Premarital Sexual Permissiveness and Illegitimacy in the Nordic Countries

• Published in: Comparative Studies in Society and History
• Main Author: Tomasson, Richard F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1976
• Subjects: Sociology and Political Science; History; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500008227; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0010417500008227

The Nordic countries differ from other Western societies in their long histories of premarital sexual permissiveness. Yet, in spite of this general permissiveness, there are enormous variations in the frequency of illegitimacy and in the tolerance of it, both among the five Nordic countries and within each of them. Iceland is an exception; here the rate of illegitimacy is high throughout the country, and so is tolerance of it. Sweden appears to be moving in this direction, but the historical situation is more complex.