Why Elin hasn't left Tiger yet
Source: Agencies |
April 6, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN Tiger Woods returns to golf at the Masters this week, the world will be watching to see if his wife Elin is at his side.
It may seem puzzling to many women that the 30-year-old former model hasn't already left her cheating husband. She is, after all, from Sweden - a nation famous for its strong-willed and independent women.
In her homeland, too, there has been some bewilderment that Elin Nordegren hasn't split, considering the scope of her husband's infidelity.
But relationship counselors in the Scandinavian nation aren't surprised. Sweden is still a champion of women's rights, but in recent years a more conservative view on the merits of the family has been making a comeback.
Like Nordegren, many Swedes have grown up with divorced parents, and are increasingly focused on building homes and keeping families together, said Lena Gustafsson, a psychotherapist who works in relationship counseling.
Woods and Nordegren have two children, daughter Sam Alexis, 2, and 1-year-old son Charlie Axel.
"Many of the couples I see continue to live together, they solve their problems," Gustafsson said.
That was not the case for Nordegren's parents, who divorced before she started school and separately developed their careers - her father, Thomas Nordegren, as a correspondent for Swedish Radio and her mother, Barbro Holmberg, as a politician.
In Sweden, divorces peaked at around 27,000 annually in the mid-1970s, at the height of the women's liberation movement. Since then divorces have slowly declined to about 20,000 a year. Sweden's population is about 9 million.
Gustafsson said a gradual return toward the family as a cornerstone in Swedish society has come as a reaction to a culture many people viewed as too obsessed with self-fulfillment.
However, repeated infidelity is not something that is taken lightly, even in Sweden. When Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant in November and the extent of his extramarital affairs was revealed, the message in Swedish media and blogs was close to unanimous: "Dump him."
Back then, the general perception in Sweden was that Nordegren should waste no time in leaving her husband.
But relationship coach Asa Hellberg has questioned whether Swedes were a bit too hasty in casting judgment.
"Generally, people probably have the view that she should have thrown him out a long time ago," she said. "But that is before they have experienced something like that themselves, and are blissfully unaware of how they would react in such a situation."
Woods, who has been treated for sex addiction at a rehabilitation clinic, is due to return to playing golf at the Masters in Augusta on Thursday.
See more Woods story on B14
It may seem puzzling to many women that the 30-year-old former model hasn't already left her cheating husband. She is, after all, from Sweden - a nation famous for its strong-willed and independent women.
In her homeland, too, there has been some bewilderment that Elin Nordegren hasn't split, considering the scope of her husband's infidelity.
But relationship counselors in the Scandinavian nation aren't surprised. Sweden is still a champion of women's rights, but in recent years a more conservative view on the merits of the family has been making a comeback.
Like Nordegren, many Swedes have grown up with divorced parents, and are increasingly focused on building homes and keeping families together, said Lena Gustafsson, a psychotherapist who works in relationship counseling.
Woods and Nordegren have two children, daughter Sam Alexis, 2, and 1-year-old son Charlie Axel.
"Many of the couples I see continue to live together, they solve their problems," Gustafsson said.
That was not the case for Nordegren's parents, who divorced before she started school and separately developed their careers - her father, Thomas Nordegren, as a correspondent for Swedish Radio and her mother, Barbro Holmberg, as a politician.
In Sweden, divorces peaked at around 27,000 annually in the mid-1970s, at the height of the women's liberation movement. Since then divorces have slowly declined to about 20,000 a year. Sweden's population is about 9 million.
Gustafsson said a gradual return toward the family as a cornerstone in Swedish society has come as a reaction to a culture many people viewed as too obsessed with self-fulfillment.
However, repeated infidelity is not something that is taken lightly, even in Sweden. When Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant in November and the extent of his extramarital affairs was revealed, the message in Swedish media and blogs was close to unanimous: "Dump him."
Back then, the general perception in Sweden was that Nordegren should waste no time in leaving her husband.
But relationship coach Asa Hellberg has questioned whether Swedes were a bit too hasty in casting judgment.
"Generally, people probably have the view that she should have thrown him out a long time ago," she said. "But that is before they have experienced something like that themselves, and are blissfully unaware of how they would react in such a situation."
Woods, who has been treated for sex addiction at a rehabilitation clinic, is due to return to playing golf at the Masters in Augusta on Thursday.
See more Woods story on B14
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
