Are the Vikings the reason why Scandinavians are so good-looking (on average)

[#Oda#]

But I hope you are aware that the photos are all pretty much beautified and staged. So for a better proposition more natural pics would be good.
Further I'd say, many of the girls look very similar, the same type, you have chosen.

[tropicalslavic]

Theres something I cant describe about Scandinavian girls faces that I just dont like. At least 90% of them.

I feel like Scandinavian men often resemble fish

[masoebu]

But I hope you are aware that the photos are all pretty much beautified and staged. So for a better proposition more natural pics would be good.
Further I'd say, many of the girls look very similar, the same type, you have chosen.

This, and a lot of cherrypicking.
We can find anybody to confirm our biases and personal impressions.

As I said before the Viking women thing sounds like a bit of a fairy tale like those people in Western China that think they're descendants of lost Roman soldiers but they're actually nothing special looking across Central Asia.

I say sexual selection for reduced cromagnoid traits is what created the Nordic phenotype(s).
I do find them attractive on average because of their robust facial skeleton creating deep set eyes and rosy light skin.

[rothaer]

Ok, I know I am hammering this point home as of late, but the term 'Nordic beauty' is not just based off a stereotype. All I see is cope from those who say that Scandinavians are 'ugly'. The aesthetic average in these countries is superior to the wider northern European average (which is NOT great). Now it has often been a joke that Scandinavian women are 'beautiful' because the Vikings took all the 'beautiful' women from the places they raided and brought them back home but there is no evidence of that. I guess it's just a case of a population evolving rather 'striking' features (blue eyes/blonde hair) as an adaption to the colder climate.

A pretty unthoughtful statement considering that nowhere else in the world a cold climate has selected for blue eyes and blonde hair. And btw. Scandinavia is not cold but "too warm" compared to its latitudes.

This is combined with the fact that in these colder climates only the 'fittest' would have survived. I know that sounds simplistic and in many ways natural selection has been a focal part of human history, but I guess Scandinavia had that on steroids?

This is nonsense, probably caused by some nordicist romanticism. All populations have been selected for suitability for their environment. All areas on this planet that provide a cold winter force people to be more planning than a climate where you can simply harvest three times a year. The requirement for plannning applies to Scandinavia but it's nothing specific.

On the other hand the Scandinavian heritable naiveity is a deficiency that is caused by the lack of a respective selective pressure. As for being exposed to human enemies Scandinavia was more of a protected refuge. So that's not exactly "survival of the fittest on steroids".

Also throughout most of any given year in the Viking age, whole villages in Denmark/Norway/Sweden would have seen their male populations drastically (temporarily) reduced in size (for obvious reasons) and due to this insanely imbalanced (temporary) sex ratio, all the single ladies could have been particularly 'picky' about their partner. I wonder if something like that sounds plausible.

No, it sounds upside down. If there is a shortage of men, women must be less picky to get a man. It's known in Germany in the context of the huge loss of men in WWII. Or in today's Russia with a notable women surplus due to the comparably low life expectancy of Russian men (already before the 2022 Ukraine war).

[rothaer]

(...) So for a better proposition more natural pics would be good. (...)

Personally I'd agree on that they are in average more good looking than many other people but it doesn't change the fact that this is a subjective thing. I wouldn't make a big topic of my taste.

[Anglo-Celtic]

During my cringeass white nationalist phase as a teenager, I tried so hard to gaslight myself into thinking that Scandinavian men were attractive. I just... don't think they are. I didn't back then, either.

I wonder if any of these dudes would be drooling over these women if they were brunettes with brown eyes... or would they rightfully admit the girls are average? It is fine for anyone to have a preference but I just do not get the part where they have to pretend it's a verifiable fact.

You and I don't even remotely agree on what is and isn't attractive. I don't think we agreed on a single man in the entire time we've known each other. Lol

Scandinavians are my favorite type, and it's just a natural reaction that's been with me most of my life. It's not just because I have to say that. My mom and my sisters had/have black hair and brown eyes like me, so it's not down to familiarity. Black/White mixed women, like Halle Berry, are in second place, so it's not even a racial thing; it's just how I'm wired.

[Creoda]

Scandinavians are my favorite type, and it's just a natural reaction that's been with me most of my life. It's not just because I have to say that. My mom and my sisters had/have black hair and brown eyes like me, so it's not down to familiarity. Black/White mixed women, like Halle Berry, are in second place, so it's not even a racial thing; it's just how I'm wired.

You mean Nordic types? Or do you only find Scandinavian Nordids attractive?

[Anglo-Celtic]

You mean Nordic types? Or do you only find Scandinavian Nordids attractive?

I'm talking about blonde hair and blue eyes. Come on now.

[Creoda]

I'm talking about blonde hair and blue eyes. Come on now.

OK, but needless to say blonde hair + blue eyes (and Nordic phenotypes) exist in large quantities outside Scandinavia.

[masoebu]

I'm talking about blonde hair and blue eyes. Come on now.

That's not enough to make someone Nordic. Most Nordids are not blonde either, but most have blue eyes....*most*. That is an idealized type. I think the defining features of Nordics are general light pigmentation and refined facial features.

Funny how Scandinavians themselves I've talked to don't obsess over this stereotype as much as outsiders.