Sexual Trends in the Baltic Sea Area

This book has two aims. First of all, we analyze the changes that occurred in Finnish sexual lifestyles from 1971 to 1992 and 1999. A sexual lifestyle study that has been repeated three times is unique worldwide. The oldest interviewees were born in 1917 and the youngest in 1981, and their sexual experiences thus span nearly the entire last century.

The second aim is to compare sexual lifestyles in four cultural areas in the Baltic region: Finland, Sweden, Estonia and St. Petersburg. The first two represent Nordic countries, while the latter two represent areas that were part of the former Soviet Union. A comparison of Nordic countries and former Soviet areas illustrates the impact of economic, political and cultural factors on sexual lifestyle. Each of the four areas is geographically adjacent to the Baltic Sea, and the histories are intertwined in many ways. Each of the four areas has its own language, and the ethnic background and culture of each region’s population is different.