But, enough about chicken, in today\u2019s post we are going to deconstruct one of the most popular and enduring Swedish myths ever. And since we were discussing immigration recently, I thought it would all nicely tie in somehow.<\/p>\n
Ask anyone in North America (just as an example, I am not singling out Americans or Canadians here) what\u2019s their image of a Swedish person, and eight out of ten respondents will come up with something that resembles a member of the Swedish Bikini Team (which, by the way wasn\u2019t from Sweden, but from Michigan). In other words \u2013 tall, blonde, blue-eyed. I\u2019ll leave the other characteristics of the Bikini Team alone for now, OK? Women may add chiseled features ala Freddie Ljungberg<\/strong> to the list.<\/p>\n Even Swedes themselves (though they may vehemently denying when talking to non-Swedish-speaking foreigners) tend to see themselves as a nation of mostly good-looking, stoic, taciturn, stereotypical blondes.<\/p>\n But you see, nothing could be further from the truth! These days Swedes come in all shapes, colors and sizes. And surprise, surprise – that tall, dark and handsome guy named Carlos who speaks sk\u00e5nska<\/strong> like a native may actually be a native. Since Sweden so generously opened its doors to immigrants in the early 1970s, many of those who arrived in the country back then had ample time to produce Swedish-born children. Some of those children are already old enough to be having children of their own. Those kids and their parents, regardless of their exotic looks, are as native as those blonde, blue-eyed Eriks and Karins.<\/p>\n One doesn\u2019t have to look very far to find non-Nordic-looking Swedes (ever heard of Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107<\/strong>?), however many expats and Swedes alike frequently assume them to be foreign immigrants. Those first impressions can be so deceiving! For months I thought that my downstairs neighbors were foreigners, simply because they looked so \u201cforeign.\u201d And when the lady downstairs heard me speak English to my sambo<\/strong>, she started to use English when talking to me from that time on. I think it took us good 6 months of chatting in tv\u00e4ttstuga<\/strong> (laundry room) to finally sort it out \u2013 I was the immigrant, and she was the Swede \u2013 born and bred in G\u00f6teborg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n After that encounter, I began to notice a huge variety in the Swedish society. There were native born Swedes that looked Middle Eastern, South American, African or Asian. And they were practically everywhere! Add to that the immigrant population, and Sweden is a far cry from the blonde stereotype that most of us grew up with.<\/p>\n True, Sweden still has a long way to go before it becomes a truly multi-ethnic society like what can be seen in the UK or America. But it\u2019s getting there. Just give it a couple more decades.<\/p>\n PS. Sambo<\/strong> is not a derogatory term, but a short version of \u201csamboende<\/strong>\u201d, which means something like \u201clive-in partner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before I begin to talk about those Nordic blondes (or non-Nordic non-blondes, as the case may be), I want to thank you for your emails. It\u2019s really touching to see that so many of you took the time to write to see if I was OK. Some of you heard or read about the chicken…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2009\/04\/zlatan.jpg\")