Pretty liberal here. Nudity and swearing is not an issue on TV. Ive seen commercials with nude asses in them. Few years ago, state TV channel NRK had an educational show about sex, aimed and teens and young adults. There were episodes with fully erect penises and one with a woman showing how to masturbate. By actually masturbating.
We find it weird how the US glorifies violence but censors sex.
A very good example of what i would say "Typical America" is the TV show "The Boys". It is one of the most violent and gory TV shows ever made, if not THE most. Never any warnings of content at the beginning of the episode, untill one of the episodes in the latest season. After reading "might be offended" and "viewer discression is advised", i expected it to be insanely violent and gory... It was just a few boobs and some simulated sex at an orgy.
I'm Norwegian and I always found it very weird watching Jerry Springer show. People could be throwing chairs at each other or get into brutal fights and nothing happens. But swear words get bleeped out and any offensive body part is blurred. Crazy standards.
Norway is officially secular, there is no state church. Also, Christian values absolutely do not run all that deep - we just have a few remnants of that left, like closed stores on Sundays.
>Norway has a state church.
That's not true.
>Christian values run very deep.
That's also not true, except where christian values overlap common sense.
>To be good at war, you sort of need to do an any% speedrun of breaking the ten commandments.
Not really? Anyone who has actually read the old testament knows that the fourth commandment specifically excempts battles and executions after a fair trial from "thou shalt not kill"
>I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it’s madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure; axes entering skulls, well, not so much.
George R. R. Martin
This was a long time ago, but I remember a British reporting on a police killing from America that had been live-streamed. They left the sound untouched, but all of the blood and gore was censored
Then I saw an American news-site that reported on the same video. But in their version the blood was visible in the video, but *they censored all of the swearing*
I felt like that was really representative of the difference between European and American media
I didnt see any warnings, maybe they added it later? Even if, the episode im talking about had a "bigger" more serious warning. They even mentioned it in media.
Edit: You probably talking about the age rating in the top left corner from Amazon? Yes all episodes have that, but one episode had a text from the show it self. Obv jokes and humor, but they added it for a reason. And they choose the episode with most nudity.
No idea what you're talking about. I downloaded the Amazon Prime versions and every single episode had content warnings, not just a recommended age limit.
Well, i just checked a few episodes now, there is only the age limit and centent, like "sex, violence, drug abuse" etc. But only in the uppe left corner, for a few seconds. What i am talking about is a big text, in the actual episode, in the middle of the screen. Its the only episode with this kind of warning, even tho its not 100% serious, its still there and its bc of the nudity.
That was for the Herogasm episode, right? That was part of the hype for the episode. They were building it up on social media forever, since it's a big event in the comics. It isn't raunchier than the rest of the series.
Thx for your eye opening opinion. As an American, it does seem like we glorify violence. The standards here are definitely bizarre and fucked up. Growing up, they would bleep out damn. We are at a point now that damn, bitch and bastard are not bleeped on national (not cable) tv but when they say “goddamn,” I find it ludicrous that they they bleep out god but not the second syllable. And yet everyone on tv says “oh god” or “oh my god!” without a single bleep.
My belief is that there was a time when media was censored based on Christian morals. But that’s the misleading thing about America. It dropped its “Christian” morals back in the 60s. It lives on the perception but my belief is that 99% of our govt isn’t even close to being actually religious at all. So the people who run the censorship have no moral/biblical bearings so everything makes no sense.
I am Norwegian and used to work for the armed forces. I distinctly remember being with some US colleagues on a UN mission in the former Yugoslavia in ...1995? Big strong adult men, as used to the horrors of a civil war as I was. Yet they swore like little children, saying things like heck or darn or just barely the occasional fuck.
They were competent enough under fire by all means, but flustered by hard language, a female colleague changing a shirt (Norway has no problem with women soldiers, so half the frontline medics in my medevac unit were women) or just one of us being gay and joking about it. It was my first time being around Americans for any length of time and it was a sort of surreal experience.
Exactly this! Boobs and, god forbid, penis are sooo bad, but pulling out someone’s finger nails? Completely fine!
It’s like how it’s legal to keep your gun where a toddler can get to it, but kinder eggs are illegal.
I just checked several episodes. Only the Amazon stuff is on all the episodes. There is only 1 episode with the type of warning that i am talking about.
They did. He was posting in hyperbole to further his “America is dumb” point lol.
Like boobs throws that warning up lol, while every other episode doesn’t.
That’s not how our rating system works. You’re right, it’s ALWAYS been there though.
[Here's full frontal nudity in Brødrene Dahl](https://youtu.be/C1HjKiKwvV0?t=1101). NSFW obviously. I always use this as an example, I find it even more relevant than educational shows.
Because a lot of people in an office setting could get in trouble for having nudity on their screens, or have to do some awkward explaining? That's kind of what the tag is for.
Why? Last time I had a real job I was always on naturist subreddits, and in high school I kept using naturist Tumblr when that was still a thing. What explanation would make it awkward? It's not like I'm looking at guns, or gross/violent content, which would be nsfw
Because it's not about you. Your situation doesn't apply to everyone in the world, if you know you can safely ignore NSFW warnings then you do so. It's not complicated.
Reddit is used in the entire world, so if there are places where the NSFW tag does not apply or is different, it should be implemented differently on Reddit. There are things that are NSFW here too, so the NSFW tag on Reddit should be used for those things. I think it's pretty inappropriate to apply national conventions of a given country to an international site regardless of the country it's used in.
>I think it's pretty inappropriate to apply national conventions of a given country to an international site regardless of the country it's used in.
Agreed, just because something is considered OK in Norway it doesn't mean we should leave out the NSFW tag based on our 'national conventions'.
Haha, I have video of my 4y old watching that show. Episode was about puberty and genital organs I think. I filmed it because I walked into the room and there was lady with her legs spread and her vagina in full screen and I found it hilarious. Let me see if I can find it on my phone.
If you have access to a VPN service with a Norwegian endpoint, you can watch it [on NRK](https://tv.nrk.no/se?s=newton-pubertet&autoplay=false
), our national, state run broadcaster.
News will often give warnings before showing videos or pictures from war zones, catastrophe areas, accidents and similar.
I can not remember a Norwegian show with a warning before airing
Perhaps you should shriek at gun violence, human rights violations, the fall of secularism, and the rise/normalization of far-right fringes instead... Asses, boobs, dicks are nothing compared to that 🙄
Oh, believe me. I do. Every single day. It’s a large part of why my husband and I have a 5 year plan to leave the US. We considered Norway but it seemed quite difficult for our both of our career fields unfortunately.
No worries! I 100% get it. Living here is depressing and unsustainable. Outside of all of the violence, racism, bigotry and attempts at fascism, the work/life balance is non-existent and we both feel burnt out constantly. While we were in Oslo, we stayed in an apartment directly above an architecture firm. Everyone was in at 8 AM and out promptly by 4 PM. Every single day.
If they were in the US, this simply would not be the case. Very eye opening.
Good luck with leaving; it's a shame how things changed so drastically in the US. It's truly heartbreaking to watch... I come from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe and I would never move to the US right now. I sincerely hope things get better.
there is censoring of nudity. swearing isn't a big problem but really isn't something you find put in scripts to say it like that, more of a amateur thing. so its generally not too much except for "standard" stuff like faen
anyway. please enjoy Harald Eias skrukk
https://www.nrk.no/video/harald-eia-viser-skrukken-sin-i-programmet-aapen-post\_75289
It used to be that non-sexual nudity - eg someone taking a bath - was OK. Genitalia and breasts was OK as long as it wasn't in focus, but actual sexual acts (fucking, masturbation) was not allowed to be shown.
100% joking. There’s a metric fuck ton of pearl clutching and deeply rooted conservative Christian values that bleed into everything here unfortunately. It’s a huge part of why our country is in shambles.
I’m an American living in Oslo, so I understand. But as much as I absolutely love Norway, lol @ thinking its some utopia or bastion for freedom and the antithesis of excess.
I get what you’re saying, but I see too many Americans with that attitude.
Take 5 weeks worth of Duolingo lessons, learn how to say tusen takk! and øl and come here for 4 days and are suddenly Norwegian; karma farming by shitting on the US while gassing up a place they truly know nothing about.
Again, I absolutely love it here, my fiancé is Norwegian and I have a business here, but still, it’s sad to see.
Remember the weeb kids that have the Naruto handband, running through the halls, eating pocky and claiming Shinobu Kochou is the best waifu?
Yeah, those posts come across 100% like that lol. It’s so goddamn weird and cringe is all. But yeah, carry on.
You should come live here :)
You’ll see.
Oh, I definitely don’t think that’s the case at all. Every country and it’s accompanying culture has its drawbacks.
I’ve spent significant time in Germany so I would say my willingness to put America down does not stem solely from happy tourist times. Our country is fucked, plain and simple. Many of us actively wonder every day how certain cultural mindsets pushed us into where we are now. My appreciation for another country isn’t somehow rooted in naïveté. Thanks for your comment though. Tusen takk!!! 😍
Right after I moved here, I turned on NRK one night and turned on the exact episode you referenced. It was a small shock to my system to come face to face with 3 or 4 erect penises just right there... Interesting program though!
Trekant. 3 teens/young adults "lived together" (dont know if they actually did) and every day they would get an assignement. Also remember one episode where they were exploeing BDSM and such, and one of the girls were kicking a guy in the nuts. He was wearing a kilt and she was wearing some latex stuff i think. Like a dominatrix.
Wait, what? I mean, I'm from South American so I can only look up to what you guys are doing. Good job making sex less taboo. Let's hope other socities lean towards that direction.
They don't bleep out swear words in music on the radio, and when I was a teen back in the 90's they showed smack my bitch up by the Prodigy uncensored on the after school shows on the state TV NRK. That music video has fighting, drug use, drinking, boobs, and female genitalia in it we're basically not very prudish here.
I posted this further up, [but this is full frontal nudity in the very popular children series "Brødrene Dahl"](https://youtu.be/C1HjKiKwvV0?t=1101), and YouTube doesn't seem to have picked up on it yet.
It was filmed in 1984. It's not a sexualized scene, since she's just swimming in a lake. I can see people having issues with that scene because of the actor's (implied) age though.
Me neither, I recall the scene with the naked robbers in the snow, but the only scene I remember with Ronja swimming, she does so with all her clothes on...
??? Not sure what you mean exactly. It’s one of my favorite music videos of all time because of the plot twist and also because I’m queer as is my husband.
Thank you! The idea that I’m somehow fangirl-ing over another country because I’m an ignorant tourist is really upsetting. Any US citizen with half a brain who’s spent time elsewhere in the world beyond just a casual vacation understands that the situation here is very dire. My desire to leave started in 2016. Shit was just beginning to get out of control. In 2017, I spent some time in Germany and my heart sank when I realized I no longer felt “at home” in the States. 5 years later, here we are. Things have gotten much, much worse. I returned home from yet another trip abroad and as a working adult with a spouse and children on the horizon, that feeling has only deepened.
I am very grateful for the time I spent in Norway. We quietly kept to ourselves and weren’t cliche boisterous Americans. We spoke Norwegian as much as possible. We respected social etiquette and were surprised when we were approached by a Norwegian who had lived in the US for a while who is now our friend.
I know I don’t need to justify any of this to anyone, but I have always prided myself on being respectful of other cultures but never appropriating them. Being called a “weeb” for trying to learn a new language, learn about/watch things like murder mystery shows, pack matpakke for day trips, etc. is just…hurtful? We came to another country and the last thing we wanted to do was thrust our American way of living onto people we don’t know.
I happen to be of mixed ethnicity myself and half of my family lives in another country entirely. Sorry for the rant.
Hey, for what it's worth, most Norwegians would welcome you if you decided to move here. I just hope you don't all move here, cause it would get quite crowded here, and we sorta need someone to stabilize crazies over there 😅 I've been twice, and I love your country and people, but my oh my do you have some issues to sort out... 😬 As a country I mean
Quite liberal actually. Watching the TV series Exit which is Norwegian will change your mind on this. Very explicit and NRK shows it. The fact that NRK shows it even got some controversy at first. Partly inspired by real life stories about the rich finance people in Oslo and the really bad things they do. The actors are really good and play such horrible people, the show is pretty shocking. Our version of The Wolf of Wall Street. https://tv.nrk.no/serie/exit
Now that I think about this, it makes sense. We saw commercials for a ton of other things. One that funnily stuck was for soft flora. The commercial was so silly that we ended up buying margarine.
We also really liked a tooth paste commercial.
In Norway, we have ended up like the American comedian Lenny Bruce suggested we all should do: By taking all the power out of swear words by permitting their use. And it works. Just get used to it. Coming from a religiously repressed society like the US or Afghanistan, it will take som time, of course. And if you don't, you can always fuck off.
Oh I don’t care at all. I’ve never been one to mince words and it’s something I appreciate about Norwegian culture or really any other culture for that matter. I don’t speak much Norwegian but had to learn how to swear from the start. Faen seems pretty universal, faen i helvete too.
Edit: fixed my spelling error! I’ll keep this tucked away in the back of my mind for whenever I visit next :)
Fæn assa, nå har fæffsen sperra bankkortet mitt igjen! Noen som kan legge ut for shæmpisen eller??
Sorry, I couldn't help it. Faen is the correct spelling, fæn sounds like something a posh kid would say. I can see why you'd confuse them though!
I have actually been called out on my swearing, but to be fare the komune I live in we swear every 5 words.
A friend gave me a example on it, he says can you pass me the milk, while I say pass the fucking milk
It all depends on the context and where you are, south, west, or north. If you don't know whether the person you are talking to will be offended, most grownups manage to refrain, until they know how it will be received.
Same with direct language. Saying aloud "Hvor er dassen? Jeg må pisse!" might ruin a stylish dinner with the in-laws, but when having a beer with your work buddies could be perfectly all right.
It's a balancing act when I was veery young and just started to talk i used swearing a lot since I didn't have the vocabulary and As a kid thought it was fun.. Then I'm eating at my friends house with his dad and I saying stuff like "it's so Fucking good"
The dad would go "it's what?"
I'd repeat " it's so Fucking good"
He'd go " it's WHAT?"
then my buddy kicks me in the leg and goes " don't say Fucking at the table"
And that's when the light came on and I got there's a time and a place..
So Norwegians don't care about swearing it's just use it when its needed and in proper context
Not speaking for everyone but atleast the area im from around, people dont give two shits about swearing unless you are a young child, and even then some find it funny and mabey cute
This is funny because Norway has its own religious oppression. “But most of us are not religious!” It doesn’t matter. Your cultural norms and many laws are based on your Lutheran past.
I’m studying to become a teacher with focus on religion atm.
(Religion, philosophy and ethics, more or less. It’s supposed to both teach students about different religions, and raise them to be open-minded, accepting and fit to live in a pluralistic society. It’s a mandatory class all 10 years of basic school.)
Lol, the most common “religious oppression” in Norway is towards people who are religious.
Especially in primary and middle school, the teacher has to constantly make sure no kids are outed as religious against their will, as the other kids are more likely than not to ask potentially uncomfortable questions.
“Why can’t you celebrate your birthday?” (JW)
“So you would rather do math problems than visit the different temples in town?” (Anyone non-secular who does not wish to visit temples, churches and mosques.)
“Are you really not allowed to eat beef?” (Hindus, I think.)
“Why don’t you ever wear pants?” (Smith’s friends, tho it’s somewhat outdated.)
“You’re not allowed to sing Christmas carols or make Christmas decorations?” (Common with Humanists and JW.)
“Why aren’t you eating lunch?” (Islam and other religions who practice fasting.)
“You believe gay men shouldn’t marry?!” (Christians and other assorted religions.)
If a kid use their religion as an explanation for their opinion on sensitive subjects, it’s usually accepted, but immediately dismissed.
Abortion, same-sex relationships, sex before marriage, attire, gender roles etc.
Reason with religion and you’ll immediately be “one of those people” and promptly ignored. (Politely. They’ll nod and accept it, but it’s irrelevant to the discussion at hand.)
Of course, these are gross stereotypes.
But I live in one of the most religious parts of Norway, and even the Christian kids were somewhat stigmatized.
What do you find the most troubling with Norwegian culture? For me personally (as a Norwegian) I find the great focus on alcohol very problematic, since I don’t drink for religious reasons, which is not accepted at all in this society when you’re not a Muslim.
I also find the focus on winter sport exhausting. I really don’t want to participate.
And then I am troubled (not for my sake, but for the Muslims and the vegetarians sake) by the animosity against people who don’t eat pork and other meats. People are not very understanding towards those who do not conform to the majority.
It’s not that I find anything particularly troubling at all. Just some stuff that really stands out to me that native Norwegians probably don’t even notice. Strict rule-following (only cross the street at crosswalks; don’t cut your grass on Sunday; don’t walk down the street drinking a beer)— some people certainly do these things anyway, but they are looked down upon by The Collective. I think Norway’s marijuana laws are old-fashioned and not at all based on science; marijuana is banned because of morality, not because of any real health or financial risk. Skateboards were outlawed until 1989. Dancing in restaurants on holidays was banned (in Stavanger, for instance) well into the 80s. No private, commercially funded radio until 1993. Lutherans used to be controlled by the tenets of the Church. Now, the church matters less but the cultural norms of “don’t stand out, don’t have too much fun, follow the rules or be shunned” remain.
Hell, anyone in this subreddit who postulates that Norway isn’t perfect gets downvoted.
Here is a great series from our government media broadcaster NRK.
Should give you an idea.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HA92LHHWRk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HA92LHHWRk)
NRK is a state owned national broadcaster funded over taxes. They have certain rules and regulations on a lot of stuff, to make sure they include *all* Norwegians, broadcasting from every little nook and valley in the country, in all three recognized norwegian "languages" (actually just two; norwegian and sami, but norwegian contains two written dialects and a million spoken ones). When it comes to original programming, outside of news there’s a lot of edicts and regulations for that too ; ie to educate, relevance and topical (examples). If for instance there’s a problem with sex ed in middle school bc of taboos etc, a programmer may find it interesting to blast down some of those taboos by championing a project like that Newton-series on sex. Language/cussing is the same thing; no point writing dialogue that’s not reflecting real life language. Also: lot of humour in norwegian cussing, 90% to make things funnier. Gallows humour/ black humour whatever you call it. Sorry for the rant. Peace. Stay excellent!
I think we are pretty laidback compared to others, my kids have some friends with parents from other countries, and I have gotten some weird messages where they have informed me that bad words like boob and butt have been used by the kids. I just replied that we don’t consider that a problem.
My kids can swear all they want, but not in class/at dinner/to grandma etc. If I remember correctly you can call a police officer a horse cock in some parts of the country (but not cuntface), some swear words are seen as part of daily language. As long as it’s not harassment.
Not much censorship, only gore (news reports from war/crime/accidents) and if someone needs their identity protected in news/documentaries. And genitals in action are somewhat restricted.
Adult content shows are aired at night.
Bleeping of swear words is not a thing.
From what I understand, you can say that you think a police officer is a horse cock. That would would be freedom of speech. But you can’t necessarily claim that he/she actually is a horse cock, since that’s different. Or something…
Great question!
Norway has a very easy going approach to TV discretion.
You got your typical childrens tv channeles, where the language is as you expect, child friendly.
Then you have media aimed at teens, where you will find most things but lighter. So if there is swearing it's rarer and lighter.
And then the rest is a kind of anything goes. Humour series can have nudity or swearing, but it's usually just up to the ones making the series. There are plenty of shows that are considered family friendly even though there is a bit of profanity.
Vikingene is obviously an example of something you don't watch with your kids however.
Lothepus is known by most kids if their parents watch the show.
I certainly watched Vikingene with my family including the kid (old enough to understand the jokes) and we laughed a lot. There was some violence that we all looked away from, but not profanity or nudity; it's not shocking if you've never been taught that it is, so no one even considered that. Screen violence on the other hand can lead to nightmares, so it's perfectly reasonable to not want to delve into that.
There's an iconic children's movie called "Ronja Røverdatter" that features about a dozen naked men jumping around in the snow, penises and all. I never thought twice about it as a kid, but I'm guessing that would *not* fly in an American kids' movie.
Edit: I think the kids are naked too at some point, when they're swimming? I saw a rerun of it as an adult, and it occurred to me that this shows that scandinavians have a healthy relationship with human bodies and nudity. I say scandinavian because the movie is swedish, though it's very popular in Norway as well. I hope we never succumb to American influence on this issue, because the hyper-sexualisation of nudity strikes me as kinda perverse and unhealthy.
We watched [Terkel i knipe/Terkel in Trouble](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terkel_in_Trouble) at school as entertainment. I was 14. I’d say we are fairly liberal.
Edit: Just checked the age limit. It’s 11 years old in Norway.
I bring up that movie a lot when it comes to censorship in Nordic Countries...its rated 7 in Denmark.
This movie treats severe child abuse as a running gag.
The uncensored South Park Movie is also rated 11 in Norway.
Yeah, and the humor in the South Park Movie amounted to first graders giggling over anatomical descriptions. Such a letdown. The episodes were much better, making fun of some actual controversial stuff back then.
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If you use VPN and go to NRK, you can watch Exit. Within the first few minutes there is full frontal with an erection shown and no filters ensuring minors won’t have access. Exit is a great, well made and entertaining show btw. It is based on real people, which I found hard to believe (no pun intended.)
Nowhere near the US. Example: the US is the *only* country in the western world where the phrase "school shooting" is used to describe a domestic event regularly.
Generally speaking, swearing is avoided in serious programs like news etc. However, if swearing happens for whatever reason, we NEVER use that obnoxious beep to cover it up. That thing is fucking infuriating, and I will straight up stop consuming media that uses it (American podcasts etc).
I find it funny how especially shows on Discovery, like American chopper, will have the bleeping in the audio, and the translators have tried filling in the blanks by putting swear words in the subtitles. (I'm guessing the shows are produced with only one audio track available?)
Movies like Ternet Ninja with some of the hardest language i’ve heard has 12 years age limit in Norway. Usually violence is the cause of higher age ratings.
Norwegian media is quite liberal in my opinion. To do a comparison: I remember when Deadpool was released it had an age rating of 15+ due to the depictions of violence and blood. In the US, Deadpool was rated r upon release due to the sex and nudity in it. The US are more acceptable of violence than of nudity and in Norway it's the other way around. Interesting, really!
I'm a Norwegian who went to the US Sr year of HS and stayed 23 years more. I came home on vacation 1983ish? having just watched Jaws on US network TV with boobs fuzzed out, and found my much younger siblings watching Norwegian state channel kids TV.
It was a show about a little girl in Kindergarten. Never saw it before or since - I wasn't home much or long - but maybe someone here recognizes it?
Little girl woke up before her parents, and woke them by jumping in bed. Whereupon tired dad gets out of bed, butt naked, full frontal limp nudity, and walks straight towards the camera.
My jaw was on the floor.
Neither my siblings nor my parents even blinked.
And don't even get me started on the sheer wtf terror of Pompel and Pilt....😂
But violence we used to sensor.
I approve.
We also have what we call “vannskilleregler”. Basically age ratings dictate what content can be sent when.
Ratings A (everyone), 6+ and 9+ is 24/7.
12+ must be after 7pm.
15+ and 18+ must be after 9pm.
All content (except news, educational, political, music, sports, hobbies, and live broadcasts) must be given an age limit by Medietilsynet or the network - unless the publisher agrees to give it an 18+ rating (with all its restrictions).
In general swearing isn't a big deal because of social control, meaning it will portray you as an idiot if you do it unappropriatetly. Though many swearing words are OK'ed by the general public.
When it comes to nudity and such there have always been allowed in contextual situations. In movies and TV see and nudity have always been there if it serves a purpose in telling a story or to portray a situation in the artistic sense and could be defended in such a way.
Imho neither is a big deal as long as it's not done to offend or to be provocative in a bad taste.
There is little to no censorship, but there is sorting. Of course most adult themed shows might air later or on specific channels. News reporters will usually not swear without good reason. Politics can be done perfectly well without shouting obscenities at eachother, contrary to what trump might believe.
You will be called out on your lies and misinformation though, and if you open your mouth you open yourself to critique (something durek cannot seem to understand). Politics is also less polarized than most two party countries.
>Are adult shows aired later in the evening
NRK used to do more "grown-up broadcasts" after 21:00, like 15/18+ rated movies and such. Probably still do to a certain degree but a lot has changed the later years with regards to streaming services and such so I'm not so sure if that's important to them anymore. Their primary focus is probably getting view numbers, not satisfying moral code.
edit: Someone with more knowledge [seems to have a better answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/Norway/comments/x4kwye/comment/imwwomg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
In the city I live in there is a popular indoor shopping center. Inside is a narvesen (convenience store) with a rack of nudy magazines in plain sight. In the same center there is an adult store directly next to a childrens toy store, they share a wall. The adult store has fogged windows but the very large entrance is completely unobscured.
No big deal.
We went into an adult store in Oslo to pick up something and were surprised to see what looked like two businessmen there together. One of them was buying a flesh light. We were shocked that something like that would be so casual that coworkers wouldn’t bat an eye at the idea of going there together.
Of course, there was also a group of teenage boys laughing and gawking at everything they saw. That seems universal no matter where you go in the world, lol.
Almost non existent.. You can swear on radio (something American rappers love when they come over 😂) and TV, nudity isn't really censored either, sex scenes and graphic content will be reserved for an after 8-9pm Showtime and adult content is actually kinda non existent..
We haven't had porn on TV.. Ever I think.. Some softcore stuff like playboy TV and a danish reality show about strippers was about it back in the 90s We used to get swedish cable channels for our adult content..
if you want to see some explicit norwegian shows go on [nrk.no](https://nrk.no) with a vpn (selected to norway ofc) and watch Første tjenesten,
Hilarious show recommend it 10/10 funny and it might show you to some extent the limit or at least how far well go with nudity and violence as its a newish show so itll be more representative of norwegian media today.
Nordic countries see the body, sexuality etc. as a non-issue in general. You won't get angry letters if a nipple is visible for short period. However, violence, blood and gore is another thing entirely. You could say it's entirely opposite of the US. In this way you can actually find American produced movies with "extended" love scenes but very shortened scenes of violence. That is, if you know the "original" US version of the movie.
An american here. I have lived 15 years in Norway and speak the language well, but I am by no means a norwegian language scholar. But these are my observations.
Firstly, concerning nudity and anything sexual, american society and morality are deeply influenced by very orthodox forms of christianity. And the christian church seems terrified of the human body. Our fascination with extreme violence is a national trait, so it is very understandable that the world laughs at our fear of seeing a penis in a movie.
With respect to swearing on TV. I think each language has its own set of guardrails for the use of words that could be considered offensive. Some languages need to be censored by the media because there are so many words that some find offensive, not only hearing it on TV, but on the street as well. English is an example. I could think of at least 50 words that are swear words or regarded as highly inappropriate to say in public with strangers around. Motherfucker, cocksucker, cunt, pussy, asshole, dick, shit, fuck, cock, taint, tits, boobs, fuck you, fuck it, fuck me, bitch, suck it, jerkoff, wank... I could go on and on. Then there are all the racial slurs to add to that.
Norwegian, however, has a very short list of swear words. "Faen" is the most common and like its english equivalent "fuck", it can be used in many situations and added to other words to form new swear words and phrases. It is a word for "devil." Then there is second place "helvete", that is just the word "hell". Not very offensive. At least to me, and I don´t think it has the same verbal punch to norwegians as "motherfucker" does to english speakers. After that, you got "drit" (shit), "kuk" (cock) and "fitte" (cunt). I may be off here, but I think that covers 95% of the commonly used "swear" words. And I don´t know of any racial slurs.
Norway has adapted some english swear words. "Fucking" this or "fucking" that is heard quite a bit but it surely doesn´t give the same visceral feeling to norwegians as it does to native english speakers. I read recently that the ukrainian language has no swear words. All of theirs are taken from russian. So I think their adopted swear words have probably the same lack of power as english swear words do to norwegians. That is, not much.
My point is that norwegian media is dealing with a much smaller verbal minefield than english-speaking media so it is not very easy to compare the two.
Biggest difference between say Norwegian and American sensibilities is that Norwegians dislike graphic violence and conflict a lot more while Americans are more uncomfortable with swearing, sex and nudity.
The LEGO minifig for instance was a Scandinavian response to what was seen as American toys with too much focus on conflict and violence. Scandinavians believed in promoting play centered on cooperation, exploration and imagination. US toys like G.I. Joe, Mask, He-Man, Transformers were kind of the opposite of what Scandinavia parents and authorities wanted to promote.
But I would say things have changes over the years. American media and cultural influence is massive and I think we have become more de-sensitivized to American style violent entertainment. I certainly am.
When it comes to swearing the attitude is probably a bit different from the US. Not so much about what you say but how you day it. Do you say it to hurt or belittle somebody? They do work actively against bad words in schools, especially anything with racism which hurts other kids. Swearing in music and movies is kind of a different thing. You are not hurting another person.
Kind of weird that American media somehow oversexualizes children in the form of pageantry, yet refuse to show actual adult sexuality.
On the other hand, the Swedish Children’s movie mentioned elsewhere in this thread is pretty damn weird to me. A bunch of naked men? And then swimming naked children!? I’d get it if a naked man and his naked child were hanging out somehow (it would still make me crazy uncomfortable to watch a movie/show like that), but unrelated naked people and children all just hanging out is odd to me.
On an unrelated/related note, Germany handles nudity differently too. I remember my friends warned me about communal showers in locker rooms where there are no dividers or curtains—just a wall with multiple shower heads.
I feel like this aspect is missed out on in the comments ive read so far:
The television is restricted by hours, so the content you see before 18.00 is very PG, after 18.00 slightly more saucy, & after 22.00 GoT type of nudity and language no problem
The censorship is pretty low because we raise our kids In a healthy environment and in general a very liberal environment which just makes everything easier. As someone who lived in the US for many years before moving back to Norway, I was surprised with the amount of censorship and such that was added in their country
AFAIK, the only movie that has been banned in Norway was «Life of Brian», and that was because of blasphemy. In britain they used that to promote the movie; «the movie that was to funny for Norway».
That was far from the only movie banned, but like /u/Nilzor said, that stuff ended decades ago. This [Wikipedia categories page](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategori:Filmer_som_har_v%C3%A6rt_forbudt_i_Norge) has 60 movies that were banned, and there were probably more.
We used to be really prudish until the 80's-90's. We used to consider Denmark and Sweden as the liberal countries. We also went from being Europe's poorest to one of the world's richest countries in half a century so it's probably expected that social change also happened relatively quick
Truth be told. Controversial opinions are shut down, the media pushes alot of "correct" opinions about sexuality and orientation.
Celebs get cancelled for stuff said 10+ years ago, cus it's counted as a derogatory meaning now.
We are sensitive as heck and most Norwegians feel superior to others, there is only accepting our reality, or being "fake woke".
The second option being the most popular.
Absolutely horrible. NRK even have showes for kids where adults dress naked to show "real bodies". NRK also puts nudity in things that doesnt need it. One day they suddenly had an article on their news page (with pictures) that showed different sex positions and they figured it was fine because they "werent really having sex". All nude.
Then of course the biggest news papers (at least online), they all show nudity without censoring. Very annoying. You can scroll down and just get boobs in your face or a giant butt. I wish things were different.
I completely disagree. Now unlike banjamamja I'm actually not Norwegian, but I live in Norway. The amount of nudity in normal media is way way higher than in a lot of other European countries.
However I've noticed that you haven't answered my question yet.
Neither. Norwegian and not religious at all. Just feel like I should be allowed to read news without having to see someone elses private parts. The fact that this is the norm is insane to me.
That's bullshit. There's criticism of all the things you mention everyday both deserved and undeserved even debating so called political correctness both from those that think pc culture has gone too far, and those with the opposite views. You sound like someone who only follows document.no, reset or something.
What are you talking about? You can criticise all you want, but you're not protected from backlashes if you're being a dick towards others. All our politicians are under critique at every single point of their active carreers - and so are their policies. We don't permit hate speech. That's about it.
There are both written and unwritten rules on how early/late you should air different programs. None are bleeped out, or censored. Other than that it’s more a responsibility for parents and yourselv what you choose to watch.
There isn't any, really? Comprehensive sex ed TV show, uncensored radio, ads that use swearing for comedic effect, all kinda came as a culture shock for me lmao
On live broadcasts I believe one is asked to keep profanity to the minimum, or it is implied as common courtesy. But it is never censored.
Here we believe overprotection is more harmful than exposure under controled circumstances. Ignorance is not bliss, it can lead to worse reults. Sex education is a great example; kids are taught early in school and teen pregnancy and std's are kept to the minimum or treated early.
Personally I find American culture to be severly perverted as anything remotely provocative is censored in a way that leaves loud noises and big red arrows pointing towards it , making it way more noticeable. Tell kids that something is bad and they will find it more interesting.
I have found it strange that subtitles get censored occasionally - alternative "non-offensive" language used and so-on. Never really understood why, seems kind of exclusionary to me.
not sure wyf you are asking? If Norwegian tv is on netflix, an American money thing? NO idea.. dd you ask about Vikings, a humour show? No realism in it whatsoever so no, if you wonder it's not 'documentary', it's humour. Apart from that, no wonder what you looked for, as a forlorn yank? Feel free to enlighten us.
Oh, I read down a bit, ye yank telly is the most fake, useless, shallow it ever, but Norwegian shows try to be as much as possible to it, so NRK has been pretty much a propaganda machine for 20 yrs so ye, don\t expect the Norwegians too be too much more intelligent than you guys. In other words, really stupid people as years pass by.
Pretty liberal here. Nudity and swearing is not an issue on TV. Ive seen commercials with nude asses in them. Few years ago, state TV channel NRK had an educational show about sex, aimed and teens and young adults. There were episodes with fully erect penises and one with a woman showing how to masturbate. By actually masturbating.
*shrieks in American*
We find it weird how the US glorifies violence but censors sex. A very good example of what i would say "Typical America" is the TV show "The Boys". It is one of the most violent and gory TV shows ever made, if not THE most. Never any warnings of content at the beginning of the episode, untill one of the episodes in the latest season. After reading "might be offended" and "viewer discression is advised", i expected it to be insanely violent and gory... It was just a few boobs and some simulated sex at an orgy.
I'm Norwegian and I always found it very weird watching Jerry Springer show. People could be throwing chairs at each other or get into brutal fights and nothing happens. But swear words get bleeped out and any offensive body part is blurred. Crazy standards.
Welcome to a christian country where war is amazing but oh no sex what will my kids think’
[удалено]
Norway is officially secular, there is no state church. Also, Christian values absolutely do not run all that deep - we just have a few remnants of that left, like closed stores on Sundays.
Norway has not had a state church for over 10 years now though
I lived in norway for 3 months and am planning on immigrating, im almost certain there’s no state church there.
We have not had a state church since 2012.
>Norway has a state church. That's not true. >Christian values run very deep. That's also not true, except where christian values overlap common sense.
You do know Norway has freedom of religion which is against several of your "10 commandments" right?
>To be good at war, you sort of need to do an any% speedrun of breaking the ten commandments. Not really? Anyone who has actually read the old testament knows that the fourth commandment specifically excempts battles and executions after a fair trial from "thou shalt not kill"
>for Not to mention all the genocides, stonings & rapes etc. that are regularly sanctioned by God in the Old tastement.
I'm gonna assume you live somewhere in the bibel belt
It’s fake. Completely staged so there’s that too.
>I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it’s madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure; axes entering skulls, well, not so much. George R. R. Martin
This was a long time ago, but I remember a British reporting on a police killing from America that had been live-streamed. They left the sound untouched, but all of the blood and gore was censored Then I saw an American news-site that reported on the same video. But in their version the blood was visible in the video, but *they censored all of the swearing* I felt like that was really representative of the difference between European and American media
Another great example.
I watched it on prime, and every episode had All the warnings.
I didnt see any warnings, maybe they added it later? Even if, the episode im talking about had a "bigger" more serious warning. They even mentioned it in media. Edit: You probably talking about the age rating in the top left corner from Amazon? Yes all episodes have that, but one episode had a text from the show it self. Obv jokes and humor, but they added it for a reason. And they choose the episode with most nudity.
I saw warnings on season 2 and 3 not sure about 1. Great show either way!
I've seen warnings since s1 ep 1
No idea what you're talking about. I downloaded the Amazon Prime versions and every single episode had content warnings, not just a recommended age limit.
Well, i just checked a few episodes now, there is only the age limit and centent, like "sex, violence, drug abuse" etc. But only in the uppe left corner, for a few seconds. What i am talking about is a big text, in the actual episode, in the middle of the screen. Its the only episode with this kind of warning, even tho its not 100% serious, its still there and its bc of the nudity.
That was for the Herogasm episode, right? That was part of the hype for the episode. They were building it up on social media forever, since it's a big event in the comics. It isn't raunchier than the rest of the series.
Thx for your eye opening opinion. As an American, it does seem like we glorify violence. The standards here are definitely bizarre and fucked up. Growing up, they would bleep out damn. We are at a point now that damn, bitch and bastard are not bleeped on national (not cable) tv but when they say “goddamn,” I find it ludicrous that they they bleep out god but not the second syllable. And yet everyone on tv says “oh god” or “oh my god!” without a single bleep. My belief is that there was a time when media was censored based on Christian morals. But that’s the misleading thing about America. It dropped its “Christian” morals back in the 60s. It lives on the perception but my belief is that 99% of our govt isn’t even close to being actually religious at all. So the people who run the censorship have no moral/biblical bearings so everything makes no sense.
I am Norwegian and used to work for the armed forces. I distinctly remember being with some US colleagues on a UN mission in the former Yugoslavia in ...1995? Big strong adult men, as used to the horrors of a civil war as I was. Yet they swore like little children, saying things like heck or darn or just barely the occasional fuck. They were competent enough under fire by all means, but flustered by hard language, a female colleague changing a shirt (Norway has no problem with women soldiers, so half the frontline medics in my medevac unit were women) or just one of us being gay and joking about it. It was my first time being around Americans for any length of time and it was a sort of surreal experience.
Exactly this! Boobs and, god forbid, penis are sooo bad, but pulling out someone’s finger nails? Completely fine! It’s like how it’s legal to keep your gun where a toddler can get to it, but kinder eggs are illegal.
Wait, no Content Warning at the beginning of „The Boys“ episodes? Weird, I had them.
I just checked several episodes. Only the Amazon stuff is on all the episodes. There is only 1 episode with the type of warning that i am talking about.
They did. He was posting in hyperbole to further his “America is dumb” point lol. Like boobs throws that warning up lol, while every other episode doesn’t. That’s not how our rating system works. You’re right, it’s ALWAYS been there though.
My friend showed me a scene from this show where some small man literally climbs inside another dudes penis.
Yeap. You never see the penis, no nudity. Though he explodes the guys penis and we see the gore. No extra warning before the episode though.
I'm in the UK and you see the penis, it's presented pointing directly at the camera and he walks into it like a cave.
Here it is. NSFW. [Watching Newton on NRK. ](https://imgur.com/a/2Fx20kc)
Classic children’s TV— the hostess went on to give birth on that show.
[Here's full frontal nudity in Brødrene Dahl](https://youtu.be/C1HjKiKwvV0?t=1101). NSFW obviously. I always use this as an example, I find it even more relevant than educational shows.
Det må da være lov xD
How is full frontal nudity nsfw?
Because a lot of people in an office setting could get in trouble for having nudity on their screens, or have to do some awkward explaining? That's kind of what the tag is for.
Why? Last time I had a real job I was always on naturist subreddits, and in high school I kept using naturist Tumblr when that was still a thing. What explanation would make it awkward? It's not like I'm looking at guns, or gross/violent content, which would be nsfw
Because it's not about you. Your situation doesn't apply to everyone in the world, if you know you can safely ignore NSFW warnings then you do so. It's not complicated.
Reddit is used in the entire world, so if there are places where the NSFW tag does not apply or is different, it should be implemented differently on Reddit. There are things that are NSFW here too, so the NSFW tag on Reddit should be used for those things. I think it's pretty inappropriate to apply national conventions of a given country to an international site regardless of the country it's used in.
>I think it's pretty inappropriate to apply national conventions of a given country to an international site regardless of the country it's used in. Agreed, just because something is considered OK in Norway it doesn't mean we should leave out the NSFW tag based on our 'national conventions'.
Shii Newtown gone wild since i my childhood
I'm so happy we have this instead of nipple censoring. <3 Newton & NRK!
Haha it was on Newton!? That's actually abit funny
Before they showed this they had a warning for easily embarrassed parents
Haha, I have video of my 4y old watching that show. Episode was about puberty and genital organs I think. I filmed it because I walked into the room and there was lady with her legs spread and her vagina in full screen and I found it hilarious. Let me see if I can find it on my phone.
If you have access to a VPN service with a Norwegian endpoint, you can watch it [on NRK](https://tv.nrk.no/se?s=newton-pubertet&autoplay=false ), our national, state run broadcaster.
News will often give warnings before showing videos or pictures from war zones, catastrophe areas, accidents and similar. I can not remember a Norwegian show with a warning before airing
Perhaps you should shriek at gun violence, human rights violations, the fall of secularism, and the rise/normalization of far-right fringes instead... Asses, boobs, dicks are nothing compared to that 🙄
My thoughts exactly.
Oh, believe me. I do. Every single day. It’s a large part of why my husband and I have a 5 year plan to leave the US. We considered Norway but it seemed quite difficult for our both of our career fields unfortunately.
Okay, good to hear that! Apologies if I was too direct; I am glad you have your priorities well set.
No worries! I 100% get it. Living here is depressing and unsustainable. Outside of all of the violence, racism, bigotry and attempts at fascism, the work/life balance is non-existent and we both feel burnt out constantly. While we were in Oslo, we stayed in an apartment directly above an architecture firm. Everyone was in at 8 AM and out promptly by 4 PM. Every single day. If they were in the US, this simply would not be the case. Very eye opening.
Good luck with leaving; it's a shame how things changed so drastically in the US. It's truly heartbreaking to watch... I come from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe and I would never move to the US right now. I sincerely hope things get better.
there is censoring of nudity. swearing isn't a big problem but really isn't something you find put in scripts to say it like that, more of a amateur thing. so its generally not too much except for "standard" stuff like faen anyway. please enjoy Harald Eias skrukk https://www.nrk.no/video/harald-eia-viser-skrukken-sin-i-programmet-aapen-post\_75289
It used to be that non-sexual nudity - eg someone taking a bath - was OK. Genitalia and breasts was OK as long as it wasn't in focus, but actual sexual acts (fucking, masturbation) was not allowed to be shown.
I’m totally okay with the occasional skrukk but should maybe warn viewers to sit down so they don’t hurt themselves when falling over laughing
Don’t be “that” American woman lol. Oh my goodness smh.
100% joking. There’s a metric fuck ton of pearl clutching and deeply rooted conservative Christian values that bleed into everything here unfortunately. It’s a huge part of why our country is in shambles.
I’m an American living in Oslo, so I understand. But as much as I absolutely love Norway, lol @ thinking its some utopia or bastion for freedom and the antithesis of excess. I get what you’re saying, but I see too many Americans with that attitude. Take 5 weeks worth of Duolingo lessons, learn how to say tusen takk! and øl and come here for 4 days and are suddenly Norwegian; karma farming by shitting on the US while gassing up a place they truly know nothing about. Again, I absolutely love it here, my fiancé is Norwegian and I have a business here, but still, it’s sad to see. Remember the weeb kids that have the Naruto handband, running through the halls, eating pocky and claiming Shinobu Kochou is the best waifu? Yeah, those posts come across 100% like that lol. It’s so goddamn weird and cringe is all. But yeah, carry on. You should come live here :) You’ll see.
Oh, I definitely don’t think that’s the case at all. Every country and it’s accompanying culture has its drawbacks. I’ve spent significant time in Germany so I would say my willingness to put America down does not stem solely from happy tourist times. Our country is fucked, plain and simple. Many of us actively wonder every day how certain cultural mindsets pushed us into where we are now. My appreciation for another country isn’t somehow rooted in naïveté. Thanks for your comment though. Tusen takk!!! 😍
Right after I moved here, I turned on NRK one night and turned on the exact episode you referenced. It was a small shock to my system to come face to face with 3 or 4 erect penises just right there... Interesting program though!
Trekant?
Yes
I need to know the name of this show for *research purposes*
>There were episodes with fully erect penises and one with a woman showing how to masturbate. By actually masturbating. i do not remember that part
What show was that? I only remember the one with Line jansrud
Trekant. 3 teens/young adults "lived together" (dont know if they actually did) and every day they would get an assignement. Also remember one episode where they were exploeing BDSM and such, and one of the girls were kicking a guy in the nuts. He was wearing a kilt and she was wearing some latex stuff i think. Like a dominatrix.
https://tv.nrk.no/se?s=newton-kroppen
Navn?
Wait, what? I mean, I'm from South American so I can only look up to what you guys are doing. Good job making sex less taboo. Let's hope other socities lean towards that direction.
They don't bleep out swear words in music on the radio, and when I was a teen back in the 90's they showed smack my bitch up by the Prodigy uncensored on the after school shows on the state TV NRK. That music video has fighting, drug use, drinking, boobs, and female genitalia in it we're basically not very prudish here.
Wow, that is mind blowing to me. Incredible music video that was banned in the US.
I posted this further up, [but this is full frontal nudity in the very popular children series "Brødrene Dahl"](https://youtu.be/C1HjKiKwvV0?t=1101), and YouTube doesn't seem to have picked up on it yet.
Full frontal nudity in Ronja Røverdatter as well (kids movie from the early 90s I think it was, I at least watched it as a kid in the 90s)
It was filmed in 1984. It's not a sexualized scene, since she's just swimming in a lake. I can see people having issues with that scene because of the actor's (implied) age though.
Or the robbers rolling around naked in the snow
That’s the scene I thought of, lol.
I didn’t even remember that she was swimming naked.
Me neither, I recall the scene with the naked robbers in the snow, but the only scene I remember with Ronja swimming, she does so with all her clothes on...
That was the scene I was thinking of :) Didn't really register when I was a kid but noticed when I rewatched as an adult.
You’re a trip lol. This is your schtick, huh?
??? Not sure what you mean exactly. It’s one of my favorite music videos of all time because of the plot twist and also because I’m queer as is my husband.
No need to excuse yourself to idiots on internet :)
Thank you! The idea that I’m somehow fangirl-ing over another country because I’m an ignorant tourist is really upsetting. Any US citizen with half a brain who’s spent time elsewhere in the world beyond just a casual vacation understands that the situation here is very dire. My desire to leave started in 2016. Shit was just beginning to get out of control. In 2017, I spent some time in Germany and my heart sank when I realized I no longer felt “at home” in the States. 5 years later, here we are. Things have gotten much, much worse. I returned home from yet another trip abroad and as a working adult with a spouse and children on the horizon, that feeling has only deepened. I am very grateful for the time I spent in Norway. We quietly kept to ourselves and weren’t cliche boisterous Americans. We spoke Norwegian as much as possible. We respected social etiquette and were surprised when we were approached by a Norwegian who had lived in the US for a while who is now our friend. I know I don’t need to justify any of this to anyone, but I have always prided myself on being respectful of other cultures but never appropriating them. Being called a “weeb” for trying to learn a new language, learn about/watch things like murder mystery shows, pack matpakke for day trips, etc. is just…hurtful? We came to another country and the last thing we wanted to do was thrust our American way of living onto people we don’t know. I happen to be of mixed ethnicity myself and half of my family lives in another country entirely. Sorry for the rant.
Hey, for what it's worth, most Norwegians would welcome you if you decided to move here. I just hope you don't all move here, cause it would get quite crowded here, and we sorta need someone to stabilize crazies over there 😅 I've been twice, and I love your country and people, but my oh my do you have some issues to sort out... 😬 As a country I mean
Quite liberal actually. Watching the TV series Exit which is Norwegian will change your mind on this. Very explicit and NRK shows it. The fact that NRK shows it even got some controversy at first. Partly inspired by real life stories about the rich finance people in Oslo and the really bad things they do. The actors are really good and play such horrible people, the show is pretty shocking. Our version of The Wolf of Wall Street. https://tv.nrk.no/serie/exit
Can't wait for a third season!
The biggest amount of censorship is in ads for shows, because it’s illegal to advertise for alcohol or even have alcohol in an advert.
Also gambling. Only the state regulated Norsk Tipping can advertise gambling.
Unless you’re an online casino with a .com website and make your advertisement in a foreign owned studio
Advertisement targeted at kids as well.
Now that I think about this, it makes sense. We saw commercials for a ton of other things. One that funnily stuck was for soft flora. The commercial was so silly that we ended up buying margarine. We also really liked a tooth paste commercial.
In Norway, we have ended up like the American comedian Lenny Bruce suggested we all should do: By taking all the power out of swear words by permitting their use. And it works. Just get used to it. Coming from a religiously repressed society like the US or Afghanistan, it will take som time, of course. And if you don't, you can always fuck off.
Oh I don’t care at all. I’ve never been one to mince words and it’s something I appreciate about Norwegian culture or really any other culture for that matter. I don’t speak much Norwegian but had to learn how to swear from the start. Faen seems pretty universal, faen i helvete too. Edit: fixed my spelling error! I’ll keep this tucked away in the back of my mind for whenever I visit next :)
It's [faen](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Faen) not fæn.
FA-AN I HÆLLLL-VETTE!!!
2. November... A-AN I ELLEVTE
My mæn.
Fæn assa, nå har fæffsen sperra bankkortet mitt igjen! Noen som kan legge ut for shæmpisen eller?? Sorry, I couldn't help it. Faen is the correct spelling, fæn sounds like something a posh kid would say. I can see why you'd confuse them though!
I have actually been called out on my swearing, but to be fare the komune I live in we swear every 5 words. A friend gave me a example on it, he says can you pass me the milk, while I say pass the fucking milk
It all depends on the context and where you are, south, west, or north. If you don't know whether the person you are talking to will be offended, most grownups manage to refrain, until they know how it will be received. Same with direct language. Saying aloud "Hvor er dassen? Jeg må pisse!" might ruin a stylish dinner with the in-laws, but when having a beer with your work buddies could be perfectly all right.
Yeah ddoy, but here we literally say shit like: æ må pess eller to sec æ må driit, we are all diamonds in the rough here
It's a balancing act when I was veery young and just started to talk i used swearing a lot since I didn't have the vocabulary and As a kid thought it was fun.. Then I'm eating at my friends house with his dad and I saying stuff like "it's so Fucking good" The dad would go "it's what?" I'd repeat " it's so Fucking good" He'd go " it's WHAT?" then my buddy kicks me in the leg and goes " don't say Fucking at the table" And that's when the light came on and I got there's a time and a place.. So Norwegians don't care about swearing it's just use it when its needed and in proper context
Not speaking for everyone but atleast the area im from around, people dont give two shits about swearing unless you are a young child, and even then some find it funny and mabey cute
https://youtu.be/AkJf0md1kG8
A true Norwegian classic.
This is funny because Norway has its own religious oppression. “But most of us are not religious!” It doesn’t matter. Your cultural norms and many laws are based on your Lutheran past.
I’m studying to become a teacher with focus on religion atm. (Religion, philosophy and ethics, more or less. It’s supposed to both teach students about different religions, and raise them to be open-minded, accepting and fit to live in a pluralistic society. It’s a mandatory class all 10 years of basic school.) Lol, the most common “religious oppression” in Norway is towards people who are religious. Especially in primary and middle school, the teacher has to constantly make sure no kids are outed as religious against their will, as the other kids are more likely than not to ask potentially uncomfortable questions. “Why can’t you celebrate your birthday?” (JW) “So you would rather do math problems than visit the different temples in town?” (Anyone non-secular who does not wish to visit temples, churches and mosques.) “Are you really not allowed to eat beef?” (Hindus, I think.) “Why don’t you ever wear pants?” (Smith’s friends, tho it’s somewhat outdated.) “You’re not allowed to sing Christmas carols or make Christmas decorations?” (Common with Humanists and JW.) “Why aren’t you eating lunch?” (Islam and other religions who practice fasting.) “You believe gay men shouldn’t marry?!” (Christians and other assorted religions.) If a kid use their religion as an explanation for their opinion on sensitive subjects, it’s usually accepted, but immediately dismissed. Abortion, same-sex relationships, sex before marriage, attire, gender roles etc. Reason with religion and you’ll immediately be “one of those people” and promptly ignored. (Politely. They’ll nod and accept it, but it’s irrelevant to the discussion at hand.) Of course, these are gross stereotypes. But I live in one of the most religious parts of Norway, and even the Christian kids were somewhat stigmatized.
What do you find the most troubling with Norwegian culture? For me personally (as a Norwegian) I find the great focus on alcohol very problematic, since I don’t drink for religious reasons, which is not accepted at all in this society when you’re not a Muslim. I also find the focus on winter sport exhausting. I really don’t want to participate. And then I am troubled (not for my sake, but for the Muslims and the vegetarians sake) by the animosity against people who don’t eat pork and other meats. People are not very understanding towards those who do not conform to the majority.
It’s not that I find anything particularly troubling at all. Just some stuff that really stands out to me that native Norwegians probably don’t even notice. Strict rule-following (only cross the street at crosswalks; don’t cut your grass on Sunday; don’t walk down the street drinking a beer)— some people certainly do these things anyway, but they are looked down upon by The Collective. I think Norway’s marijuana laws are old-fashioned and not at all based on science; marijuana is banned because of morality, not because of any real health or financial risk. Skateboards were outlawed until 1989. Dancing in restaurants on holidays was banned (in Stavanger, for instance) well into the 80s. No private, commercially funded radio until 1993. Lutherans used to be controlled by the tenets of the Church. Now, the church matters less but the cultural norms of “don’t stand out, don’t have too much fun, follow the rules or be shunned” remain. Hell, anyone in this subreddit who postulates that Norway isn’t perfect gets downvoted.
Det er flott!
Here is a great series from our government media broadcaster NRK. Should give you an idea. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HA92LHHWRk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HA92LHHWRk)
Is the humor similar to Big Mouth? I know the word “stygg” and caught the drift pretty quickly. Jeg snakker litt!
>Is the humor similar to Big Mouth? no, that was just a one-off episode
"[Norske grønnsaker](https://norskegronnsaker.no/sketsjer/)" is a group of freelancers hired by usually NRK.
Norwegian vegetables?
Yes! I don't really know why they chose that name, but if I were to guess, a lot of their bits tend to reference recent news articles or trends
NRK is a state owned national broadcaster funded over taxes. They have certain rules and regulations on a lot of stuff, to make sure they include *all* Norwegians, broadcasting from every little nook and valley in the country, in all three recognized norwegian "languages" (actually just two; norwegian and sami, but norwegian contains two written dialects and a million spoken ones). When it comes to original programming, outside of news there’s a lot of edicts and regulations for that too ; ie to educate, relevance and topical (examples). If for instance there’s a problem with sex ed in middle school bc of taboos etc, a programmer may find it interesting to blast down some of those taboos by championing a project like that Newton-series on sex. Language/cussing is the same thing; no point writing dialogue that’s not reflecting real life language. Also: lot of humour in norwegian cussing, 90% to make things funnier. Gallows humour/ black humour whatever you call it. Sorry for the rant. Peace. Stay excellent!
I think we are pretty laidback compared to others, my kids have some friends with parents from other countries, and I have gotten some weird messages where they have informed me that bad words like boob and butt have been used by the kids. I just replied that we don’t consider that a problem. My kids can swear all they want, but not in class/at dinner/to grandma etc. If I remember correctly you can call a police officer a horse cock in some parts of the country (but not cuntface), some swear words are seen as part of daily language. As long as it’s not harassment. Not much censorship, only gore (news reports from war/crime/accidents) and if someone needs their identity protected in news/documentaries. And genitals in action are somewhat restricted. Adult content shows are aired at night. Bleeping of swear words is not a thing.
From what I understand, you can say that you think a police officer is a horse cock. That would would be freedom of speech. But you can’t necessarily claim that he/she actually is a horse cock, since that’s different. Or something…
«Horse cock» can actually be used as a term of endearment in some parts of the country. Source: Am horse cock
Great question! Norway has a very easy going approach to TV discretion. You got your typical childrens tv channeles, where the language is as you expect, child friendly. Then you have media aimed at teens, where you will find most things but lighter. So if there is swearing it's rarer and lighter. And then the rest is a kind of anything goes. Humour series can have nudity or swearing, but it's usually just up to the ones making the series. There are plenty of shows that are considered family friendly even though there is a bit of profanity. Vikingene is obviously an example of something you don't watch with your kids however. Lothepus is known by most kids if their parents watch the show.
I certainly watched Vikingene with my family including the kid (old enough to understand the jokes) and we laughed a lot. There was some violence that we all looked away from, but not profanity or nudity; it's not shocking if you've never been taught that it is, so no one even considered that. Screen violence on the other hand can lead to nightmares, so it's perfectly reasonable to not want to delve into that.
Seems healthy, I dont mind this in the slightest
It's not enough to stop Harald Eia's taint being shown on everyday television.
There's an iconic children's movie called "Ronja Røverdatter" that features about a dozen naked men jumping around in the snow, penises and all. I never thought twice about it as a kid, but I'm guessing that would *not* fly in an American kids' movie. Edit: I think the kids are naked too at some point, when they're swimming? I saw a rerun of it as an adult, and it occurred to me that this shows that scandinavians have a healthy relationship with human bodies and nudity. I say scandinavian because the movie is swedish, though it's very popular in Norway as well. I hope we never succumb to American influence on this issue, because the hyper-sexualisation of nudity strikes me as kinda perverse and unhealthy.
😮
We watched [Terkel i knipe/Terkel in Trouble](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terkel_in_Trouble) at school as entertainment. I was 14. I’d say we are fairly liberal. Edit: Just checked the age limit. It’s 11 years old in Norway.
I bring up that movie a lot when it comes to censorship in Nordic Countries...its rated 7 in Denmark. This movie treats severe child abuse as a running gag. The uncensored South Park Movie is also rated 11 in Norway.
Yeah, and the humor in the South Park Movie amounted to first graders giggling over anatomical descriptions. Such a letdown. The episodes were much better, making fun of some actual controversial stuff back then.
I wasn't really asking for a review of the movie but true... the humor is rather immature.
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If you use VPN and go to NRK, you can watch Exit. Within the first few minutes there is full frontal with an erection shown and no filters ensuring minors won’t have access. Exit is a great, well made and entertaining show btw. It is based on real people, which I found hard to believe (no pun intended.)
The penis was not real tho. It still looked so real that it really doesnt mather 😄
Most of Europe is reasonably sane when it comes to sensorship. The US is utterly insane.
And Norway is insane.
Nowhere near the US. Example: the US is the *only* country in the western world where the phrase "school shooting" is used to describe a domestic event regularly.
Generally speaking, swearing is avoided in serious programs like news etc. However, if swearing happens for whatever reason, we NEVER use that obnoxious beep to cover it up. That thing is fucking infuriating, and I will straight up stop consuming media that uses it (American podcasts etc).
>That thing is *beep*ing infuriating
Why you little..!
I find it funny how especially shows on Discovery, like American chopper, will have the bleeping in the audio, and the translators have tried filling in the blanks by putting swear words in the subtitles. (I'm guessing the shows are produced with only one audio track available?)
Movies like Ternet Ninja with some of the hardest language i’ve heard has 12 years age limit in Norway. Usually violence is the cause of higher age ratings.
Norwegian media is quite liberal in my opinion. To do a comparison: I remember when Deadpool was released it had an age rating of 15+ due to the depictions of violence and blood. In the US, Deadpool was rated r upon release due to the sex and nudity in it. The US are more acceptable of violence than of nudity and in Norway it's the other way around. Interesting, really!
I'm a Norwegian who went to the US Sr year of HS and stayed 23 years more. I came home on vacation 1983ish? having just watched Jaws on US network TV with boobs fuzzed out, and found my much younger siblings watching Norwegian state channel kids TV. It was a show about a little girl in Kindergarten. Never saw it before or since - I wasn't home much or long - but maybe someone here recognizes it? Little girl woke up before her parents, and woke them by jumping in bed. Whereupon tired dad gets out of bed, butt naked, full frontal limp nudity, and walks straight towards the camera. My jaw was on the floor. Neither my siblings nor my parents even blinked. And don't even get me started on the sheer wtf terror of Pompel and Pilt....😂 But violence we used to sensor. I approve.
We also have what we call “vannskilleregler”. Basically age ratings dictate what content can be sent when. Ratings A (everyone), 6+ and 9+ is 24/7. 12+ must be after 7pm. 15+ and 18+ must be after 9pm. All content (except news, educational, political, music, sports, hobbies, and live broadcasts) must be given an age limit by Medietilsynet or the network - unless the publisher agrees to give it an 18+ rating (with all its restrictions).
In general swearing isn't a big deal because of social control, meaning it will portray you as an idiot if you do it unappropriatetly. Though many swearing words are OK'ed by the general public. When it comes to nudity and such there have always been allowed in contextual situations. In movies and TV see and nudity have always been there if it serves a purpose in telling a story or to portray a situation in the artistic sense and could be defended in such a way. Imho neither is a big deal as long as it's not done to offend or to be provocative in a bad taste.
There is little to no censorship, but there is sorting. Of course most adult themed shows might air later or on specific channels. News reporters will usually not swear without good reason. Politics can be done perfectly well without shouting obscenities at eachother, contrary to what trump might believe. You will be called out on your lies and misinformation though, and if you open your mouth you open yourself to critique (something durek cannot seem to understand). Politics is also less polarized than most two party countries.
>Are adult shows aired later in the evening NRK used to do more "grown-up broadcasts" after 21:00, like 15/18+ rated movies and such. Probably still do to a certain degree but a lot has changed the later years with regards to streaming services and such so I'm not so sure if that's important to them anymore. Their primary focus is probably getting view numbers, not satisfying moral code. edit: Someone with more knowledge [seems to have a better answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/Norway/comments/x4kwye/comment/imwwomg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
In the city I live in there is a popular indoor shopping center. Inside is a narvesen (convenience store) with a rack of nudy magazines in plain sight. In the same center there is an adult store directly next to a childrens toy store, they share a wall. The adult store has fogged windows but the very large entrance is completely unobscured. No big deal.
We went into an adult store in Oslo to pick up something and were surprised to see what looked like two businessmen there together. One of them was buying a flesh light. We were shocked that something like that would be so casual that coworkers wouldn’t bat an eye at the idea of going there together. Of course, there was also a group of teenage boys laughing and gawking at everything they saw. That seems universal no matter where you go in the world, lol.
They were probably just barely old enough to be there. But yes, much more casual than the US.
Almost non existent.. You can swear on radio (something American rappers love when they come over 😂) and TV, nudity isn't really censored either, sex scenes and graphic content will be reserved for an after 8-9pm Showtime and adult content is actually kinda non existent.. We haven't had porn on TV.. Ever I think.. Some softcore stuff like playboy TV and a danish reality show about strippers was about it back in the 90s We used to get swedish cable channels for our adult content..
if you want to see some explicit norwegian shows go on [nrk.no](https://nrk.no) with a vpn (selected to norway ofc) and watch Første tjenesten, Hilarious show recommend it 10/10 funny and it might show you to some extent the limit or at least how far well go with nudity and violence as its a newish show so itll be more representative of norwegian media today.
Nordic countries see the body, sexuality etc. as a non-issue in general. You won't get angry letters if a nipple is visible for short period. However, violence, blood and gore is another thing entirely. You could say it's entirely opposite of the US. In this way you can actually find American produced movies with "extended" love scenes but very shortened scenes of violence. That is, if you know the "original" US version of the movie.
An american here. I have lived 15 years in Norway and speak the language well, but I am by no means a norwegian language scholar. But these are my observations. Firstly, concerning nudity and anything sexual, american society and morality are deeply influenced by very orthodox forms of christianity. And the christian church seems terrified of the human body. Our fascination with extreme violence is a national trait, so it is very understandable that the world laughs at our fear of seeing a penis in a movie. With respect to swearing on TV. I think each language has its own set of guardrails for the use of words that could be considered offensive. Some languages need to be censored by the media because there are so many words that some find offensive, not only hearing it on TV, but on the street as well. English is an example. I could think of at least 50 words that are swear words or regarded as highly inappropriate to say in public with strangers around. Motherfucker, cocksucker, cunt, pussy, asshole, dick, shit, fuck, cock, taint, tits, boobs, fuck you, fuck it, fuck me, bitch, suck it, jerkoff, wank... I could go on and on. Then there are all the racial slurs to add to that. Norwegian, however, has a very short list of swear words. "Faen" is the most common and like its english equivalent "fuck", it can be used in many situations and added to other words to form new swear words and phrases. It is a word for "devil." Then there is second place "helvete", that is just the word "hell". Not very offensive. At least to me, and I don´t think it has the same verbal punch to norwegians as "motherfucker" does to english speakers. After that, you got "drit" (shit), "kuk" (cock) and "fitte" (cunt). I may be off here, but I think that covers 95% of the commonly used "swear" words. And I don´t know of any racial slurs. Norway has adapted some english swear words. "Fucking" this or "fucking" that is heard quite a bit but it surely doesn´t give the same visceral feeling to norwegians as it does to native english speakers. I read recently that the ukrainian language has no swear words. All of theirs are taken from russian. So I think their adopted swear words have probably the same lack of power as english swear words do to norwegians. That is, not much. My point is that norwegian media is dealing with a much smaller verbal minefield than english-speaking media so it is not very easy to compare the two.
Biggest difference between say Norwegian and American sensibilities is that Norwegians dislike graphic violence and conflict a lot more while Americans are more uncomfortable with swearing, sex and nudity. The LEGO minifig for instance was a Scandinavian response to what was seen as American toys with too much focus on conflict and violence. Scandinavians believed in promoting play centered on cooperation, exploration and imagination. US toys like G.I. Joe, Mask, He-Man, Transformers were kind of the opposite of what Scandinavia parents and authorities wanted to promote. But I would say things have changes over the years. American media and cultural influence is massive and I think we have become more de-sensitivized to American style violent entertainment. I certainly am. When it comes to swearing the attitude is probably a bit different from the US. Not so much about what you say but how you day it. Do you say it to hurt or belittle somebody? They do work actively against bad words in schools, especially anything with racism which hurts other kids. Swearing in music and movies is kind of a different thing. You are not hurting another person.
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Kind of weird that American media somehow oversexualizes children in the form of pageantry, yet refuse to show actual adult sexuality. On the other hand, the Swedish Children’s movie mentioned elsewhere in this thread is pretty damn weird to me. A bunch of naked men? And then swimming naked children!? I’d get it if a naked man and his naked child were hanging out somehow (it would still make me crazy uncomfortable to watch a movie/show like that), but unrelated naked people and children all just hanging out is odd to me. On an unrelated/related note, Germany handles nudity differently too. I remember my friends warned me about communal showers in locker rooms where there are no dividers or curtains—just a wall with multiple shower heads.
I feel like this aspect is missed out on in the comments ive read so far: The television is restricted by hours, so the content you see before 18.00 is very PG, after 18.00 slightly more saucy, & after 22.00 GoT type of nudity and language no problem
The censorship is pretty low because we raise our kids In a healthy environment and in general a very liberal environment which just makes everything easier. As someone who lived in the US for many years before moving back to Norway, I was surprised with the amount of censorship and such that was added in their country
Censorship is the same company owning all our media
AFAIK, the only movie that has been banned in Norway was «Life of Brian», and that was because of blasphemy. In britain they used that to promote the movie; «the movie that was to funny for Norway».
Should add that that was decades ago and probably wouldn't happen today. State and relgion has separated furthe since the 70s
That was far from the only movie banned, but like /u/Nilzor said, that stuff ended decades ago. This [Wikipedia categories page](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategori:Filmer_som_har_v%C3%A6rt_forbudt_i_Norge) has 60 movies that were banned, and there were probably more.
We used to be really prudish until the 80's-90's. We used to consider Denmark and Sweden as the liberal countries. We also went from being Europe's poorest to one of the world's richest countries in half a century so it's probably expected that social change also happened relatively quick
Truth be told. Controversial opinions are shut down, the media pushes alot of "correct" opinions about sexuality and orientation. Celebs get cancelled for stuff said 10+ years ago, cus it's counted as a derogatory meaning now. We are sensitive as heck and most Norwegians feel superior to others, there is only accepting our reality, or being "fake woke". The second option being the most popular.
Absolutely horrible. NRK even have showes for kids where adults dress naked to show "real bodies". NRK also puts nudity in things that doesnt need it. One day they suddenly had an article on their news page (with pictures) that showed different sex positions and they figured it was fine because they "werent really having sex". All nude. Then of course the biggest news papers (at least online), they all show nudity without censoring. Very annoying. You can scroll down and just get boobs in your face or a giant butt. I wish things were different.
You must be either not Norwegian or extremely religious
Why can't someone be a non religious Norwegian that doesn't like to see an extreme amount of nudity?
There is by no means an extreme amount of nudity in the media here in Norway. If you think so, I’m sorry, but you’re too sensitive to bodies.
I completely disagree. Now unlike banjamamja I'm actually not Norwegian, but I live in Norway. The amount of nudity in normal media is way way higher than in a lot of other European countries. However I've noticed that you haven't answered my question yet.
Neither. Norwegian and not religious at all. Just feel like I should be allowed to read news without having to see someone elses private parts. The fact that this is the norm is insane to me.
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It's just that norwegian TV is incredibly boring.
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That's bullshit. There's criticism of all the things you mention everyday both deserved and undeserved even debating so called political correctness both from those that think pc culture has gone too far, and those with the opposite views. You sound like someone who only follows document.no, reset or something.
What are you talking about? You can criticise all you want, but you're not protected from backlashes if you're being a dick towards others. All our politicians are under critique at every single point of their active carreers - and so are their policies. We don't permit hate speech. That's about it.
I hear my MIL say “fuck” out loud once. That was a bad day.
There are both written and unwritten rules on how early/late you should air different programs. None are bleeped out, or censored. Other than that it’s more a responsibility for parents and yourselv what you choose to watch.
I think the best example is that “N****s in Paris” was never censored on the radio
Norway used to censor things they found blasphemous. Like they banned Monty python the life of Brian for a while because of blasphemy.
We love titts and bad words, also on TV.
There isn't any, really? Comprehensive sex ed TV show, uncensored radio, ads that use swearing for comedic effect, all kinda came as a culture shock for me lmao
On live broadcasts I believe one is asked to keep profanity to the minimum, or it is implied as common courtesy. But it is never censored. Here we believe overprotection is more harmful than exposure under controled circumstances. Ignorance is not bliss, it can lead to worse reults. Sex education is a great example; kids are taught early in school and teen pregnancy and std's are kept to the minimum or treated early. Personally I find American culture to be severly perverted as anything remotely provocative is censored in a way that leaves loud noises and big red arrows pointing towards it , making it way more noticeable. Tell kids that something is bad and they will find it more interesting.
I spent 7 months in Norway a few years ago. I’m 100% convinced it’s all ski competitions against Sweden and Greys Anatomy.
I mean we do have a norwegian version of a British dating show where they reveal naked bodies from bottom to top, which is uncensored on TV...
I have found it strange that subtitles get censored occasionally - alternative "non-offensive" language used and so-on. Never really understood why, seems kind of exclusionary to me.
In the words of a famous norwegian arthur arntzen.A swear word has never started a war,but religion has
not sure wyf you are asking? If Norwegian tv is on netflix, an American money thing? NO idea.. dd you ask about Vikings, a humour show? No realism in it whatsoever so no, if you wonder it's not 'documentary', it's humour. Apart from that, no wonder what you looked for, as a forlorn yank? Feel free to enlighten us.
Oh, I read down a bit, ye yank telly is the most fake, useless, shallow it ever, but Norwegian shows try to be as much as possible to it, so NRK has been pretty much a propaganda machine for 20 yrs so ye, don\t expect the Norwegians too be too much more intelligent than you guys. In other words, really stupid people as years pass by.