TRANSITION TO FEMININE SEXUAL CULTURE IN NORTHERN EUROPE

Osmo Kontula, Elina Haavio-Mannila

The Population Research Institute, Family Federation of Finland, P.O.Box 849, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland – e-mail:Osmo.Kontula(at)vaestoliitto.fi

We have examined to what extent and pace liberated and equalized sexual patterns have spread in two Nordic countries (Finland in 1971, 1992 and 1999, and Sweden in 1996) and two former Soviet areas (Estonia in 2000 and St. Petersburg in 1996). The data was collected by national representative surveys of adult populations. Gender equality in women’s sexual initiative, marital fidelity, sex in youth, masturbation, satisfaction with coitus, and mutual love in couple relations was studied in attitudes and practice.

Sexual culture was found to be more individualistic or feminine in the West than in the East where a more collectivistic, masculine sexual culture prevailed. Young Nordic people of today were the most liberated and gender equality oriented group. Young Estonians and Russians resembled young people in Finland in 1971 and middle-aged and older Nordic people in the 1990s.

The collectivistic, masculine sexual culture in Russia limited female sexual activities and allowed males to be sexually more free in their relationships. In Finland the transition had taken place towards a feminine sexual culture (Hofstede1998) where women and men have equal rights to have sexual pleasure. This transition is in line with the new international approach to sexual health where sexual satisfaction has been defined to be a crucial part of sexual health and sexual rights (Lottes & Kontula, 2000).

There was a cultural lag of 20-30 years in the transition to more feminine sexual culture from the West to the East; its length depended on the sexual issue studied. This was true for some attitudes and behaviours as well as for assessment of experiences. The sexual transition that started in Finland and in Sweden in the late 1960s had started according to several indicators in Estonia and in St. Petersburg first in 1990s. And for example, in the attitudes towards infidelity, this transition had not even really yet started in Russia.