Russian Woman In Myths and Stereotypes
by Irina Timchenko
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It is difficult to remain objective while talking about Russian women, for there are so many myths and beliefs about us. I am a Russian woman living in Ukraine (in my mind, the difference between Russian and Ukrainian women is not that big, so I will call all of us Russian women, meaning all Slavonic women living in the post-Soviet states).
I have read hundreds of articles about Russian women - some very academic, others just intended for Internet publication, and some that deserve being places into yellow-press magazines... According to the approaches taken by the authors, all of them can be roughly divided into four categories which I have listed below today. Here are some of the notes I made while I did my analysis-
Russian men about Russian women
Russian men appreciate sensitivity, responsiveness and submissiveness of Russian women. They also treasure Russian women as mothers and wives. Their role in families has always been critical, since very old times. Most of Russian men love their wives for their faithfulness. Since very old times, through centuries, Russian women have devoted their lives to their men, and it was traditional for a woman to have only one man, once and for all her life. Even if a woman widowed, she hardly ever got married again.
The most highly appreciated "family" qualities of Russian women are associated with their roles as good wives; all Russian men also agree that their women are very good mothers, but this quality is often reported at the "second" level of significance.
Physical beauty is regarded as a third-level quality, following after faithfulness and "good-wife" qualities. It is funny to see that, according to some research, only 6% of Russian men ever talk about intellectual qualities of their wives. Traditionally, Russian men say that "Russian women have their own, unique logic, which, in fact, means absence of any logic!" Very little to no attention is also given to Russian women's pragmatism. Russian men consider their women absolutely impractical.
Foreign women writing about Russian women
There are only a few articles where I could pick up any information at all. In most cases, Russian women are regarded as very strong competition in women's chase for men. There are many remarks about weak moral principles of Russian women, but all foreign women agree with unique physical beauty of Slavonic women.
It is interesting to see that in many articles written by North American women, Russian women are characterized as very passive and even lazy. They are not ambitious and there is no aggression in their behavior. They are not emancipated enough in the eyes of career-oriented American ladies.
Foreign men characterizing Russian women
Most of the foreign men agree that Russian women are very beautiful. The next quality which is being discussed all the time is femininity. Then, the following characteristics are given by most of the men: brave behavior and strong will, kindheartedness, sincerity and sensitiveness. Many foreign men stress at Russian women's emotional nature. Their education and intellect is also appreciated. Also, some men admire Russian women for their creativity and inventiveness.
What do Russian women think about themselves then?
Beauty comes as the first-rate quality. Then, Russian women point out their femininity and the wish to produce impression on others (no matter, men or women) . Then comes a whole set of "family" qualities, which include a peculiar, only-Russian set of features: kindness, faithfulness, ability and desire to care for family members, patience, absence of pragmatism (is regarded as a positive quality for family life), because family is the highest value for all Russian women.
Intellectual qualities are discussed as second-rate qualities, though most of Russian women stress on inventiveness and creativity as very important qualities. Many Russian women devote much attention to self growth, but majority have quite a low self-esteem, and are not ambitious, so they do not speak highly about their own strong features.
There is another set of qualities which characterize Russian women very well since old times. It is strange that Russian men don't mention this quality in their assessments (maybe they just take it for granted?) - these are amazing workability, commitment to doing work of any complexity, ability to work long hours without rest, initiative, responsibility and ability for team work.
Well, I'll leave it all up to you to assess these notes, and will be thankful for your comments and responses. Please, let me know if I have missed something!
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