Abstract
In an atmosphere where immigrant men increasingly explored sexual or platonic relationships with European women, one journal for foreign workers (Fremmedarbejderbladet in Denmark) provided some “sexual education” alongside other information that bridged immigrants’ understanding of European society.
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Notes
- 1.
The paper was published in Danish, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian for its entire duration. The paper mainly catered to Pakistanis in Urdu, but used English from May 1972 to June 1973. Arabic articles only appeared from August 1971 to January 1972.
- 2.
DASF stood for Dansk Arbejdsmands- og Specialarbejderforbund, and originated with a similar name in the 1890s; it exists today as SiD (Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark).
- 3.
This first freeze lasted through 1973; the restrictions were removed briefly in 1973, but a second freeze came at the end of that year from the oil crisis.
- 4.
Carl Damsted Andersen, Kaj Buch, and John Mølgaard, “Samme Vilkår” [“Same Conditions”]; cited in Jan Hjarnø, Torben Lundbæk og Sven Skovmand, eds. Fremmedarbejderpolitik—en bog om fremmedarbejderproblematikken [“Foreign Worker Policy—a Book about Foreign Worker Issues”] (Denmark: Dansk Reklame Produktion, 1973); also cited in Jørgen Würtz Sørensen, “Velkommen Mustafa? Debatten om gæstearbejderne og det danske samfund i starten af 1970‘erne” [“Welcome Mustafa? The Debate about Guest-workers and Danish Society at the Start of the 1970s”] (Working paper for the Center for Culture Research, Aarhus University, August 1988), 28–29.
- 5.
An October 1970 Gallup poll for Berlingske Tidende about “same conditions” found overwhelming popular support: when asked if foreign and Danish workers should have the “same conditions,” 80% said yes, likely due to fear of wage suppression, and only 9% said no. On other questions, the population was more divided: in response to the question, “Do you think it’s an advantage or not an advantage for the country that we import foreign labor,” 46% said it was not an advantage, 34% said advantage, and 20% had no answer; in response to whether Denmark should keep importing labor, 52% said no, and 27% said yes.
- 6.
Sørensen (n 4), 28–29.
- 7.
Ole Hammer Interview (June 2015).
- 8.
O.H. Interview.
- 9.
Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (MS) was initially founded in the 1940s as a Danish organization that aimed to help rebuild war-torn Europe. In 1973, Hammer published one of the first reports on foreign workers entitled “The New Danes” (De nye dansker) through MS. In 1974, the organization became an open member organization and is still active today.
- 10.
“Regular Publishing is Ensured,” FAB (10 May 1972).
- 11.
“Unreasonably High Unemployment,” FAB (6 August 1971), 1.
- 12.
O.H. Interview.
- 13.
Sørensen (n 4).
- 14.
Heidi Vad Jønsson, “Immigrant Policy Developing in Copenhagen and Ishøj in the 1970s,” Scandinavian Journal of History 35:4 (2013). There were other push/pull factors as well, including the shortage of (cheap) rental housing in Copenhagen, and Ishøj’s low rents and deposits compared to Copenhagen’s.
- 15.
FAB (10 September 1972), 8.
- 16.
Jønsson (n 14), 600.
- 17.
Population data from 31 December 2015, via UrbiStat, “Ishøj,” last accessed September 2016 via labs.urbistat.it/AdminStat/en/dk/demografia/popolazione/ish-j/20368464/4; Turkish population figure via: “Mange indvandrere på samme sted er godt for beskæftigelsen” [“Many Immigrants in the Same Place is Good for Jobs”], Politiken (6 January 2015), last accessed September 2016 via politiken.dk/indland/ECE2502262/mange-indvandrere-paa-samme-sted-er-godt-for-beskaeftigelsen/.
- 18.
FAB (6 August 1971), 3.
- 19.
O.H. interview.
- 20.
O.H. interview.
- 21.
When reviewing the Pakistani pages with an Urdu-speaker, he noticed some inconsistencies between the Urdu text and the Danish synopsis. One summary claimed that an article gave “tips on how to perform in Danish culture,” but the corresponding article discussed ethics and citizenship in general, with no reference to Denmark. Elsewhere on the page, the editor Malik criticized Danish pedagogues for not teaching according to students’ individual needs, but this was not listed in the synopsis; M. Rashid Malik, FAB (10 December 1973), Urdu page. Translated by Fahad Mukhtar.
- 22.
FAB 11 (10 March 1973), back page. Hammer could not recall who wrote the anonymous poem, but guessed it was a self-reflexive Dane.
- 23.
E.g. Parliamentary debates in 1970 across the spectrum, cited in Sørensen (n 4), 28–34.
- 24.
Kjær Rasmussen of the (now defunct) Left Socialists, Folketingstidende, 122 (1970–71) I. sp. 2635ff, cited in Sørensen (n 4), 33. Folketingstidende is the Parliament’s paper.
- 25.
Jens Fisker, “Velkommen Mustafa?” featured article in Arbejdsgiveren 6 (20 March 1970), 34–35. Cited in Sørensen (n 4), 4–5. Arbejdsgiveren, meaning “The Employer,” was the member paper of DA, the employers’ organization.
- 26.
E.g. “Gæstearbejdernes boligproblemer” Arbejdsgiveren 8 (20 April 1970), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 6. Note that “ghetto” is the same word in Danish.
- 27.
Fisker in Sørensen (n 26).
- 28.
At its peak, the Avedøre projects only filled 100 of its 700 units, and closed within two years; Ekstra Bladet referred to the projects as “the VKR [right-wing] government’s biggest building scandal, the unused ghetto city…that until today has cost taxpayers between fourteen and fifteen million kroner. Ekstra Bladet (22 January 1973), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 46.
- 29.
“They should be allowed to have a sex life” [in Danish], Ekstra Bladet (7 June 1971), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 43.
- 30.
Sørensen wrote that Muslim immigrants encountered problems when trying to practice religion—“partly problems with food, partly problems with the perception of gender relations”—but only went into detail about the lack of religious spaces (e.g. mosques), and Muslim foreigners’ requests to use churches for worship, based on the argument that they too paid the church tax. See articles in Ekstra Bladet (8 February, 24 February, 4 March 1971), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 35–36.
- 31.
Article about Nordic Cable and Wire, Arbejdsgiveren 11 (5 June 1970), 22–25; cited in Sørensen (n 4), 12. “Living customs” is livsvaner.
- 32.
More recent news stories about communal bathing sometimes present the issue as a clash of cultures. In a 2003 article, “Muslim Students Get Special Washroom,” a (male) school official said, “For me, communal bathing after sports is a very Danish phenomenon,” but supported the new (“special”) changing room; at another school, a (female) official said that the idea of adding shower curtains to their communal showers was “nonsense.” Morten Mikkelsen, “Muslimske elever får særlige badeforhold,” Kristeligt Dagbladet (11 August 2003).
- 33.
Jyllands-Posten (11 October 1970), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 26.
- 34.
Drude Dahlerup, “Is the New Women’s Movement Dead? Decline or Change of the Danish Movement,” in The New Women’s Movement: Feminism and Political Power in Europe and the USA, ed. Drude Dahlerup (London: Sage Publications, 1986), 221 and 219.
- 35.
Ibid , 224.
- 36.
For locations and addresses, see any issue of Kvinder (“Women”) published by the Redstockings from 1975–1984.
- 37.
Dahlperup (n 35), 226.
- 38.
Dahlerup (n 35), 228.
- 39.
Vtg, “The Equality of Men and Women,” FAB (10 July 1972).
- 40.
Bms, “Only Wanted Children,” FAB (10 August 1972).
- 41.
Literally “Mothers Help,” Mødrehjælpen had roots in two organizations from 1905–06 and exists today with the same name.
- 42.
Bms, “The Pill and Paternity,” FAB (10 August 1972).
- 43.
Vtg, “Citizenship and Religion,” FAB (10 August 1972).
- 44.
“Mindeord om journalist Bente Møller Sørensen” [“In Memory of Journalist…”], Rudersdal Avis (8 August 2014); last accessed September 2015 via rudersdal.lokalavisen.dk/mindeord-om-journalist-bente-moeller-soerensen-/20140408/artikler/704088769.
- 45.
Bente Møller Sørensen, Unge indvandrerforældre, pleje og opdragelse i brændpunktet mellem to kulturer [“Young Immigrant Parents: Care and Upbringing at the Focal Point between the Two Cultures”] (Copenhagen: Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, 1991).
- 46.
K, “A Father’s Tragedy,” FAB (10 July 1972).
- 47.
Ibid .
- 48.
FAB, “A Pakistani Charged,” FAB (10 August 1972). FAB printed the ex-girlfriend’s full name.
- 49.
K, “A father’s tragedy” (n 48).
- 50.
Mirko Todorovic, “Mixed Marriages,” FAB (15 May 1973).
- 51.
Ibid .
- 52.
Ayse Kudat and Mine Sabuncuoglu. “The Changing Composition of Europe’s Guestworker Population,” Monthly Labor Review (October 1980), 12.
- 53.
Hanne, “Visit to a Dance Restaurant: ‘Foreigners are too fresh,’” FAB (16 April 1973).
- 54.
U.P., “Ingratitude is the Way of the World,” FAB (16 April 1973). Although she mentioned being a “liaison” to the couple, it is not clear if she volunteered through an official channel, or if she was merely their neighbor.
- 55.
Ugens Rapport [“The Week’s Report”] was published from 1972 through to 2010. The target audience was heterosexual men, and the magazine was very much a byproduct of liberalized pornography laws and loosened societal attitudes towards sexuality in general. In the 1990s, the magazine changed its name to Classic Report. See Søren Anker Madsen, Historien om Ugens Rapport [“The History of Ugens Rapport”] (Copenhagen: Gads Forlag, 2010).
- 56.
“Crime Report: Blood Revenge Has Now Come to Denmark” [in Danish], Ugens rapport 20 (14–20 May 1973); cited in FAB (10 June 1973).
- 57.
Ibid .
- 58.
Mong, “A Whole Nation Denounced,” FAB (10 June 1973).
- 59.
Dahlerup (n 35), 233; though these shelters opened mainly in the early 1980s.
- 60.
Mong (n 60).
- 61.
For the initial event, see also (all in Danish): “Killed by a Knife Wound,” Bornholms Tidende (8 June 1973), and “Stabbed During Fight,” Aarhus Stifts-Tidende (8 June 1973). As of 9 June, the “background/reasoning behind the murder was unknown”; see “Can’t Remember Anything about Stabbing-murder,” Aarhuus Stiftstidende (9 June 1973), 18.
- 62.
Aktuelt (9 June 1973), Ekstra Bladet (9 June 1973), Ekstra Bladet (11 June 1973), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 54–56.
- 63.
B.B., “Young Hooligans Went Crazy—Officer Burned” [in Danish], Aarhuus Stiftstidende (10 June 1973), 11.
- 64.
Aktuelt (9 June 1973), Ekstra Bladet (9 June 1973), Ekstra Bladet (11 June 1973), cited in Sørensen (n 4) 54–56.
- 65.
B.B (n 63). Translation from “faldt for godt til blandt byens piger.” The journalist did, however, emphasize the Danes’ indiscriminate violence, and even cited FAB as a source for better understanding discrimination faced by Turks in Denmark.
- 66.
Ole Hammer, “Hot Summer,” Aktuelt (20 June 1973), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 56–57.
- 67.
See: Rup, “No Admittance for Foreign Workers,” FAB (10 June 1973). One evening, the bouncer allowed a Danish couple to enter the club, but excluded their Turkish friends; all parties went directly to the police to complain. The police sided with the patrons, and confirmed that the Turkish men were “neither drunk, nor unsuitably dressed,” and that the bar had violated discrimination laws passed several years prior. The owner claimed she did not want foreigners because they did not buy enough drinks. FAB added that there were no regulations in Denmark regarding how much one must drink while at a bar. Eventually, the bar got off with a small fine.
- 68.
Reader letters, Ekstra Bladet (29 June 1973), cited in Sørensen (n 4), 58.
- 69.
See discussion of the young adult novel Fremmed [“Estranged”] by Leif Esper Andersen from 1975, in Rikke Andreassen, “Diversity and Intimacy in Denmark: Regulations, Celebrations and Condemnations,” in New Dimensions of Diversity in Nordic Culture and Society, eds. Ursula Lindqvist and Jenny Björklund (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
- 70.
Urdu pages of various issues of FAB, 1974–75, translated by and read with Fahad Mukhtar. I have attempted to locate these events in the mainstream press, and found the second case: “Jealousy Killing of a Guest-Worker,” Aarhuus Stifts-Tidende (1 January 1974), 7; the article names neither the forty-year-old Pakistani man (who had worked in Denmark for “a few years” and had a wife at home), nor the thirty-year-old Danish girlfriend (who allegedly killed him because he telephoned his wife).
- 71.
See Chapter 3.
- 72.
Fagbladet 3 (10 February 1970), 84, cited in Sørensen (n 4), 9.
- 73.
Folketingstidende, Forhandlingerne [“Negotiations”], 122 (1970–71) I. sp. 2644f, cited in Sørensen (n 4), 34.
- 74.
O.H. Interview.
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Shield, A.D.J. (2017). “…[I]t does not have to be because they want to get married and have children”: Teaching Danish Sexuality and Gender Norms to Foreign Workers, 1972. In: Immigrants in the Sexual Revolution. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49613-9_4
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