We will start in Sweden (where else, of course it is the first European country that comes to everyone's mind?!).
Back in the 1960s (how much ancient history can you stand?), the Swedes are supposed to have invented "free love". All sorts of strange tales emanated from there. One side effect is that for years Swedish women were labelled. All these gorgeous, good-looking, sexy blondes and they always "wanted it".
I never really believed this, but when I was travelling there on a camping trip with a friend in the 1970s, we asked a young man in Göteborg about this. He seemed more interested in ice hockey anyway (that may be a more typical Swedish stereotype), but he firmly denied that this was the story. "Maybe Denmark, not here" he told us in excellent English. See more on Denmark later in this series, but as I had already been to Copenhagen ....
Our camping trip didn't throw up any potential conquests either - at least according to the text book stereotype. We met a couple of very pleasant young women on a campsite, with whom we became friendly (but not intimate), and who knows where it might have gone if we had spent a few more days together - OK I can still dream about what might have been. They were not Swedes though - they were French! Tourists like us! For France, see also later in this series.
In the past few years you have (thankfully) not heard so much about Sweden being the place where it all happens. One thing that is well known about it these days though is its commitment to women's rights. If a man and woman decide to make love together, and halfway through the act, the woman decides that she is no longer interested, the man had better stop. If he is doesn't, that, under Swedish law, is rape! As the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange has discovered to his cost - allegedly!
Yes, the law looks like it will lead to loads of cases under the "he said, she said" principle. The advantages are, though, definitely in the woman's court.
The insistence upon women's rights has also spread into the area of prostitution. Swedish thinking on this subject suggests that women are the victims of predatory men where prostitution is concerned. The attempt to stop the trafficking of women for sexual purposes is clear, although those women locally who would voluntarily undertake the activity for financial gain (and maybe fun - one Dutch girl who did this for a living once told me that she did it as she enjoyed it, believe or not - for the Netherlands, see later in the series) are also prohibited from doing so.
The law, skilfully created without question, makes the purchaser the criminal. It is not illegal for a woman to be a prostitute. It is illegal for a man to offer her money for sex. Even if the woman makes the first move (see also the UK later in this series). It has successfully limited the import of trafficked women to Sweden, which is a definite positive from any point of view. At the same time at least (not sure whether this fact is still current), it also led to the unfortunate by-product where sizeable numbers of Swedish males would head for Tallinn, in the former Soviet Baltic state of Estonia, for the various vicarious pleasures that they were seeking.
Neighbouring Norway also had this problem with trafficked women (nearly all from Eastern Europe). When I was working in Oslo in 2007, I was advised that across the road from the city's main railway station I should be careful, as the city's drug culture was prevalent in that neighbourhood, and I was likely to be propositioned by women from Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria etc.
Well living in Frankfurt I am used to drug culture near the railway station - so you simply turn your head away and walk quickly past. The ladies of the night? I didn't encounter any, but I wasn't exactly looking for them.
The Norwegians tend to see themselves as independently minded (OK, that may be a stereotype), but in 2009 they followed the Swedish example, and almost copied the law on prostitution. Again it was successful in cutting the trafficking of foreign women. It also led to a number of complaints from Norwegian ladies of the night, who were still prepared to ply their trade (a lot of them drug addicts who need money to feed their habit). Most Norwegian men were very wary of the new law, and the trade dropped substantially. Whether there has been an increased amount of male tourist traffic between Oslo and Tallinn I have neither heard nor read.
Other Norwegian stereotypes? I don't know many. It was a great place to work, the people were extraordinarily pleasant (which does not mean over-friendly), and I think that Oslo is a beautiful city - and you really should see the ski jump facilities at Holmenkollen. And with its petro-currency, it should always be remembered that this is one of the world's most expensive countries.
But as my wife (who has also been to the west coastal region round Ålesund) will tell you, it is an extraordinary place to visit if you love the glories of nature.
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