Indeed, Muhler and thank you for sharing insights into your own and Mr. O'Neill's cultural (I will not use the word 'sexist' because clearly culture is at play here and not gender!) makeup! Spending two weeks in Aarhus, a Danish city that seems lifted straight out of the 1950's, I am indeed curious about cultural role playing in Danish society. I like the egalitarian style that I am seeing, but wonder about the uniformity here...is there a pressure to be like every one else or is individuality encouraged?
By the way, Moesgaard museum is a treasure box!
You nailed it, Gerry.
This is indeed a cultural difference as we can tell from the national reactions.
I will not go much into Danish mindset and culture because you would be surprised at how different the Scandinavian countries are in regards to how we look at things and this is mainly about Sweden
.
In Sweden most men will call themselves or even define themselves as feminists, usually with genuine conviction because the Swedes are almost obsessively egalitarian, especially in regards to gender issues.
While in Denmark calling himself feminist (they do exist BTW) would be considered downright silly and worse: trying to be politically correct and that is
not a compliment!
However, that does not mean that we Danish husbands do not believe women should be equal to men, we certainly do! - Provided they make it on their own, without special considerations...
So in Scandinavia a man defining himself as "the breadwinner" in the family (even if it's true) sounds like something our grandads would say. Simply because the wast majority of women here have been out working since the late 1970's. In fact when you on rare occasions do encounter a housewife with no or minimal income of her own, she really is a novelty and who is met with genuine curiosity. How can you afford that? Don't you feel under stimulated? And so on.
The difference between Sweden and Denmark is that while a man saying "I'm the breadwinner of the family" is about as politically incorrect as you can be in Sweden. In Denmark he would be met with amusement - even on building sites. Followed by the question: "How the Hansen can you afford that? Do you earn
that much!?!" Or being assumed that he's got a mailorder bride at home, straight off the plane.
How they would view things from an Icelandic, Finnish or Norwegian perspective I'll leave to others.
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- I'm glad you are enjoying your stay in DK, especially Aarhus, Gerry.
"Straight out of the 50's?" Because so many buildings are old and low?
As for uniformity. That's the tribal mentality. We are a part of a tribe so we look like the tribe - while at the same time we genuinely believe we are very individual.
You may also have noticed, that even though we are in the middle of the holiday season, the pace is also slower over here.
And one final thing, if you have the time, I strongly suggest you go to the town of Hvide Sande on the west coast. Apart from enjoying the scenery (and the tourists, doing their best to drown themselves...
) there is a fish-restaurant at a quay in the harbor there. The fishing boats offload some of their catch at the kitchen side so the fish are literally hardly dead when they are being served and they are big!