Norway

Boys from Oslo's west end celebrating Norway's independence day.

Norway is a country in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Its major cities include the capital Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, and Tromsø.

Boyloving in Norway

For boylovers, Norway is a relatively comfortable society to live in. While minor-attracted adults are not free of suspicion, hysteria is nowhere near the levels seen in the United States. Men can work with children without running a great risk of being subject of a witch hunt. Indeed, kindergartens are hard at work trying to recruit more men as caretakers. However, a police background check is required for many positions, even volunteering.

Even though sexual relations between adults and children are considered to be extremely harmful for the younger part, many people do have a more relaxed attitude to "natural child sexuality". There have not been many reports of children "molesting" their peers; on the contrary there are several experts in the media that have openly advised parents to avoid making children feel guilty about their sexuality (other than telling them that sexuality is something that should be private).

In spite of this relatively bright outlook, there are frightening tendencies to be seen. Legislature is fearful of being seen as complacent in face of child sexual abuse, and on 20 May 2005, the Parliament adopted a radical child-pornography law that outlawed all descriptions that sexualize children, regardless of whether the events described actually happened. After the new law was passed and immediately took effect, textual and audio representations are also counted as child pornography. The discussion in the Parliament consisted mainly of the representatives congratulating each other on the unanimity of the vote.

Redd barna (the Norwegian division of Save the Children) has advocated publicizing the identities of sex offenders. The lawyer Tor Erling Staff has strongly defended the current privacy laws and customs, which prevent such an act.

Young boylovers look forward to their graduation from secondary school. The celebrations traditionally entail dressing in bright costumes and buying hundreds of russekort (visiting cards), most of which go to little boys as collector's items. For seventeen days in May, the boylover finds himself stalked by little boys whose eyes can spot a red-clad russ from a surprising distance.

Interesting legal cases

• The Bjugn case, in which a man was first sentenced for sexually abusing dozens of children, but then found not guilty on all counts several years later

Things to experience in Norway

Norway's constitution day, 17. mai, is renowned among boylovers for its children's parade, and some make travel arrangements specifically with that date in mind.

Sports

Boys in Norway enjoy all sorts of sports, but the most popular are without a doubt football and snow sports.

A few years ago it was uncommon for a boy not to play football in the child leagues. Nowadays interests have diversified somewhat, but even if a boy does not himself play, one can still almost count on him to follow at least one, if not several, Norwegian and European leagues. For the teams that participate, Norway Cup is the event of the year, drawing players from more than 40 nations in a seven-day football fest.

Winter sports, such as cross-country or alpine skiing and snowboarding, are very popular, and skiing has ancient traditions in Norway.

See also

• 17. mai, Norway's constitution day
• Norway Cup

External links

• The new child-pornography law (in Norwegian)
• Discussions in the Parliament before passing the new child-pornography law (in Norwegian)