Users posting opinions such as these are also fond of sharing and reposting images of what a stereotypical Ukrainian woman apparently looks like-and although the traditional beauty standard for Ukrainian women has historically called for deep brown eyes, dark eyebrows, and tan skin, these images tend to portray buxom blonde and blue-eyed girls wearing heavy makeup. Models display outfits from the ready-to-wear collection by Andre Tun during Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kyiv on March 17, 2006. Models display outfits from the ready-to-wear collection by Andre Tun during Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kyiv He was adamant that Ukrainian women are good-looking because we live off a steady diet of fresh produce and simple, healthy, and home-cooked meals, and he even tried scolding me for enjoying the cheeseburger (and the brief illusion of normalcy) I had been dreaming of for months. The weirdest interaction I’ve experienced was a foreigner angrily reacting to my celebration of McDonald’s return to the Ukrainian market. Statements online range from well-intended but questionable generalizations to outright objectifying compliments comparing “naturally attractive” or “well-groomed” Ukrainian women to their “Western counterparts” (usually with the implication that Western women have somehow been ruined by feminism). But arguments over the descriptions of Ukrainian women are a little more personal. Most of these discussions are purely theoretical: Ethical issues are discussed, military strategies are dissected in minuscule detail, and short clips of Russian President Vladimir Putin posing for the cameras are studied for clues on the state of the Russian president’s allegedly deteriorating health. Discussions tend to be civil, even when the topics themselves are hugely complicated, such as whether Ukraine should have exchanged a Wagner Group mercenary for Ukrainian prisoners of war. But the stereotypes concerning Ukrainian women (and Eastern European women in general) are troubling and potentially harmful-and they point to issues of gender and national identity that a postwar country will have to reckon with.Īs in the case of any grassroots movement, the informal community of Ukraine supporters is prone to disagreements and internal debate. That includes claims like “Ukrainian women are hot and good at cooking.” Personally, I haven’t found these remarks terribly offensive-although, perhaps, I’ve just got bigger issues to worry about at the moment. There has been a vigorous debate among Ukrainian supporters about why people tend to fixate on Ukrainian women’s physical appearances. One of the oddest aspects of this is the focus on Ukrainian women’s looks. As someone who has refused to leave Kyiv amid the air raid alarms and kamikaze drone attacks and is chronically online, I find being Ukrainian in the age of social media simultaneously infuriating, uplifting, and just emotionally exhausting. Oleksii Samsonov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty ImagesĮven as missiles pound Ukrainian cities and soldiers guard trenches, the war in Ukraine has maintained a stubbornly online element, as supporters from all around the world clash with Russian trolls and fascists. A woman gives the middle finger to destroyed Russian tank exhibited in KyivĪ woman gives the middle finger to a destroyed Russian tank exhibited in Kyiv during an independence celebration on Aug.
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