When Westerners see the profiles of Russian women on dating sites who are seeking men abroad, their cultural conceptions often create a very unfavorable impression of the women. Many write them off as desperate, or even as prostitutes – surely, if a woman were successful and desired, she’d be able to find a man in her own country, right? Or she should at least be independent enough not to care that she doesn’t have a man, right?
A Russian beauty
Wrong! These misconceptions do great harm to these wonderful, honest women who are just acting along with their cultural expectations. Just like in the West it’s expected for individuals to be able to care for themselves, in Russia it’s just as important for women to be married and raising a family. A woman who is in her early to mid twenties and not married as considered a failure – and Heaven help her if she’s older than that and still single!
Women outnumber men in Russia. This means that the likelihood of a woman being able to marry a man from her own country is lower than it might be in other countries – and even worse, the life expectancy of Russian men is much shorter than the world average. Men there tend to work in physical labor-based jobs that don’t offer much protection to their bodies, and alcoholism is rampant. It’s not unusual for these men to die at a young age; and many educated Russian women find them too harsh for a lover, as is.
Asian looking Russian woman
In addition, most women who are on these dating sites are very well educated and may hold jobs such as doctors and lawyers. However, unlike in Western lexicon where these jobs are held in high status, this is not the case in Russia. The money in Russia is found in the blue-collar jobs, which are the province of men. A doctor in Russia has very little disposable income, so an unmarried female who doesn’t have the monetary support of a male might be very poor, even if she’s a lawyer!
Be sure to keep this in mind and explain it to your friends should you be dating a Russian woman online. She’s likely not desperate or uneducated, and she’s definitely not a prostitute – she’s just adhering to different cultural expectations!
Comments on this entry are closed.