Sauna is not an adult bathhouse

April 22, 2026 – In Minneapolis, the City Council is actively considering whether to reverse a nearly 40-year ban and re-legalize adult bathhouses—directing staff to draft ordinances that would license and regulate venues where sexual activity between consenting adults is allowed.

That proposal has sparked debate that largely centers on sex and public policy, rather than traditional sauna culture.

In response, Aaron Brown wrote in the Minnesota Star Tribune that this framing misses the point, arguing that true sauna tradition is rooted in cleanliness, ritual, and something closer to the sacred and miles away from something sexual.

This week’s debate in Minneapolis shows how one word can throw everything off. What’s being discussed as “bathhouses” isn’t really sauna at all.

As Brown writes:

“Finnish steam baths are sacred places…”

And:

“‘Löyly’ … literally translates to ‘spirit.’”

Sauna is about cleansing, connection, quiet, and ritual. In my view, it’s a shame and a travesty to sensationalize or sexualize the space and the experience. I thought we were a generation away from the bathhouse debauchery. But unfortunately, the sauna / bathhouse boom has once again given us a black eye.

The clearest definition

In the article. Brown reveals to us that The Ojibwe word for Finn is:

“madoodoowinini” — sweat bath person.

How great is that? I for one would LOVE to be referred to as a sweat bath person. That says everything about this place we go, and thing we do.

Not spa-goer. Not bathhouse patron. A person defined by the act of sweating, cleansing, and repeating. However, announcing “Hey, Sara, let’s go to the sweat bath” doesn’t come with an instagram like and share. So, here, unfortunately, we have this nauseating “adult bathhouse” ordinance hanging over us here in Minneapolis. And sheesh, we are just starting to recover from ICE.

Where we’ve drifted

Today, sauna is often packaged as an “experience.” And sometimes confused with things that have nothing to do with its roots. Sauna becomes something you consume instead of something you do. And now we have sex being thrown into the mix. Yuck. I can’t think of a more anti sex microclimate than a 180° f. hot room.

Here is Aaron Brown’s article, copied and pasted without express permission. I appreciate where he’s coming from!

Unfortunately, recent debate about legalizing bathhouses in Minneapolis seems to be fixated on “bad sauna.” That is, the idea of public bathhouses as a place where sexual encounters happen.

We’ve had public saunas in northern Minnesota for generations. When miners and loggers lived in boardinghouses, public bathhouses were their only real connection to notions of personal hygiene. Some of those public saunas remain open today, occasionally associated with rumors of hanky-panky, but mostly as wholesome as a sparsely clothed Andy Griffith.

Of course, I can’t tell people what to be mad about. Finnish steam baths are sacred places, akin to churches in pre-Christian times. The steam in a sauna is called “löyly,” which literally translates to “spirit.” 

Saunas stand as havens for family unity, prayer and meditation, where everyone was born and where everyone died. Nudity in a sauna is typically not of a sexual nature. Still, I’m not sure how some of those big Finnish families of yesteryear could have happened without a few breaches of decorum.

The Finnish sauna tradition caused scandal when Finns first came to North America. A Finnish homesteader would build his sauna first, before finishing the outhouse or cabin. For modest people of German or English stock, seeing your new neighbors walk bare-cheeked out to a tiny hut filled with steam was ample cause for suspicion.

But some people got it right away. Minnesota’s Ojibwe people related to the early Finns better than most European immigrants because of the sauna, which was similar to one of their own traditions. In fact, the Ojibwe word for “Finn” is “madoodoowinini,” which literally translates to “sweat bath person.” 

In the early 1900s, Native people and Finns were ushered to the balcony of public theaters in some Range towns because of cultural prejudices, among them an aversion to their casual views on nudity. But both groups would have declared that they were the cleanest people in town; it was the so-called Americans who could use a good sweat. 

Today, however, a much broader cross-section of society recognizes the stress relief, cleanliness and health benefits of sauna. It’s for everyone. And yes, you can wear a swimsuit if you prefer. Many boutique urban saunas require them.

Bert Olavi Jalasjaa’s book “The Art of Sauna Building” has been parked on my end table for a couple years now as I aspire to construct my own sauna. Despite the trauma of my first steam bath, I have come to regard the experience as holy. Nothing clears my mind and invigorates my soul like a sauna. 

Naturally, I hope to follow the traditions of my Finnish ancestors. A 1918 Hibbing Daily Tribune article about Finnish immigrants refers to us as “a cleanly people, fond of the vapor bath.”

What others do in their sauna is none of my concern. 

– Aaron Brown

EDITORIAL COLUMNIST

Aaron Brown is a columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board. He’s based on the Iron Range but focuses on the affairs of the entire state.