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this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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Sorry to hear you went through all that, comrade. This is why it's good to hear from everyone's perspectives.
Yeah I mean imagine expecting this from people not comfortable with their assigned gender for example, people with disabilities or whatever it may be. As a norm it is asked from everyone, the ones who skip the sauna are always asked to justify why.
It definitely fits the supposed "consensus culture" that is common in a country like mine, it translates to a total inability by the majority to see the margins or consider that not everyone enjoys or is comfortable with a thing that everyone is supposed to do and enjoy. It is also fundamentally a gender issue as a whole.
“Consensus culture” just helped me understand something about Finland that I couldn’t quite put to words yet. For a supposedly politically forward thinking country, I have found a surprising lack of imagination and vision from people when you learn about their politics. I guess it’s because it would break an illusion of consensus that makes people feel like they are on the good side.
In a way, I prefer the US where people are more direct about their ignorance, maybe even taking it as a virtue, rather than how Finns seem to pretend to be woke when they aren’t
Yeah. It's a complicated result of very particular ruling ideology being drilled into the population over a few centuries. I should do an effort post about it. There are colonial features to it for sure.
It is why there are no meaninful protest, everything is depolitized, everyone is "equal" in the worst possible way. I need to write about it as the reasons for it are pretty interesting, depressing and eye-opening.
I would be very interested to read that if you where to write such a post. I live in a country that’s somewhat in between the US and Finland where liberal politics is depoliticised but due to cultural exchanges with the US and other colonized states we do have small protest subcultures
Would you be willing to expand a bit more on the gender issue?
I can only speak from my own experience, but having to do the sauna for example in puberty and especially mixed in with various extended family or family friends there was always an awareness of a power differential and the male gaze definitely happened even though in my culture the sauna supposedly isn't a sexualized space. But men would definitely look at you. You'd also get the cringe "I can wash your back" comments.
In public saunas there tends to always be a few creeps that everyone knows about. Being in that space as a woman can feel unsafe or just gross.
In Finland you also are to be fully naked in a sauna, for example in a swimming hall. Going in in a bathing suit or wrapped in a towel is allowed for people with a disability only and this is why my stepkid who is trans doesn't go in them anymore. The saunas are obviously separated to mens/womens, there is no gender neutral option.
Thanks for the response! though I am confused on a couple parts, are the saunas only separated in swimming halls and also you can't wear a bathing suit while swimming or is it just in the sauna?
It's only the sauna where you are to be fully naked. Separated saunas are common in gyms, hotels, swimming halls. Basically most public saunas.
Then you have a few mixed ones where you are allowed to wear a bathing suit or a towel, these usually involve open water swimming.
Oh ok thank you