@Lauren – Thank you so much for the help, I’m editing and making all those tweaks. Do post comments here more often!!!

Hope you got my comments on FB about the text. I’d like to respond to Mattias and Laura.

Mattias: it was complicated for medieval Scandinavian women. I think it would be wrong to give pre-conversion culture more feminism points than it deserves. Women were Other, and in a big way. They fit into the ‘half human, half supernatural’ category. The implementation of Christianity altered some realities, but it would be wrong to think that pre-Christian women were somehow equal to men in any sense of the word.

Laura: It’s really interesting to see the ways in which early Scandinavia has been romanticized by different people. In my mind, a viking heritage squares nicely with contemporary Swedish culture and values — after all, the ancient Swedes were the first to calm down. In many ways, the Viking era was progressive in comparison with other European regions — Scandinavians happened to be the cleanliest medieval Europeans, at least until Christianity taught them bathing was vain and horrid. They were remarkably well traveled and skilled in seafaring and animal husbandry (they particularly had connections with the Baltic and Slavic lands). People ‘remember’ Viking Scandinavia as a proud and brave era when men acted according to honor and community. Medieval (and later) Swedes also, however, had particularly patronizing views of the Finns. How we think of the past and how the past might have affected cultural legacy are both salient questions.

I, too, am interested in how Swedes consider their regional history and the ‘viking’ image. Do continue to post, Sapphire!

I stumbled across your blog and have enjoyed reading back through your archives.

I’m curious how much you think Norse mythology influences Swedish culture today. Does it have any relevance to modern Swedes beyond the historical, do you think? Say, in the way the Robin Hood myth, which developed around the same time I think, still has relevance in English-speaking culture. When I read through your summary, the themes and ideas seemed quite strange to my American sensibilities.

On a related note, I’m curious how much the pop culture idea of “The Viking” still resonates with the Swedish psyche today. How interested are they in their Viking heritage? Is it politically correct? How does this square with Sweden’s peaceloving, open-minded, feminist contemporary image.

Good luck in your ongoing adventure living in Sweden and attempting to understand the Swedish male! (Who knew he could be so elusive and complicated?!)