Stieg-success brings gender to the US

The third book in the oh-so popular Millennium-series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, in English titled The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, is hitting the United States these days. If we are to believe the Swedish tabloids, it is nothing short of a major success, a "Stieg-fever in the states", even. I have earlier written about the meaning of Swedish success in the States, and will not repeat myself here. Good reviews from LA Times, New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post is impressive for sure. Foreign releases rarely bring huge hypes with them in the US, and especially not from smaller countries such as Sweden. What the Millennium-trilogy has brought with it to the US scene seems to have quite a bit to do with the character of Lisbeth Salander. "Americans are not used to such complex portraits of women. Women rarely get to have dark sides in our culture", says Maria Cellner, from a bookstore in New York.

I found this quote very interesting. It touches on something I have been pondering for quite some time but have not been able to put my finger on. I would argue that the US have if not the same then at least similar standards in equality when it comes to women in the workplace, wages, women in leading positions, and so on, compared to say Scandinavian countries and the majority of West European nations. Through the early entrance of modernity in the shape of technical appliances in the home American women were not always resorted to domestic work in the 1940s and 1950s, but could do other things, such as enter the workplace. This happened far earlier in the US than in Western Europe. But when it comes to issues of gender roles the US is hopelessly lagging. The larger parts of American society is very much stuck on old, idealized images of how women and men should be and behave. Guys should be strong, physical, very much into sports (but not dancing), like motor-vehicles and guns, be outgoing and outspoken, and so on. A bad version of a man is weak; a fagot or a pussy. Equally, a girl who likes guns or contact sports too much, or, as the quote above shows, has darker sides is looked down upon.

I am not saying that this is how all Americans think and act, but I am certain it is an ideology of the majority. I believe that the wretched thinking on gender roles also prevents further developments into equal rights and acceptance of homosexuals in the US, as they don't always act as American men and women "are supposed to". To be sure, Scandinavia is no paradise when it comes to gender equality and the acceptance of people who dare to step out of their supposed gender roles. But we have come quite a long way, and if part (not all, though) of our thinking on gender can spread across the Atlantic can be a positive think for further social liberalization of the US. Even if the successes of Stieg Larsson and Lisbeth Salander only makes a few people stop and rethink gender, it will be one of the more important Swedish contributions to American Society.