by Jeremy Allen, Swisster
Lausanne - 06 April 2008 | 06:05
In Switzerland it is often the women who wear the trousers within intercultural marriages; Swiss men are good lovers, whereas the women almost call the police when you try and flirt with them. These were some of the opinions expressed by 36 foreigners living in Switzerland who were interviewed for a Swiss TV documentary on how they perceive the natives' love habits.
Starting Monday April 7, the Swiss television channel TSR will broadcast a series of programmes relating to the integration of foreigners in Switzerland. The channel has dubbed the series “the week of integration”. Next Thursday the show Temps Présent will look at how the expats in this country rate the Swiss in terms of seduction and relationships.
Thirty-six people from 25 countries were interviewed and asked, among other questions, how good they thought the Swiss were at flirting, how they performed as lovers, and what the dynamic was in their intercultural marriages. They were also asked to sing a love song in their own language.
“Almost everyone agreed to do the song,” said Raphaël Engel, one of the Swiss journalists working on the show (his wife also happens to be British). He told Swisster there were some interesting results, as well as surprises -- and mixed views about his countrymen.
Among the qualities attributed to Switzerland’s natives were that they are ‘precise’, ‘civilised’, ‘generous’ and ‘open’. Some critical words used were ‘close-minded’ and ‘reserved’. “One person came up with the expression ‘to smile like a Swiss’- when someone welcomes you with open arms and then stabs you in the back,” said Engel.
According to those quizzed in the show, the Swiss personality also varies according to which cantons the person is from. Those from the Valais were generally perceived as effusive, with a sense of community, while the Genevans were sometimes seen as Calvinists who don't always let their hair down, and arrogant. This mirrors generally-held native Swiss views.
Comments on how good the Swiss were in the flirting game, also varied. According to the journalist, the programme found that Swiss people do not look at each other very much. “Some women from Latin America felt they didn’t exist here and were only chatted up when they went home.” A Cuban man also said women here almost called the police if you looked at them. The Japanese and Chinese women interviewed, on the other hand, said they were chatted up all the time.
As for performance in the bedroom, it may or may not come as a surprise that Swiss men were generally described as good lovers. A Dutch woman said that men ‘do their job well’ while, according to Engel, an Armenian woman claimed that once men get behind closed doors, they are ‘like a volcano’.
