It is a very sensitive topic, especially in the era of the "body positivity" and erasing of the standard of feminine beauty and of femininity (these two are not always the same), and sexuality, by deranged third wave feminists and their allies from LGBT in the West. Of course women are different and of course many of them are not stunning beauties, but still, often the lack of physical "beauty" is compensated by women being truly feminine and, sometimes enormously, attractive in human sense through intellect, humor and kindness, which compensate dramatically for the alleged lack of "physical beauty". Having said all that, we, however, still have to put forth a fundamental principle of human civilization and its main goal--procreation--that women and men seek each-other, initially, primarily, not exclusively, on the physical appearance. Based on those recognizable physical attraction "traits". Everything else follows after that. We all, men and women, are initially attracted to each-other because we think that we look good for each-other. I approached my wife of 36 years initially because I found her attractive in physical sense and she started talking to me precisely because I was "cute" and was a naval cadet which added, when combined with uniform and aura of military masculinity and officer's future, to me being attractive for her.
Children, family for more than three decades, going through hell of a life sticking together, started to unfold later, which eventually grew from a young love to something more than that--a complete kinship. As legendary Italian pop-singer and movie actor Adriano Celentano stated jokingly, when responding to the question if he ever wanted to divorce his only wife of 57 years, Claudia Mori: "Kill? Yes. Divorce? No." So, for each--its own. But, let's face it--90% of people of Earth can easily recognize a true physical beauty because it is in us genetically. Here is a peculiar fact from Spain in 2006.
It was a first West's official admission that a standard which was and is being pushed on the world by "fashion industry", dominated by gay "designers", was anything but beautiful or attractive. Looking at today's "trends" in modelling, one cannot fail to notice how the perception of the "beauty" is being deformed in the West away from universally accepted standard. Enough to take a look at models such as Molly Bair who herself states that she feels so beautiful, to understand that something is very wrong in the West with the perception of a beauty. Not to speak of a definite trend towards the childish look of models--a nod towards expanding pedophilia.
Yet, one cannot cheat human nature, because this nature resists, and will continue to resist, because any normal man would rather look (and some fantasize) about a stunner Paige Spiranac, who is not just a decent professional golfer but one of the last lines of defense in the West for beauty, femininity and sexuality, than deal with ugly visions by feminists.
It is clear to any normal human that the world where Paige Spiranac is considered a true, stunning at that, woman is a much better place to live than in the world where Molly Bair is considered beautiful, as she is by many. It is only natural, is it? No, say Western third-wave feminists and purveyors of modern "cancel culture". Here are two sisters, yes, both are beautiful and smart, Sellner discussing the loss of femininity by Western women. Unsurprisingly, both girls are considered, in the Western system of ideological coordinates, to be conservative.
And here is the point--the West, during the Cold War 1.0, held a monopoly on female and male beauty, attractiveness, and sexuality, primarily through cinematography. This is not to say that USSR didn't have beautiful women. Far from it, many absolutely stunning women lived in USSR and some were noted in the West through cinematography. But it was West's dominance of the femininity and beauty standards, in the times of Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor or Raquel Welch which ruled the imagery. Western woman simply won the war of perceptions in the Cold War 1.0 by bringing not just undeniable beauty and glamour to the big screens in USSR but sexuality which sorely lacked in the Soviet Union being constrained by actual conservative, if not puritan, outlook on life in which the main emphasis was on female human qualities with physical beauty being portrayed mostly in modest settings. A gigantic screen success of One Million Years B.C. in USSR was driven by Raquel Welch's outfit in the movie and, boy, was it some outfit.
Men "objectify" women, normal women "objectify" men--this is in human nature. Both genders seek true physical beauty, which in modern West should become an exclusive "product" for upper classes, as should become meat, electricity and real art, while the masses of deplorables are being primed for this type of "beauty".
And why not? In post-modernist society nothing has standards, not even beauty or femininity. As was foreseen by Twilight Zone 60 years ago.
Here is the part where modern Russia comes in. While West is busy eradicating any beauty today, Russian women made a comeback and they did it with a vengeance. In the times of Youtube and Instagram something is afoot. While Western view of Russian women, dating sites apart, varies, including in defining what is beautiful, many in the West agree:
Intellectual ability is generally accepted as one of the key factors of
human attractiveness that we casually call “beauty”. In this respect,
Russia is among the world’s leaders. Russia was among the first
countries in history to introduce women’s education. The Smolny
Institute for Noble Maidens was founded in 1764, and a year later, it
opened a division for maidens belonging to burgher families. Throughout
the 1850–1870s, Russia was among the first countries to introduce higher
education for women.
Yes, it is not enough to be attractive, you need to have brains and project... class. Anyone can drop their clothes and parade whatever assets one has. This is not it. Here is one such example. The girl became famous, together with her team of amazingly talented voice actors, just recently when their Youtube video of making voices in taxi cab, including famous voices of GLONASS and GPS announcers went viral in Russia. Dasha Blokhina has a M.S. in Psychology but because of her very high empathy factor she eventually quit and concentrated on voice acting. You don't need to know Russian (or Japanese) to appreciate who Dasha is and, yes, her upper leap is natural and a tattoo is merely a sticker (washable) related to Japan and Anime.
In many respects, Dasha is an archetype of Russian beauty, hence her meteoric rise to media fame--people recognize a true beauty. This is also the type of Russia femininity which naturally emerges at the points of clashes in Russian-Western civilizational conflict. Maria Zakharova may not be the most beautiful Russian woman but she projects what many real Russian woman crave--femininity and true class, derivative of outstanding intellect. Maria's famous clarification on the question of a reporter (at around 4:45 in this video) with whom it easier to deal in diplomacy, men or women, with Maria answering: "with professionals", gives a very different perspective on Western women, who crave just power and many of who are really into the attacks on masculinity and men in general, including through the destroying a beauty and femininity.
In the last 15-20 years, the Western woman, once exposed through the modern media, lost her appeal as a woman. She also became tightly associated with an insane cultural agenda of Western LGBT movement and third-wave feminism's war on men. This is not to say that Russia doesn't have her own contingent of four-wheel drive feminist insane bitches, she sure does. But for a Westerner who ever gets on the streets of Russian cities it could be a cultural shock to recognize that streets are full with women of all ages who have no tattoos, are dressed well and feminine, and many of them are beautiful and many are interested in real men. Such women definitely exist in America too, but they already lost their fight and their type will be completely removed from the popular art and cinematography. Russians suddenly recognized that Russian women are not only "competitive" with Western women, they long ago recognized what treasure do they have, and many in the West recognized this too. This is a soft power in action. But then again, who said this was not coming?
American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away from me American woman, mama, let me be
The International Women's Day of March 8 is coming. In USSR/Russia it long ago lost its communist feminist meaning and long ago became a day when Russian men congratulate Russian women--girlfriends, wives, mothers, sisters--on them being women and celebrate and praise their femininity and their crucial role as...women. It is a national holiday in Russia and there will be flowers for women, everywhere. As for Galina Belyaeva whose beauty is known to Russians since 1970s. Yeah, I know it is not for simpletons, as one of the personages says in one excellent Soviet movie.
My latest book delves into this issue too and I agree with Armstrong that success was a huge, albeit not the only, part of the West in general and American in particular soft power which played a key role in a demise of the Soviet Union and dominant ideology which was a bizarre mix of vulgar Marxism and growing individualism. Despite some of the most stunning achievements in developing a human capital, the Soviet Union of 1970s and early 1980s was an increasingly grey country. Environment matters, from smells, to visuals, to sounds to the emotional background which, together with purely economic tangibles, defines both progress and the coming up of a new generation. It is in human nature and even the diet of grade A New-York steaks will get boring, stale and, eventually, revolting, such as was the case with Pavel Vereschagin, one of the main characters of the immortal Soviet Eastern White Sun of the Desert, who could not eat black caviar of the Caspian sturgeon any more after a steady diet of it, and was dreaming about... bread. Yes, that's us, humans and nothing can change it. If that was the other way around, we would still be driving 1986 Ford Tauruses and wear bell-bottom pants. But we don't. And the combined West was simply better in this respect than Soviet Union by providing both material and cultural stimuli, period.
Yes, Leningrad was still stunning even in 1950s or in 1980s, but the treasures of Hermitage were good only so far as one could go and find an inexpensive clean and delicious place to eat, while being surrounded by people well-dressed and experiencing a good level of service, from hailing the cab to being able to go to the nearest grocery store and buy what you needed. Or, what was even more important--what one wanted. Soviet Union could defeat NATO, it could launch man into space, it could provide excellent education and... here was a problem, educated people, inevitably, have a higher standard of consumption from material to immaterial things, especially in the age of TV, radio etc. Apart from inherent, fundamental problems of the Soviet Union, which doomed it, from nationalism of fringes to mismanagement of economy, USSR could hardly compete with the West in terms of soft power, which in the age of electronic mass media came with a higher standard of living, and broke into the grey Soviet existence with some of the top notch cinematography and music of Beatles and Deep Purple. Seeing and comparing western made cars with what Soviet auto-industry could provide in 1960s through 1980s was also an experience which made many things in Soviet Union look and feel as failures. Some of them, actually, were. Huge lines in Soviet department stores for Austrian and Italian made shoes, French and German made dresses, jackets and overcoats, and an enormous black market for the US-sown denim, from Wrangler to Levi's are just but a few indicators of Soviet inability to counter Western soft power, which also came with glamour fashion magazines and consumer goods catalogs, which themselves were in demand on the black market.
Khruschev openly lied during his famous Kitchen Debate with Nixon that Soviet housewives too, as did American housewives, had the access to automatic dishwashers. They didn't. In 1959 the country was barely beginning to live relatively well and the scars of the devastating war were still present everywhere. The last thing Soviet housewife was dreaming about was an automatic dishwasher, which USSR didn't produce to start with. Getting two-three room apartment was the limit of the dreams for the average Soviet housewife. I write a lot about this in my latest book. Today things changed, dramatically. In fact in the most astonishing way.
You go to Russia and you can use Uber, you can order practically any delivery, you are offered an astonishing array of foods, Russian grocery and department stores look like cathedrals of consumerism and yes, modern Moscow or St. Petersburg make NYC or Paris look like a backwater. In fact, for Western tourist getting today to modern Russia, the sense of astonishment is one of the primary senses he or she experiences, and then, there is a wow-factor of a sense of real freedom in Russia. Russia looks and feels today exactly like Russians perceived West looked and felt in 1970s or 80s, when it was still not completely screwed, as it is today. Rock legends and giants are not anymore queasy or are forbidden to tour Russia--they gather arenas, alright. From such legends as Scorpions or Deep Purple who tour Russia constantly, to Aerosmith or Rammstein, to Iron Maiden, Sir Paul and you name it making sure they play in biggest Russian cities. Suddenly, the factor of inferiority which Soviet people definitely had and were influenced by in post-WW II years is gone. Completely.
Nobody goes to the "West" for shopping reasons anymore--you can buy all that and more in Russia or on-line, Russia is highly computerized country--people go to Malta, Italy or Spain for culture, warmth and beaches, not to gaze enviously at once desirable windows of Western department stores. You can get into H&M in any Russian city. Truth is, you can dress yourself better and more affordably in Russia than in Macy's. Each-time I fly back home to the US from Russia I carry 3-4 pairs of Russian-made shoes. Who would have thought about this 30 years ago. Most importantly, Russia's has preserved what then, 30-40 years ago, was considered one of the major strengths of the West, one of the foundation of its freedom--proper sensuality and sexuality, as well as feminine beauty and femininity, which is being completely removed from the West in favor of ugly pornography with plain freaks of both genders, or in favor of third wave feminism proclaiming ugliness a norm. Here is a train of thought by wonderfully feminine and smart Brittany Sellner on the war against feminine beauty, and femininity, I may add, and that may explain partially the loss of the West's soft power and the growth of it on Russia's side.
I know, I know, Brittany being an extremely attractive girl combining a very feminine (which often is more powerful than physical beauty) side of hers with excellent mind may seem as an easy advocate for beauty. But she has a point, a very important one--one of the major factors in Russia's soft power increasingly will be how Russians (majority of them) define feminine beauty, femininity and relations between a man and a woman. West tries to destroy those, Russia preserves them and that already is a major contributing factor to Russia's growing soft power because it is natural. This issue is worth looking deep into, because as I said, physical beauty without femininity is just a facade. Alicia Milano may be objectively "beautiful", as is Sharlize Therone, but neither have this "it" factor, which is real femininity, which makes them desirable for truly intelligent and dedicated men... Because third wave feminism is a movement of losers.
For survival. In Europe they decided that in order to ensure productivity they need to import people from places where they don't care about European culture and, in fact, view it as hostile (often correctly). Yet, they still come, then they steal, riot, rape, abuse government subsidies and do not even try to integrate--the outcome so obvious that any person with even a moderate intelligence can figure this out. This, however, remains beyond the grasp of European political "elite" which looks for those who will fill the gap in the labor market where native Europeans do not try to realize themselves anywhere but in Europe. Hence creeping Islamization and Afrikanization of Europe with non-reproductive native European folk being too busy with earthly pleasures European standard of living affords them still. Not for long, though. Russia looks on demography issue differently.
To procreate, the nation needs very strongly pronounced cultures of masculinity and femininity--a complete no-no in the Western world where the number of genders continues to grow, while masculinity is being purged. I will omit here Western feminism which is a globalist suicidal ideology on the service of either deranged celebrities or mostly unfvckable radicals who are incapable to create a family. Russia is different in this respect, radically different and majority of Russian women do what Russian men like--they try to attract men for creation of family. They try, with the exception of some from female urban office plankton who follows Western "trends" and, obvious cohort of representatives of the oldest profession both from the streets and from glossy vogue magazines and TV shows, to be primarily feminine. There is a huge difference between what generally is defined as female beauty and femininity--the latter is much harder to gain and to develop. It is also a pass of sorts for what normal men seek in their life--future mother of their kids and a true lover and partner for life. Femininity is a woman's contract with her own weakness with which she spellbinds her man.
So, Russians are given an "order" (and means) to procreate--this means, in a long run, a return to conservative culture, for which there is a social demand, and eventual removal of most of a filth which still is present in Russian arts and entertainment. It will be back (already is) with extolling a love between man and woman, and a family. Native Russian (and Tatar, and Bashkir, and Mordvin, and Karel, and you name it) family. There is no other way and it is really heartwarming to see that there is this understanding at the very top of Russia's elite.
She died at the age of 24, leaving one of the most stunning evidence of beauty and femininity in 18th Century Russia.
What is remarkable, in late 1980s--early 1990 Svetlana Druzhinina decided to make a movie about adventures of Russian naval cadets (guarde-marines) in 18th Century Russia, not unlike those of Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, which turned into a national (and international--UK ran it) movie phenomenon with an incredible music and it was Olga Mashnaya who stunned everyone with her uncanny similarity to Lopukhina, despite the fact that she was playing a serf-woman. But no matter, the stunning femininity of Mashnaya captured the imagination and, of course, was this blonde Armenian guy Dmitri Kharatyan who about 30-40 million Soviet women fell in love with, LOL. Judge for yourself--1990s and 2016.
And 30 years later. The girl is wonderful, but not Mashnaya. Kharatyan, in the same time, well, he barely ages...
