europe, refused to relocate to USA)

Maybe you have a favourite that I have missed out? If so, who?

All Saints’ Day – the Swedish way 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Dressing up as witches, vampires and other ghoulish things has become increasing popular in Sweden. However, the traditional way of celebrating this time of year is much more serene and romantic. 

In Sweden, the first Saturday in November is All Saints’ Day – not necessarily November 1st as in most other countries. In 1983, the Sunday after All Saints’ Day was given the official name All Souls’ Day to separate between the saints and the dead.

Since the 1800’s Swedes have, during this weekend, made pilgrimage to graveyards up and down the country to decorate the graves with candle light.

It is a beautiful experience to walk through the churchyards this weekend. In the pitch black November Nordic darkness, it is a peaceful reminder of those who have gone before us. If you happen to be in Stockholm, head for the Forest graveyard (Skogskyrkogården) for a specifically spectacular experience. 

Why are there so many gay nannies in Sweden? 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Photo: Johan Bävman 

Today was a rare Thursday. In the early afternoon, I got a moment to grab a coffee and sit in a cafe. Munching on my cardamom bun and sipping my latte, I looked around the room. Rather a large space with lots of seats. High ceilings. Modern Swedish design. And packed with people. 

A greater analysis of the demographic wasn’t really required. It was obvious from first glance that the majority of the guests were parental-leave parents – the armada of pushchairs being the biggest giveaway. 

About 50 percent of these guests were men. Bearded, beany-hatted, tattooed chillaxed dads. Trendy Swedish pappor. Taking advantage of the generous Swedish parental leave laws, these dads were enjoying their pesto pancake salads and bonding with their newborn infants. 

As I sat there I was reminded of a comment made to me some years ago by a friend visiting from Austria. After a couple of days in Sweden, observing the Swedes, she made an interesting reflection. 

She thought it was fantastic that there were so many gay nannies sitting in the cafes and patrolling the streets. 

Sweden truly is an amazing place! 

A Swedish thing, or a generational thing? 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Sitting in a restaurant yesterday beside two Swedish women in their mid 20’s. Eavesdropping on their conversation. They were talking about their employment situation. As I sat listening, I was caught between the emotions of affection and horror. 

One said ‘I don’t think employers should be able to place demands on us employees. If they keep placing demands on us, don’t they get that we won’t be happy. Then they’ll have a hard time finding staff’ 

The second woman nodded in agreement. And added ‘yeah, what if we decide we want to do something else like go to Thailand for three months? I want to be able to just go tomorrow if I feel like it.’ 

A Swedish thing, or a generational thing? 

Swedish pizza – with cabbage! 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes


If you want a cultural food experience in Sweden – order a pizza. When you do, you will also experience a very strange bedfellow. In Sweden, pizza is served with complimentary salad, in both restaurants and take aways. This salad is called creatively –  ‘pizza salad’ and is made of cabbage. It is a kind of coleslaw with white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and oil. It’s fresh, crispy and a bit weird. 

This odd combination is as far as I know only offered in the Nordic countries and its origin is a bit unclear. One theory is that when the first pizzerias opened in Sweden, the traditional tomato salad wasn’t an option due to the climate in the winter. So, subsequently they decided to use a more available, local vegetable – the cabbage – inspired by the Croatian salad ‘kupus salata’. 

Whatever it’s origin, the pizza salad is so ingrained in the Swedish mentality, it’s become a cultural ‘classic’.  In fact, it’s hard to imagine a pizza without cabbage salad in Sweden. 

How Swedes indoctrinate their children

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

tittamaxgrav

A friend of mine was visiting at the weekend with her small child, and she forgot one of her books when she left. I looked through it and was struck by how the story book reflected Swedish society and lifestyle: a picture book designed to groom children in the Swedish way.

The book is called ‘Titta Max grav’ – ‘Look, Max’s grave!‘ – and it was first published in 1991 and written by Barbro Lindgren and Eva Eriksson. The book is a fascinating account of the life of a little boy called Max from the cradle to the grave. He is born, learns to walk and talk, gets a dog, goes to school, becomes a banker, finds a woman (unclear if they are married), has a child. But then it all goes downhill for Max. He watches too much television, so his woman gets sick of him and leaves. He gets sick, wants to consume Swedish ‘snus’ (snuff), gets sicker and eventually dies alone. And the final picture – look, Max’s grave.

The ‘simple’ story promotes many Swedish values which guide Swedish society: all children receive an education, men and women don’t have to be married to have children, women are empowered to leave useless men, everybody receives healthcare, many people die alone.

There’s nothing specifically unique about this particular book. All cultures pass on their values to their children via stories. Sometimes these are verbal stories told by grandparents as they entertain their grandchildren. Sometimes these are communicated via tv or other screens to curious minds.

Very often they are transmitted via ‘simple’ books full of pictures and easy words by parents at bedtime. But these books are actually not simple at all: they are cultural mechanisms designed to pass on values and ethics and indoctrinate children into the prevailing sense of morality.

So those of you with small children. Have you refelcted over what the stories are teaching your children? How are you indoctrinating them?

 

 

How Swedes have sex

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

sea-of-nudity

One of the major stereotypes of Swedes is that they are sexually liberated.

Twenty years ago, a large research project on 2800 people was carried out looking into how Swedes view sex. Participants were between 18-74 years old. In comparison to many other countries, Sweden was consequently seen as a place that has a liberal view on sex. Now this research is about to be carried out again, to see what, if anything, has changed in the last two decades. The suspicion is that a lot has changed in the last twenty years.

So what did the results look like 20 years ago?

Here’s a summary, courtesy of daily newspaper DN.

In 1996,

  • Sexual debut was on average 16 years old
  • The average woman had 4,6 sexual partners
  • The average man had had sex with 7,1 people on average
  • Swedes between 26-55 had the most sex
  • Sexual activity had increased since the previous study in 1967, except between the ages 31-50 were there was a decrease, probably due to work pressure
  • The top 10% were called ‘superactives’ and the men had slept with 29-560 people and the women had slept with 15-100 people
  • 38% of the Swedes had experience of sexual relations outside of their committed relationship
  • The average amount of penetrative sex was 65 times per year
  • 15-20% of women had same-sex fantasies, 3% of men.
  • Women more frequently reported a diminshing interest in sex. Difficulty to achieve orgasm was the most common reason. Amongst the men who claimed the same reduced desire, premature ejaculation was the most common reason.

 The last time they had sex,

  • 95% had had vaginal sex
  • 59-72% had carressed eachother’s genitals
  • 25% had oral sex
  • 1% had anal sex
  • 71% of men orgasmed, 62% of women acheived orgasm
  • 80% had sex with their husband, wife, partner
  • 5-6% had sex with a friend or casual partner
  • 1% had met via a contact ad

 

In the last twenty years, a lot has happened in Sweden. Easy sexual contacts via aps such as Grindr and Tinder makes sex more accessible. Young people who experiment with their sexualities, and refuse to identify as hetero or homo, is more common than twenty years ago. On the other hand, Sweden is a more multi-cultural society than before and attitudes to sexuality may well be influenced by religion, culture and a new restrictive morality. It will be interesting to read what the results of the new survey reveal.

What do you think? How have things changed?

Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swedish foot fetish 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes


Sweden’s winters are long, dark and cold. To compensate for this many Swedes leave these icy shores and head off to warmer climes for a week or two. They top up their tan, get a boost of sunlight and fill up their vitamin D. Somebody once said to me that a week abroad in the winter is almost a human right for a Swede. Of course, that’s rather extreme, but some time away certainly does provide renewed energy as the seasons shift slowly from winter to early spring. 
And for many people, me included,  it’s not enough to just slip away discretely. Today’s public sphere of social media means that images of the sun fill our phones on a daily basis. It’s not enough to go away. We also need to let everybody know what a great time we’re having in the wonderful heat while friends at home are enduring the bitter winter weather. For some, seeing this is fun, for others irritating. 

This week alone, which is Swedish sport break for Stockholm schools, my feed has been full of sunny pictures. Of beaches. And golf courses. And long drinks. 

And also full of Swedish feet. Lots and lots of feet. Never mind the selfie, the footsie is all the rage. Never mind the beach, this is proof that I am here! The footsie is not a new concept, in fact it’s rather cliched and ironic nowadays. A quick look at Trip Advisor and you can see the massive amount of feet pictures uploaded there. And they seem to cause a bit of heated debate. One reviewer writes: 

‘I have to say .. 98% of the feet pictures are disgusting! There are very few truly attractive feet (men or women) People don’t take into account that we all don’t see your piggly wigglies with the same eye. Whether barefoot, or fabulously painted, tattooed or the shoe/sandal is to die for .. I simply don’t want to them. Leave the foot photography to professionals who know how to make a foot beautiful.’ 

And somebody else writes in defence:

‘I would never apologize for a foot pic. For me, none are meant to offend or tread on boundaries of good taste. For me it is almost like a bit of freedom. Living where I do, a person wears socks and shoes most all the time…summer is short… winter feels SUFFOCATING. When I have the chance to shed my socks and shoes…esp WINTER shoes… and feel the soles of my feet on warm earth…and my toes digging into warm sand… well… some of my fav pics in deep winter are memories from a beach where I was able to let my feet (and me) be free. To post such might just be a way of expressing how free and happy a person felt. It is a unique expression of what made them happy. Thank god the internet is fast now and you can click right on by. We are all unique. ‘ 

So it seems like Swedes are not the only ones with ‘foot fetishes’ on Facebook and other social media. And it seems like from the hot beach, the footsie has become a hot topic which leaves some people, well, hot under the collar! 

What do you think about the footsie trend? Let me know in the comments below. 

What is Sweden’s National Dish?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

swedishchef

If you’ve ever wondered what Sweden’s National Dish is, now is the time to take part in a competition hosted by radio station P3. So far, the folowwing have been eliminated: falafel, swede, ‘plankstek’ (literally steak on a plank) and ‘palt’ (dumplings).

What is left to vote for are the following:

  • ‘Smörgåstårta’ (sandwich cake) versus ‘Sill och potatis’ (pickled herring and boiled potatoes)
  • ‘Köttbullar’ (meatballs) versus ‘Blodpudding’ (black pudding)
  • ‘Tacos’ versus ‘Falukorv med makaroner´ (sausage with macaroni)
  • ‘Kebabpizza’ versus ‘varmkorv’ (hot dog)

If you’d like to vote, here’s the link: VoteforSwedenNationalDish

So, what do you think? What is Sweden’s National Dish?