I've decided to create a series about Denmark. The reason behind the series is, that I would like to show you guys the "backside" of Denmark. Not necessarily cruel or horrible stuff, but some of the objects, moments, traditions etc. that makes danish people "danish". The series will include history, weird traditions, culture, less known monuments (Don't worry, the little mermaid will be left out - unless you guys wan't me to include her), language, sports etc.
Once upon a time…
There was this weird fucking place called Denmark. There is no other way to put it. This is why, I am not quite sure what I wan't to show you, in the first part of my series. At first my idea was to bring a story about one particular object, but I can't seem to find one that fits as my opening story for my series about Denmark. So to start of this series I've decided to bring an introduction to the people that lives here.
Sex, booze & happiness
The three words above is not only connected, but also what I would like to describe as "danish". It's a wellknown fact that Denmark and it's people are among the happiest people in the world. This is a conclusion made by UN, that puts together the report "world happiness". Both in 2013 and 2016 was Denmark the worlds happiest nation, so why is that?
Porn
I know that there are so much more to the whole "happiness" term, but one of the things I believe makes the danish people so happy is our liberalism. We have no fears of stating what we think, show the world what we believe in and express exactly what we feel. I believe this partly arose from the mentality that was set back in 1969, when the government decided to raise the ban on pornography in public space. Denmark was for a long while afterwards known as the number 1 "porncountry", and the export of porn rose to a completely insane level. So besides Denmark being the first country in the world to accept pornography in the public space, was Denmark one of the slowest countries to ban animalsex. Up and until may 2015 it was legal to have intercourse with a dog, a horse, hell even a chicken, as long as the animal did not suffer any physical distress. To all the horses, dogs and chickens out there, I'm truly sorry on behalf of the danish people.
Booze
ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) brings an annual report on the habits of drugs and alcohol amongst the teenagers of the age 15-16. And yet again, we'll find the danish teenagers roaming the top like fucking beasts. In 2016 was the statistics as following:
- 92 percent of the danish teenagers in the age 15-16 had during their life tasted alcohol. The european average was 80 percent.
- 73 percent of the danish teenagers had within the last 30 days consumed alcohol. The european average was 48percent
- 56 percent had consumed more than five units of alcohol in one night within the last 30 days. The european average was 35 percent
- 50 percent of the danish teenagers had tasted alcohol at the age of 13. Funny enough this is common in Europe, because 47 percent of the european teenagers had tasted alcohol at the age of 13.
Source: ESPAD 2015 report
The conclusion
We know how to drink up here in the north. But is alcohol & porn = happiness? Most likely not. But I got to admit, it sure helps! I've never been more alive and happy when I'm out back in the alley puking up the last three shots of tequila… Perhaps not happy, but I was up and until the point where the tequila wanted to get back out again.
It's time to wrap the first part of my series "The country in the north". If there is something you would like me to bring in the next "episode", whatever it may be, related to Denmark and its people, feel free to throw it in the comments below!
Thank you very much for reading along, until next time; Happy new year!
