The Dbag Dating Guide to Scandinavian Men

scandinavian men dbag dating

Ever since moving to Europe three years ago, and particularly since launching this male-objectifying exercise of a blog, I have been repeatedly advised – no, instructed – to go to Scandinavia. I’m talking about friends, coworkers, readers, you name it, all promising me some sort of cathartic experience in the land of herring and Ikea, complete with the discovery of my own 7-foot tall Bjorn Ironside with superpowers in the sack.

Finally, last weekend, I went. To be frank, I went at a time that I’m sufficiently satisfied with my love life (blame it on the new moon), hence this was more explorative research than Viking-hunting mission. And yet, my loyal Honeymoon Wife* and I gave it a fair shot, visiting both Denmark and Sweden, following all the recommendations we were given, and never returning home before 4am.

*Honeymoon Wife – travel companion extraordinaire, obligatory for every single girl. Must have common mission of visiting remote destinations, equipped with a low budget and high expectations.

Stop 1: Copenhagen

I’m certain that, if Oscar Wilde were to be alive in the 21st Century, he would agree that when good hipsters die, they go to Copenhagen. Never did I think it possible for one city to house this many good-looking human beings with an inherent penchant for well-cut Acne denim. My jaw dropped the minute I stepped into a breakfast spot called Union Kitchen and discovered that every male in 5 meter radius, restaurant staff included, appeared to be a Ben Dahlhaus clone. Unlike French hipsters, most of them looked like they actually showered, although I was slightly thrown off by the abundance of bizarre tattoos decorating the entity of their bodies.. It wasn’t rare to spot a female face adorning a body part, which led me to wonder – what one has to do to become a permanent fixture on one’s thigh?

The situation only got better throughout the day, hitting its peak at the the Copenhagen Street Market, where I could no longer control myself and actually whipped out my camera to capture (and Instagram) all the homogenous hotness (and my Honeymoon Wife threatened to disown me.) Although we were warned that Danish men can be quite stand-offish and reserved, expecting women to take the initiative (these are the people responsible for the who “going Dutch” injustice, after all), we were pleasantly surprised to be approached throughout the entire night – or at least starting 1am, when most people had enough drinks in their system. Even though everybody did seem to be massively inebriated, the pickup scene fun and non-sleazy, not to mention refreshingly easy due to the Danes’  mastery of the English language.

Consensus: Definite potential. The people are hot, fun, and inexplicably happy to be alive, which is pretty refreshing and a bit surprising, considering the arctic temperatures 9 months of the year. Perhaps, the social system is just that good, and I’m sure all that beer helps. Overall, Denmark is a wonderful place where, with enough alcohol and stamina, all your man fantasies can and will come true. Don’t forget to check out Union Kitchen and enjoy an avocado toast that blogger fantasies are made of!

Stop 2: Stockholm

Oh Stockholm. A land of false hope. Of lost dreams. A myth. A fairy tale. An unfulfilled fantasy of tall hunks and impeccable street style, both of which never quite measured up to our expectations. Maybe we looked in the wrong places, but judging by the size of the city and the blisters on my Converse-clad feed, not a neighborhood was left unexplored. The main problem lies in the fact that Swedes are simply not the most outgoing people, at least until they are sufficiently drunk.. In fact, if you want to meet somebody in this city, I suggest you just set your alarm for 2am and come out when they are all on their 15th beer. After a full evening of standing by a bar, batting our eyelashes at men who ignored us like we were code red Ebola carriers, we finally met two Swedish guys who seemed willing to socialize. We were just starting to get comfortable, when we were interrupted by an obnoxious, albeit entertaining, Brit (drunk, of course). In an effort to impress us, he proceeded to demonstrate that Swedes were terrified of confrontation by yelling “SWEDES ARE TERRIFIED OF CONFRONTATION JUST WATCH THEY WON’T SAY ANYTHING TO ME” at the top of his lungs. I almost had a heart attack, expecting a fight to break out on the spot, but was even more shocked to discover that our new Swedish friends had slipped through thin air and disappeared. Wtf? I could have fought this street fight!

Consensus: This scene ain’t for me. For one, I might actually be too Russian for this borderline aggressive form of gender equality. Apparently, one-night-stands are the first step to relationships, and you don’t even have to flirt or talk much beforehand – they like to skip the awkward part and just go home together at the end of the night! I do hear that Swedes are excellent family material, especially if you’re all about splitting household responsibilities and taking turns changing diapers and all that other progressive stuff that us Russkis will probably never evolve to.

If you do go, pay a visit to Tradgarden, one of Stockholm’s multiple outdoor events, tucked away under a bridge and considered to be the hotspot of the summer. Get ready to stand in an equal-opportunity line with 50 blue-haired bloggers, then in yet another line for a beer, then sit on benches staring at parades of what looks like The Other Stories catalog come to life.

Thoughts? Did we get the right vibe? Is there something we missed? If so, please contribute!

11 Comments

  • Hilarious. A pal from London has said that Northern European women have “ruined” / spoiled a lot of the guys in London because the women are (well, have to be) aggressive and make all the moves so the guys are passive AF and the concept of effort is foreign to them. It’s not the women’s fault, it’s the guys’ 5-year-old id nature, of course. My friend wants to know, between the comatose Scandinavians and shy(?) Britons, what’s a girl gotta do??
    And great social experiment you witnessed in Stockholm. So now I know how to entertain myself if bored and finding myself in that part of the world.
    Always appreciate your witty insight. Looking forward to your next post!

  • This is perfect intel as I was planning to go to Sweden in a year for ehem… This blog is what I needed in my life. I had read that Swedish men are beautiful & passive, and I think I don’t mind. I don’t mind making the first move as long as they don’t say “no.” But I didn’t know about Denmark, thank for putting it on my radar!

  • If you seek love and marrige dont seek it in the capital of sweden. (Stockholm ) is not a good place to look at i would say seek in in Göteborg Malmö or in the northern part of sweden were the real love seekers exist try any place above Stockholm and its a good start .why? in my opinion in Stockholm they become very picky Becuise they think diffrent then rest of the land .PS If you are a hot southern girl from the States .text me! ?

    • Hahahha I am definitely NOT a hot southern girl from the States but maybe some of the other ladies here are! In any case, thanks for the tips!!

  • You should have went to Gothenburg instead of Stockholm. People are weird in Stockholm. In Gothenburg, you get personality, cool people, a totally different spirit than Stockholm. Yes, it is that different. 🙂 Fun blogpost!

  • How funny!
    My bf is part Swedish but only really by blood. He looks Swedish but also has other stuff like Native American. He was born and raised in the US, but he sounds just like all the accounts of Swedish men that I’ve heard. That’s so weird! He was once a foreign exchange student in Gotland and said he fit in perfectly. For some reason he also speaks the language which he picked up while he was there. He said people always spoke Swedish to him not knowing he was a tourist/American.

  • Marina, fantastic blog! I do relate to this as I do come from Europe myself and I have many danish friends, all kinds, but none Swedish:)
    Yet I haven’t been to neither of the Nordic countries and planning to get my experience this coming summer. So your view is absolute correct according to me and I do appreciate the funny and sharp approach you got the picture. Love Nordic people in general and looking forward to explore my Viking roots soon.

  • i laughed my pants off reading this article!
    your writing style is impeccable and a bit difficult for a non-native speaker of english)

    could you write an article about polish men and slavs in particular?

  • As a young man who grew up amidst/post “me-too,” I’m a bit afraid of taking the initiative with women. I guess my question is, do women want the guy who comes up to them, smelling like a distillery and says his one practiced line, or do you want to be given the chance to come up to guys?
    I don’t want to harass anyone but sometimes it seems that women want guys to bother them the right way, without being creepy or rude, and I have no clue how to navigate that…
    (The answer may be practice but I thought I’d ask here since I have to affiliation with/accountability to you)

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