{"id":29629,"date":"2021-11-29T10:42:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T08:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feministeerium.ee\/?p=29629"},"modified":"2021-11-29T17:49:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T15:49:18","slug":"swedish-gender-photographer-spends-one-week-consuming-estonian-media-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.feministeerium.ee\/en\/swedish-gender-photographer-spends-one-week-consuming-estonian-media-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Gender Photographer Spends One Week Consuming Estonian Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, when I held a workshop about gender stereotypes in the media at the 2021 Tallinn Feminist Forum<\/a>, the organizer Nele Laos and I thought it would be fun if I changed my diet for a week: from consuming my native Swedish news media to a strict diet of Estonian online news magazines.<\/p>\n

The menu I was prepared consisting of the daily magazines Postimees, \u00d5htuleht and Eesti P\u00e4evaleht, the weekly magazine Eesti Ekspress, and the business magazine \u00c4rip\u00e4ev. But before we get to my gender findings from the week, I have to admit: I have never been to Estonia. I\u2019ve been to Finland, Russia, Latvia \u2013 all the neighbouring countries. But I\u2019ve yet to set foot in Estonia. Since norms and gender roles are socially constructed, they\u2019re of course also cultural<\/em>. So, it\u2019s entirely possible that I miss some nuances of, or completely misunderstand, some of the examples I\u2019ve hand-picked below. But I welcome corrections.<\/p>\n

With that out of the way, let\u2019s look at what I learned about Estonian gender dynamics (or stereotypes) from reading Estonian news.<\/p>\n

1. The feminine vs<\/em>. masculine way of using a barrel hot tub<\/h2>\n

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Granted, this article in \u00d5htuleht<\/a> appears to be a case of “native marketing” \u2013 not an actual news article. But I still found it very enlightening.<\/p>\n

So, this is how women enjoy hot tubs in Estonia!<\/p>\n

They turn it into a home spa with their girlfriends. Sipping sparkling wine and getting drunk on nutritious fruit cocktails in the middle of the day. Dressed in matching swimsuits, towel-wraps for the hair, and sunglasses to protect the eyes from snow-blindness (?).<\/p>\n

When I showed this photo during my workshop at Tallinn Feminist Forum, protests from the audience arose:<\/p>\n

“We don’t drink sparkling wine in the sauna. We drink beer!”<\/p>\n

“Why do they have so much clothes? You’re typically naked in the sauna or hot tub.”<\/p>\n

“Why is it gender segregated?”<\/p>\n

Good question! As the article itself points out: “the barrel sauna, which is also widely known as a hot tub, is not only for women and their beauty rituals …”<\/p>\n

OK. So how do men bathe in hot tubs?<\/p>\n

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This is the answer! Men pull up the hot tub right next to their private motocross track. Where they also park their motorcycles. Because men need something else to look at, so they don’t accidentally make eye contact, stumble into a meaningful conversation, or \u2013 God forbid \u2013 catch a glimpse of each other’s tattooed bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of both these suffocatingly stereotypical hot tubs, I personally think this one looks most like a nightmare to sit in. At least sit down<\/em> in the fucking bathtub! Or is it gay<\/em> to relax?!<\/p>\n

2. When the price of electricity goes up, the number of cakes being baked goes down<\/h2>\n

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I can’t tell if this photo \u2013 selected for this article about the ongoing energy crisis<\/a> \u2013 is intentionally hilarious or not.<\/p>\n

It reminds me of the anonymously run Swedish blog called Local Newspaper Disappointment<\/em><\/a>, which collects news photos with imagery exactly like this: a person looking visibly upset, next to the cause of worry. In this case: a cold radiator (judging by the fur coat). And a bundle of banknotes, that\u2019s too thin!<\/p>\n