Page 102 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

THE QUESTION OF CULTURAL GENDER

traditions and practises of the places where it is read. Such is the case of
British feminist theory arriving in Finland, for instance. In the Nordic coun-
tries it is taken for granted that normal people go to work and that women
are normal people. Women expect to be able to combine work and family,
and the ‘official’ society supports them in this far more than is the case in
most other parts of the world, including Britain. Societal conflicts over gender
and analyses of these conflicts, therefore, emerge from differing cultural histor-
ies and understandings. Furthermore, normal distinctions that are made
between high culture and popular culture do not carry the same gender-
related cultural meanings in the Nordic region as they do in the Anglo-Saxon
world.
Given these contingencies, when discussing any international trend in theory
and research on gender, I participate from a geographical and cultural margin.
In one sense I share that experience with any other non-Anglo-Saxon intel-
lectual. But as a Nordic woman I come to the table with expectations of gender
equality, independence, and societal support that are far more democratic than
those in most other parts of the world.

Cultural representations of gender
To make this chapter as concrete and meaningful as possible, I will provide
examples of cultural gender from the cultural zone I know best – the Nordic
countries generally, and Finland in particular. Let me begin with an interview
(R. Liikkanen 1999) that appeared in Helsingin Sanomat, the leading daily
newspaper in Finland. The interview was conducted with the Finnish sociolo-
gist Jari Aro. In the article, Aro describes himself and his colleagues as a rather
bland lot:

Sociologists . . . are quite dull and uninteresting people, almost like
talking heads. They used to wear Marimekko shirts, but now they sport
a beard or spectacles and a striped jacket . . . not a Matti & Teppo
jacket, but the kind you see in television interviews. Seated behind a
desk scattered with assorted papers, and a computer screen rolling in
the background, the sociologist will be lea fing through some book or
other. If the sociologist happens to stand up, it will always be with hand
in pocket.

The cultural space that is created in this extract is distinctly very Finnish. The
Marimekko shirt is almost a national institution; in its heyday the company that
invented it achieved cult status and became known internationally for fashion
design. The Marimekko-style shirt hinted at a bohemian lifestyle that was very
closely associated with intellectuals in the 1960s and 1970s. The Matti & Teppo
jacket also has very strong national and male undertones. Matti & Teppo is a
duo of male singers who were very popular in Finland in the late 1970s and

91