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LOVE

Six tips for surviving the Danish dating scene

Going by the saying 'if it's easy, it's not worth doing', The Local's Chris Manion says that dating a Danish woman must be totally worth it. Here are his Valentine's Day tips for surviving the battlefield that is Danish dating.

Published: 11 February 2016 07:05 CET
Six tips for surviving the Danish dating scene
The Dane is a beautiful yet mysterious creature. Photo: Sigfrid Lundberg/Flickr

The dating battleground can be a fierce, unrelenting and savage arena, and Denmark is by no means an exception, especially when it comes to non-Danes trying to woo Danish women. As an expat, you may have naively left the airport with a sense of safety that the years of honing your irresistible charm will be enough to navigate the minefield of finding love in Denmark. You were most likely wrong.

If dating and love are literally a battlefield, you would be strictly following the Geneva convention while that lovely Danish woman has no problem with a little bit of chemical warfare.

Whilst this may be a slightly exaggerated metaphor for dating in Denmark, there are some unwritten rules in the land of the Vikings that seem to have become ingrained into their psyche. So here are some tips for making it out alive and a few bits of advice that will help you stand out from the crowd.

1. Don’t approach women at bus stops

<img alt="" gareth="" gareth1953="" p="" photos="" src="https://www.thelocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1455030633_Bustopwoman.jpg" style="width: 468px; height: 280px;" title="Don't even think about it. Photo:

Don't even think about it. Photo: Gareth Williams/Flickr

This particular piece of advice actually applies to most public places, unless alcohol is being consumed (by both parties). While it may have been quirky and charming to go up to a beautiful girl doing her weekly shop and try and spark up a conversation in your home country, if you do so in Denmark you may be seen as completely insane. So not only will you not get the girl, you may also be sectioned, and that is what is universally known as a bad day.

2. Be a little bit outrageously flirtatious

<img alt="" src="https://www.thelocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1455030812_flirty.jpg" style="width: 468px; height: 280px;" title="Work that magic. Photo: Glenn Loos-Austin/Flickr” />

Work that magic. Photo: Glenn Loos-Austin/Flickr

One thing that I've heard time and time again from Danish women is that their male counterparts are hopeless at flirting, or at least at flirting well. I'm not suggesting you go crazy but if you can talk the talk it may go a long way, especially with that accent many Danish girls will find adorable – more on that later.
 

3. Don’t pay for everything, but pay for a few things

<img alt="" src="https://www.thelocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1455031435_splitcheck.jpg" style="width: 468px; height: 280px;" title="Dating a Dane can be a little lighter on the wallet. Photo: Dan Nicholas/Flickr” />

Dating a Dane can be a little lighter on the wallet. Photo: Dan Nicholas/Flickr

Denmark has a fantastic record when it comes to gender equality, and there is no exception to this when it comes to the dating scene. Whereas many cultures in Europe deem it the norm for the male to whip his wallet out at the end of an expensive meal, in Denmark it is more likely the woman will insist on splitting the bill. But she just may find it incredibly charming if you were to pay for her glass of wine or cocktail.
 

4. Don’t rush anything

<img alt="" src="https://www.thelocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1455032253_mantexting.jpg" style="width: 468px; height: 280px;" title="Take a break from the messaging. Photo: Timothy Krause/Flickr” />

Take a break from the messaging. Photo: Timothy Krause/Flickr

Dating is not something that comes all too naturally to Danes, so messaging them incessantly asking when they want to meet next or having the classic ‘are we boyfriend and girlfriend’ conversation after a month is not at all advisable. It may take months and months for anything of what many would call a 'relationship' to take proper form. The saying patience is a virtue was created for dating Danes (this may or may not be true).

5. Be yourself

No car? No problem. Photo: Ed Shipul/Flickr

One of the most noticeable traits about Danish women, and Danes in general, is that they aren’t too fussed about your financial position. Just because your bike is a hand-me-down and your shoes aren’t designer doesn’t mean you are out of the running. Most Danish women prefer honesty, compassion and a little bit of excitement over a sports car and a mansion. So don’t try and big yourself up too much and as the cliché goes, be yourself. Unless you’re a horrible person.

6. Flex your Danish language skills

Danish women can’t resist a badly pronounced rødgrød med fløde, it simply sends them wild. You will go from being a slightly grumpy, a little podgy and kind of balding expat to being as irresistible as a cross between a baby Shih Tzu puppy and Brad Pitt circa 1996. OK, maybe not quite, but they will appreciate you attempting their ridiculously difficult Danish language and a little bit of effort goes along way. 

If you can pronounce this sign properly, she may just need to use one. Photo: Derek Yu/Flickr

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HEALTH

IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government’s sexiest public health adverts

An advertising campaign aimed at convincing young people to get the Covid vaccine has attracted international attention, but it’s not the first time that French authorities have sexed up their public health messaging.

Published: 8 July 2021 17:22 CEST
Updated: 11 July 2021 12:16 CEST
IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government's sexiest public health adverts
Image: AIDES.

It’s an international cliché that France is the land of l’amour – or at least the land of le sexe – and that reputation does seem to be justified, given how often French public health bodies have turned to sex in an attempt to get their message across.

From the suggestive to the downright scandalous, here are seven examples of health campaigns which relied on that oh so French fondness for romance.

Get vaccinated, get laid

The Covid campaign in question was created by regional health authorities in the southern Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur region.

The poster which has got people hot under the collar features two very attractive and very French-looking people kissing, seemingly in the back of a cab after a night on the town. “Yes, the vaccine can have desirable effects,” it says.

The campaign has proved so popular that it will soon be expanded.

Promoting road safety

Earlier this year, the French Road Safety Delegation released a video ahead of Valentine’s Day, which showed a couple sharing an intimate moment in the bedroom.

The full 30-second video featured the slogan, “Life is better than one last drink for the road”.

Another image of two people kissing, seemingly without clothes, included the line, “Life, love. On the road, don’t forget what truly matters.”

Fight against HIV/AIDS

While the link between road safety and sex isn’t immediately obvious, less surprising are the references to intimacy in the health ministry’s HIV awareness campaign from 2016.

Each of the different posters shows two men embracing. Straplines include, “With a lover, with a friend, with a stranger. Situations vary, and so do the protective measures.”

The posters shocked conservative sensibilities, and several right-wing mayors asked for them to be taken down in their towns. 

HIV awareness campaign

Just a few days after the controversy over the ministry’s posters ignited, the non-profit AIDES launched its own campaign, and it didn’t hold back.

The posters showed scuba instructors, piano teachers and parachutists, all of them naked alongside their students. The slogan: “People undergoing treatment for HIV have a lot of things to pass onto us. But the AIDS virus isn’t one.”

“Even if we’ve been spreading this information since 2008, we realise that a lot of people don’t know that antiviral treatments prevent spreading,” head of AIDES Aurélien Beaucamp told France Info.

“People are still afraid of those who are HIV-positive.” 

Government-mandated pornography

It’s common for sexualised advertising campaigns to be labelled pornographic by critics, but in 1998, the French government went a step further and created actual pornography.

READ ALSO Language of love – 15 of the best romantic French phrases

The health ministry commissioned TV station Canal Plus to create five short erotic films to encourage the use of condoms and prevent the spread of HIV. The campaign featured up-and-coming directors such as Cedric Klapisch and Gaspar Noé.

“The only possible way to look at, to get people to protect themselves, is to show, show everything, show simply and without creating an obsession of the sexual act and the act of wearing a condom,” Klapisch said, according to an Associated Press story published at the time. 

You didn’t really think we’d include images of this one, did you? (OK, here’s a link for those who are curious).

A controversial anti-smoking campaign

https://twitter.com/MarketainmentSE/status/212863393143586817

It’s time to forget what we said about romance, because there is nothing romantic about this 2010 campaign from the Droits des Non-Fumeurs (Non-smokers’ rights) association and the BDDP & Fils communications agency.

The campaign featured several images of young people with a cigarette in their mouths, looking up at an adult man who rested his hand on their heads. The cigarette appeared to be coming out of the man’s trousers.

The slogan said, “Smoking means being a slave to tobacco”. The association said the sexual imagery was meant to get the attention of young people who were desensitised to traditional anti-smoking messages, but the posters caused outrage, with members of the government publicly criticising the choice of imagery.

Celebrating LGBTQ+ love

On the other end of the spectrum is this very romantic video from the national health agency Santé Publique France. It was released on May 17th 2021, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and was part of a campaign against anti-LGBT discrimination and violence. It is set to Jean-Claude Pascal’s Nous les amoureux

Showing a diverse range of couples kissing, holding hands, and healing each other’s wounds, the video ends on the word play: “In the face of intolerance, it’s up to us to make the difference.”

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