Looking Swedish episode #6

This weeks topic

Many times when I meet new people and they find out that I am Swedish people say;
But you don’t look Swedish?
I don’t really know how I should react to a comment like that, am I getting insulted or ????
The stereotypical description of a Swede is;
Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful.

I got 2 out of 4 correct, or close to anyhow, I have blue eyes but more on the greyish side, and blond hair, even if it gets grayer by the day. 

What is the background to the stereotype

But where does the stereotype come from and how true is it? 
I did some research and these numbers are from 2019, let’s start by talking about height;

Swedes rank #16 in the world; average height is 172.71 cm or 5’ 7.99”
Male 179.93 cm or 5’ 10.76” USA 5’ 9”
Female 165.6 cm or 5’5.23” USA 5’ 4”
so American men and women are shorter on average.
Me 151 cm or 4’ 11.45”

When it comes to hair color about 78 % of all Swedes are in the blonde spectrum, and one biological factor for this is that blond hair absorbs vitamin D
Blue eyes are attributed to 79 % of all Swedes while worldwide only 8 % have blue eyes.
So now to the question about beauty, and this is of course very subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.

So why have Swedes got this epithet?

We often are drawn to what is less common, so being that blue eyes are so uncommon around the world may explain why that is considered beautiful. 
In general, being tall is often seen as a sign of power and being more attractive so the combination of women being taller and blue-eyed can be perceived as beautiful.  
One thing that can contribute to the stereotype is that compared to Sweden’s relatively small population, we have a high number of people in the movie and fashion industry. 

Famous Swedes that contributed to the stereotype

So let’s take a look at some famous Swedish actresses from back in the day that has contributed to the stereotype;

Our first big international star was
Greta Garbo born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990
If You want to read more about Great Garbo I recommend the site biography.com

Another movie star that has helped to form this stereotype is
Ingrid Bergman  29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982
More information about her you can also find on biography.com

Other female actresses worth mentioning are in no particular order;
Anita Ekberg, Malin åkerman, Ann Margret, Britt Ekland, and Maud Adams

On the male side, we have the Skargårds family, with Stellan and his sons Alexander, Gustav, Bill, and Valter 

When we talk about fashion and fashion models there are so many so I will only mention a few 

Elsa Holsk a victoria Secret’s angel

Mini Anden who has worked for Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci among others

Caroline Winberg another Victoria Secret’s angel

And on the male side Marcus Schenkenberg

So maybe it is an illusion that Swedes are all tall, blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful. Maybe it is just that we are over-represented in the modeling and film industry.

What is next on A Swedish Fika?

Which lead me to next week’s topic Sweden and sex, a topic that has many stereotypes to talk about, and hopefully debunk. Stereotypes that very often have their roots in Swedish movies from the ‘50s and ’60s

I hope you will be back for that, and to make sure you don’t miss it I suggest you subscribe to my podcast to make sure you get your reminder.