Why did Sweden take the lead with pornography?

Why not Finland?  Norway?  Denmark?  Why was it Sweden that in the 60s
and 70s, had a far more liberal and progressive stance towards
pornography than virutally any other nation?

Its culture seems unremarkable to me, at least as far as this goes. 
But it must be something under the surface.  Was there a watershed
political event?  A famous person or case that galvanized the nation?

Why did Sweden suddenly loosen up when everybody else did not?

No waggish replies, please.

I just want to confirm for doubters that it is/was true.  In 1966 in
Stockholm, at news stands one could see displayed smaller magazines
with a cover girl who didn't leave anything to your imagination (as
revealing as pics on certain websites, I kid you not!), and with the
face of your ideal of a young Swedish girl.

It is correct that Sweden was quite liberal in the 60's, but in fact,
the most liberal country was Denmark. Written pornography was
legalized in Denmark in 1967 and photo pornography in 1969 - before
all other contries in the world.

sexlibSweden
Dateiformat: Microsoft Word 2000 - HTML-Version
... Abolition of the pornography law, abortion on demand, acceptance
of ... In the early sixties there was also an intense debate in Sweden
on gender issues ...
www.iisg.nl/~womhist/lennerhed.doc

Gnossie,  you have probably found the above site yourself, which
doesn't answer the question but maybe puts in perspective.

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:W08TNqLSF5UJ:www.etn.lu.se/ETHSCAND/text/1997/s%2520122-137.pdf+sweden+pornography++sixties+OR+60s+-internet++-%22child+pornography%22&hl=de&client=firefox-a

The above site seems more helpful (html version), here is the Search finding:

[PDF] More Fun with Swedish Girls? Functions of a German ...
Dateiformat: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - HTML-Version
... Drugs and pornography, prisons without doors. and girls without morals, ...
between West Germany and Sweden in the. sixties are not found, ...
www.etn.lu.se/ETHSCAND/text/1997/s%20122-137.pdf

Starts with Tacitus and then quotations by Wollstonecraft (1797)

There maybe more, searched with:  sweden pornography sixties OR 60s
-internet -"child pornography"
And there are so many waggish comments I could make  ;(
Don't you dare, Probono and frde-ga !!!

I can't resist this one.

As you know, Sweden is a major producer of wood pulp
- and a major exporter of paper.

I would not be surprized.

OK, frde.ga, unprinted paper is all right, just nothing unprintable  ;)
and nothing waggish either, even if it is.

In 1996 a youngish German guy told me that Sweden is really run by
about five families
- needless to say, he was involved with a lass from one of them.

It strikes me, that with a tight setup like that, it would be pretty
easy to produce and promote 'top shelf' stuff.

I would not be at all surprized if the whole Swedish thing were a marketing con.

Gnossie,
I finally read through the long second article I found, that discusses
the subject in relationship to Germany.
It seems to point out that the image of Sweden as being on the
forefront of porn is not quite so true, as also mentioned by
raw_2005-ga  - and also in the article, that Denmark actually was. 
The article points out that Scandinavian countries have always been
more liberal about pre-marital sex, perhaps within a set of
conventions that are/were not so easily recognized by outsiders (You
marry if she gets pregnant, and the like).  And this was certainly
true, as I recalled while reading the article.  I know an American,
then teenager, who was visiting a family in Norway in 1958, and fell
in love with the eldest daughter, which apparently the parents
recognized.  On the last night of his stay, the parents took the two
younger children to the movies and left the couple alone, which was a
breach of another convention, that a guest?s last evening be spent
with the hosts (and vice versus).
Maybe Denmark?s leading role was overseen because the porn produced
was so ?advanced? that it got completely censored abroad, whereas the
Swedes did it ?more tastefully? and got a broader audience, and with
the well-known and respected Ingmar Bergman could get screening in
?art? cinemas.  By today?s standards, that wasn?t porn, but the
liberal image of Sweden could have been established.  By 1969, the
Germans could see German films that were explicit.
I tend to agree with that article.  Maybe Sweden did not have ?a more
liberal and progressive stance towards pornography than virtually any
other nation.?
By the seventies, I doubt that it did.

Myoarin-ga:  Finally got around to reading that hefty article.  Wow. 
Very useful.  Thanks so much for that link.  A much better answer than
I was hoping for.  And I haven't had to pay anything yet!

Gnossie,  thanks a bunch!  My pleasure, also at learning about the subject.
May I be waggish?  It was not only having the pulp and paper, they had
the girls to go with it, starting with Greta Garbo, and very
discretely with my favorite one from Casablanca.  No, she was never in
porn  - but she didn't need that to suggest ....

Here's a page with some very interesting links:

Pornography Studies - The Social Effects of Porn
http://solomonsrefuge.com/PornStudies.htm

cynthia-ga's link reminded me of my surprise in 1970 while traveling
in Australia, which then was legally still pretty conservative.  In a
mining town in Western Australia, once a gold mining town but then
just past a new boom for uranium mining  (claims staking and a lot of
gossip about who was finding what where), I woke up one morning to a
local radio discussion about the positive value of continuing to allow
the "cat-houses" on a street in the town to stay in business.
"Protects our daughters" was the consensus.

A perhaps cynical comment to the "social effects of porn":
Could it be, that in the sixties when porn and the "pill" gained
acceptance, and there was a general more liberal attitude towards
sexual activity, that the decline in sex crimes resulted signific
antly from from women and girls being able to accept the "advances" of
guys; less "date-rape", because morally they felt less obliged to say
no, and with the pill had themselves a control against unwanted
consequences?  (Sorry about my German sentence structure)

Any thoughts..?  (Nice time to have been young and single ...;)

http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/IES/norway.html

Gnossie, 
I think you will find the above link interesting.