Radley Balko | February 1, 2008
Anne
Applebaum says thank the
free market!
To put it bluntly, in the Soviet Union there was no market for female beauty. No fashion magazines featured beautiful women, since there weren't any fashion magazines. No TV series depended upon beautiful women for high ratings, since there weren't any ratings. There weren't many men rich enough to seek out beautiful women and marry them, and foreign men couldn't get the right sort of visa. There were a few film stars, of course, but some of the most famous—I'm thinking of Lyubov Orlova, alleged to be Stalin's favorite actress—were wholesome and cheerful rather than sultry and stunning. Unusual beauty, like unusual genius, was considered highly suspicious in the Soviet Union and its satellite people's republics.
This doesn't mean there weren't any beautiful women, of course, just that they didn't have the clothes or cosmetics to enhance their looks, and, far more important, they couldn't use their faces to launch international careers. Instead of gracing London drawing rooms, they stayed in Minsk, Omsk, or Alma Ata. Instead of couture, they wore cheap polyester. They could become assembly-line forewomen, Communist Party bosses, even local femmes fatales, but not Vogue cover girls. They didn't even dream of becoming Vogue cover girls, since very few had ever seen an edition of Vogue.
Applebaum concludes:
Beauty is a matter of luck, but the same could be said of many other talents. And what open markets do for beautiful women they also do for other sorts of genius. So, cheer up next time you see a Siberian blonde dominating male attention at the far end of the table: The same mechanisms that brought her to your dinner party might one day bring you the Ukrainian doctor who cures your cancer or the Polish stockbroker who makes your fortune.
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I'm sorry if this sounds piggish, but that woman is hot. Damn
hot.
Interesting post, btw. Did I mention that the woman in the picture
is a knockout?
I think this would make a fine weekly tradition here at Hit
& Run...
It would help us shake off the doom from whatever Balko's planning
to lay on us...
Isn't Sharapova a bad example, seeing as she's also a fucking excellent tennis player? Her looks have nothing to do with her success. Well, I'm sure she gets more endorsements because she's a 6'2" hottie, but you get my point.
Radley, could you please include that shot with all of your police related posts? You know, to soften the blow.
Which brings to mind the question, "what is libertarian porn"?
Is it a picture of a hottie nowhere near a voting booth? Or
whipping a Senator's fat white ass?
No, wait, good porn is transgressive, so it's the other way around.
It's a picture of a senator whipping a hottie bent over, and the
senator is wearing a diaper made of the Constitution.
No one talks about the amazing beauty of Taiwanese or Indians
unleashed on the world by the free market.
Not only did the white race invent just about everything that makes
the modern world possible, they're also the most beautiful.
No one talks about the amazing beauty of Taiwanese or
Indians unleashed on the world by the free market.
You might want to watch some Bollywood films and rethink that. With
the sound off, of course, unless you like shrieking musicals.
"Not only did the white race invent just about everything that
makes the modern world possible, they're also the most
beautiful."
Here, idiot.
What Applebaum argues may be true, but I think it discounts the
contribution of the exotic.
Any American male born before 1975 came of age in a time when the
Soviet Union was the unknown, frightening, and forbidden enemy. The
unknown being what it is, the rare glimpses of Russian women made
them exotic and exciting.
That exoticism -- especially as reified in the accent --
continues.
Two points in favor of this argument:
1. The Russian woman in Hogan's Heroes is made to be
exotic long before any market made it to Russia.
2. Dave Letterman's 1989 "Top Ten Bad Things About the Fall of the
Berlin Wall" included "Katarina Witt not quite so exotic anymore."
(Yes, she's German, but the notion is still there that the unknown
woman from behind the Iron Curtain was exotic.)
Thinking back on it, everywhere I've gone seems to have really hot women. Is this a conspiracy or something?
Dang. Now I have to reconvince my wife I look at Reason
for the articles.
The same mechanisms that brought her to your dinner party might
one day bring you the Ukrainian doctor who cures your cancer or the
Polish stockbroker who makes your fortune.
Riiight. The "same mechanisms" might get the doctor to my hospital
and the stockbroker to my financial firm. But a diner party? Not
unless the doctor and the stockbroker are hotties.
The unknown being what it is, the rare glimpses of Russian
women made them exotic and exciting.
Do not discount the power of James Bond films to perpetuate this
concept.
Thinking back on it, everywhere I've gone seems to have
really hot women. Is this a conspiracy or something?
You must be in my vicinity; hot chicks can't keep away from me.
Moscow in summer. I was nearly killed crossing the street on several occaisions because I was staring at the stunning Russian babe in a see-through top instead of watching the crazy drivers on the road. The accent is just icing on the cake.
I remember when I was a kid, the stereotypical average Russian woman was a frumpy, somewhat masculine peasant in a drab frock and a babushka. It seems to me even a little capitalism goes a long way toward cleaning up that look.
Finally, something infinitely more intriguing and satisfying than the Ron Paul newsletter scandal!
Remember this old
stereotype?
That's what makes the new "Russian women are hot" stereotype
startling to anyone of a certain age.
because she's a 6'2" hottie
I have a Rolling Stone from 2004 that profiles the "6 foot phenom."
Apparently, sometime in the next 12 months, she grew 2 inches - at age
18. Surely capitalism alone can't explain this. Sounds more like
Lysenkoism.
I remember when I was a kid, the stereotypical average
Russian woman was a frumpy, somewhat masculine peasant in a drab
frock and a babushka.
They're still there, but the old Soviet government was keeping the
babes hidden away from the rest of the world.
Not only did the white race invent just about everything
that makes the modern world possible, they're also the most
beautiful.
I take it you've never visited Taiwan.
I did it! I posted without saying anything about her playing with my fuzzy balls!
Apparently, sometime in the next 12 months, she grew 2
inches - at age 18. Surely capitalism alone can't explain this.
Sounds more like Lysenkoism.
HGH, Dave. Time for Congress to crawl up tennis' ass now.
Not only did the white race invent just about everything
that makes the modern world possible, they're also the most
beautiful.
I take it you've never visited Taiwan.
Or Singapore.
Isn't it racist to say Russian women are hot?
No, but it is
racist if you find Asian women attractive.
Feministing.com . . . to much typing.
Maybe they should shorten it to fisting.com.
You can't say all Russian women are hot. You can't can all
professional women's tennis player are hot. You can't even say all
Russian women's tennis players are hot. For every Sharapova,
there's a
Svetlana Kuznetsova.
(Link is NSFP)
I think Russian women tend to not age very well. Recall all those photos of cylindrical middle-aged Moscow frumps sweeping the streets with their homemade brooms?
One of the rules at a major asian airline is that the flight
attendants must always look the customer in the eye and smile. It
is drilled into them from the first days of training.
I was at the airline's training center when one of the classes
spilled out in the hall. Suddenly, about 40 20-something young
women all turned to me at the same time, looked me in the eye, and
smiled. I nearly collapsed.
It's a far cry from the 1987 Wendy's Russian fashion show
commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7R8FOTjAcY
Well, sure, just look at that tennis player, with her high fashion clothing and cosmetics to enhance her looks. You know, the one who used her face to launch her international career.
What about the hottie in Rocky 4? Or Natasha* (of Boris and
Natasha fame)? I think Russian women often had the attractive
stereotype, we just see more of the hot ones now.
* Not that she's a hottie, but she wasn't exactly frumpy.
For the (non-existent) women reading this thread:
Notice the reactions to the photo.
Notice she is sweaty, has her hair pulled back in a very simplistic
way, and probably isnt wearing any makeup at that time.
Once again, notice the reactions to the photo.
Conclusions are up to you.
Also for the idiot:
Padma Lakshmi
(I'm not able to find you the links. Google up your own damn
wanking material, Chalupa.)
robc,
Are you saying women should go out of the house with the
sweaty-no-makeup-look more often?
highnumber,
I had no idea (until just now when I gised her) that Padma was
Rushdie's ex-wife.
boy, i wouldn't kick her out of bed.
as for the feministing article, i kind have a asian thing but I
think they age the absolute worse.
I love the pix of the two of them together. He looks like he knows that he is the luckiest man in the world. (Not anymore. Sorry, Salman.)
joe, I covered that concept in the third post in this thread. Get your own smartass remarks!
I once visited Kaliningrad. Even the street prostitutes looked like they could be models.
Maria is hot, but 6'2" is just too damn big.
In person I would probably be a little scared. Not attracted.
She needs to shrink down to 5'4" while staying in proportion.
For the (non-existent) women reading this thread
I exist! And any decent-looking woman who has ever run on a
treadmill at co-ed gym knows that. Granted, most don't look like
her.
"No one talks about the amazing beauty of Taiwanese or Indians
unleashed on the world by the free market.
Not only did the white race invent just about everything that makes
the modern world possible, they're also the most beautiful"
No one talks ? Really ? In reality, infinitely many trees have been
killed to write about how the free market has indeed unleashed the
beauty business in India ie plastic surgery, all kinds of beauty
products, salons, spa's etc. Indian socialists & some feminists
have regularly denounced beauty contests which have rocketed in
popularity as a dastardly plot by multi-national companies.
BTW, When did Russians become white ? I seem to recall this fellow
with a funny moustache who considered then inferior slavs or
something. His name eludes me at the moment but wait ... it's
coming back. No, false positive.
I should point out that this phenomenon is not limited to Russia, but pan-Slavic in nature.
For those who have never seen Sharapova play... well... the sound effects are fantastic. Your downstairs neighbors may think you are whipping your skippy, though.
I think Russian women tend to not age very well. Recall all
those photos of cylindrical middle-aged Moscow frumps sweeping the
streets with their homemade brooms?
That was before the free market brought them personal trainers,
pilates, yoga, Diet Coke, laser hair removal, lipo and a lot of hot
younger Russian women to compete with.
I am total package.
None of other girls have everything I have. Total package.
BTW, is it a fetish if you ask your Russian girlfriend to shout, "Moose and Squirrel must die!" at the point of climax?
"Thinking back on it, everywhere I've gone seems to have really
hot women. Is this a conspiracy or something?"
yeah, a conspiracy...of boners!
hmmmm.
obviously i have nothing of substance to add.
Matt J - I was able to get my Russian ex girlfriend to say
"Moose and Squirrel", but at a more, er... conventional time.
As far as Indians go, there's also
Gracy Singh. Her big movie was Lagaan.
And from Taiwan, Faye Wong
is rather attractive. She was in Chungking Express.
shecky:
Thinking back on it, everywhere I've gone seems to have really
hot women. Is this a conspiracy or something?
Conspiracies happen in politics, not human attraction. It's cuz
you're a guy. It's normal.
Isn't it racist to say Russian women are hot?
No, but it is racist if you find Asian women attractive.
JERRY: [is redialing] Should've talked to her; I love Chinese
women.
ELAINE: Isn't that a little racist?
JERRY: If I like their race, how can that be racist?..
Notice the reactions to the photo.
Notice she is sweaty, has her hair pulled back in a very simplistic
way, and probably isnt wearing any makeup at that time.
I've long maintained that women go to all that trouble with clothes
and makeup and whatnot for each other. Just watch when two women
meet. They give each other a once-over that chills your
bones.
Men don't care about clothing and makeup.
And we're supposed to be the superficial ones.
Isn't it racist to say Russian women are hot?
No, but it is racist if you find Asian women attractive.
Michael: OK, so we're going to start off by going around, and
having everyone say which races they are sexually attracted
to.
Dwight: Ooh! White, and Indian.
R C Dean,
Shoes are the ultimate proof of your point. I can say that shoes
are well down the list of things I check out when, ummm, checking
out a woman. It just doesnt matter. They are obviously using shoes
to impress other women.
Yet another advantage of the market!
BTW, IMO Scotland (the home of Adam Smith-it all ties
together-hmm...) produced one of the cutest gals of all time; Clare
Grogan of Altered Images: "Happy Birthday"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40K2S0-5Xo0
Following modern day women's tennis makes me feel like a dirty old man at a mere 27; so many of the players are 19 or 20, and so many of them are knockouts.
Oh, that's certainly true - most players go pro in the late teens. But even for a super talent it takes a couple of years to work your way up the rankings into the public eye, so the real jailbait are mostly pretty invisible; they're playing Challengers and toiling through qualies and getting stomped in the early rounds of majors.
Yeah, those Slavic women tennis players add a whole new
dimention of enjoymenyt of the game.
But some folks are probably wondering if I can cite another New
Wave/Punk super hottie. For sure! Here's Terri Nunn of Berlin-"No
More Words" Wow! Huh?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWXspXwTCOs
And she still looks pretty hot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9KKhUtntSk
BTW, the gal Terri is with is Drama. She's with the Switchblade
Kittens, a newer punk band in the old school punk style - "Solar
Plexus Kick"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFWAUH0lsY
Friend: So kinnath, what the first thing you notice in a
woman?
Kinnath: Well, it depends on which direction shes walking.
"I am total package.
None of other girls have everything I have. Total package."
Well then by all means, please total my package.
I actually had about a 6 year "Russian period" and initially it
was the Russian women who were attracted to me and not the other
way around.
It must have been my rugged individualism- the same thing that
seemed to repel American women for most of my life.
peachy, some are even younger. Didn't Kournikova start at
16?
Tracy Austin hit the tour at 14. It's not new. Women mature,
physically and mentally, earlier than men. It is further evidence
that they are superior to us.
"SugarFree | February 1, 2008, 2:13pm | #
Isn't it racist to say Russian women are hot?
No, but it is racist if you find Asian women attractive."
If you go to the blog that blog links to, you finally get to a link
to this Slate article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2177637/nav/tap3/
Which basically says, in terms of dating and sex, men will sleep
with anything, and women are racists and only want to date with
their own race...
...except Asian women, who will date white guys *or* Asian guys
(but not blacks or hispanics). Hence the source of lots of white
guys with Asian girlfriends-the women were the ones deciding this,
not the men with "Yellow Fever" or whatever.
Of course, the feminists in the your oringinal think that's
bullshit.
Assuming it isn't bullshit, it also seems to mean that Asian males
in the United States are pretty much screwed in terms of finding a
date, since the only women who will consider them strongly (Asian
women) also will consider the larger number of white males out
there.
BTW, is it a fetish if you ask your Russian girlfriend to
shout, "Moose and Squirrel must die!" at the point of
climax?
Oh my god, this is the sexiest thing ever.
OK, so capitalism has unleashed the Russian beauties, but having 187 million governments since 1945 has done nothing to stem the tide of Italian bombshells.
BTW, is it a fetish if you ask your Russian girlfriend to
shout, "Moose and Squirrel must die!" at the point of
climax?
Nyet dollink. It's just a little kinky. ;-)
Natasha Fatale was my first two dimensional crush.
Women mature, physically and mentally, earlier than men. It
is further evidence that they are superior to us.
Yet sadly, so many peak before us, too. Or... maybe that's just
this neighborhood.
Yeah, well in golf the American hotties rule.
The female golfer's aren't bad, either.
This may explain why our Sandy keeps going over to Eastern
Europe all the time. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from him
for a while.
Btw, has any other guy walked into a room filled with Russian women
before? It will send shivers down your spine. They may not have
been "spoiled" by feminism, but they will quite boldly size up your
acceptability by giving you a stern looking-at right off the bat.
You better be wearing some nice shoes and be emotionally prepared
for rejection.
I've never seen a happy marriage between an Asian woman and a Latin American man. And conversely, (or perversely) Asian man and Latin American women marriages seem to be really happy! The Asian guys always seem to be smiling.
And to think we used to think the height of Russian beauty was Ayn Rand.
Actually, those Indian and Chinese chicks are way hot. Excuse me while I fantasize about making whoopie with these hot foreign women.
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
I think not, since I have nothing against black people in
particular, and physical attraction isn't a voluntary action. Even
if it is, I don't really care. Just wanted to put it out here.
I've never seen a happy marriage between an Asian woman and
a Latin American man...
I have. And still happy after nearly 40 years. They are among the
best couples I know.
economist:
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
I think not, since I have nothing against black people in
particular, and physical attraction isn't a voluntary action. Even
if it is, I don't really care. Just wanted to put it out
here.
I wouldn't accuse you of racism because of what you said-although
I'm bewildered by your failure to appreciate Alicia Keys, Halle
Berry, and Tyra Banks. Aren't they stunning?
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
I think not, since I have nothing against black people in
particular, and physical attraction isn't a voluntary action. Even
if it is, I don't really care. Just wanted to put it out
here.
Wow. Where do you live?
NSFW (or home if your significant other is around).
I probably should have rephrased to say that I am not personally attracted to most black women. Attractiveness is ultimately a matter of personal opinion, and my opinion does not reflect everyone's opinion.
Halle Berry......not stunning
Sorry, but sometimes there is no accounting for taste (so sez Will
Rogers).
Then again, I don't like short hair on chicks and I hated Cat
Woman. Context is most everything I suppose.
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
Walter Williams expressed a similar opinion except in
reverse.
And for those who do not know, he lost the love of his life
recently. One of those things where illness turns to death faster
than you can imagine.
We did?
My remark was Highway Snarkery, and yes, there was a time when a
Russian Beauty Queen would have finished behind a gym teacher and a
pregnant lady in the three person beauty contest.
Beyonce Knowles is hot, no?
Also check out terathomas.com for a totally hot black chick.
I know this thread it dead already but I couldn't not make a
comment on a thread about hot Russian ladys.
Communism produced so many hotties because they couldn't refine the beauty as much as a free market society. Let's say we have "A" grade hotness, "B" grade and so on. In a free market system, A will end up with A or B, but is unlikely to end up with C or D unless wealth or rock music is involved. An A with and A or B will result in A or B, with no net change in overall hotness. In Soviet Russia, an A could end up with a C or D, thereby making more As and Bs. Thus, we have a higher proportion of As and Bs. Also, a scarcity of food helps keep As and Bs in their grading category (no obesity). My theory does not, unfortunately, account for East German man-women.
"Walter Williams...lost the love of his life recently"
I am very sorry for his loss, and not just because I often agree
with him.
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
I don't know about that, but I'll have to say that, coming from an
area with a large Ethiopian population, your sanity may be in
question.
I'm also sorry to hear about Walter William's loss. Hopefully he
won't have to see our condolences in the context of this
thread.
By a huge coincidence, I was checking out the Russian publication eXile online (I think it's run by a couple of Americans living in Russia, hence the name) and it has an article comparing female Russian politicians in the Duma with their Western counterparts, lookswise. (Caution for toplessness -- several Russkette politicos have posed for girlie mags, it seems -- but the photos aren't very big.) The article looks interesting, but so far I have only looked at the pictures.
Is it racist to simply think that black women are not
attractive?
Kinda, when you phrase it like that, in blanket terms. It would be
less offensive if you said, "Personally, I'm not attracted to very
many black women," so that instead of declaring that all black
women are unattractive, you are merely describing your own tastes
-- and there's no accounting for taste, and you can't be held
morally accountable for it, either.
In my opinion, though, you're probably poorly informed, or have
very narrow and parochial tastes. Has anyone mentioned Traci
Bingham yet, for example? Shazam, I say. Or Lisa Bonet? Or the
women on the TV show Girlfriends? Or yes, Halle Berry,
etc. etc. Not to mention an Ethiopian-German girl I used to know,
who was awesome. I am very white, BTW.
>Not only did the white race invent just about everything
that makes the modern world possible, they're also the most
beautiful.
You're out of your mind. I really did LOL when I read your
comment.
Indians are the most beautiful. The Asian kind. For that matter,
Asians in general tend to be quite beautiful. Even African peoples
known for their beauty are from the east, such as Somalians and
Ethiopians.
What a pity you can't discern beauty in people of races other than
your own.
kwais,
Seems like we haven't read comments from you for a while. Good to
see you!
"And if there comes a time
Guns and gates no longer hold you in
And if you're free to make a choice
Just look towards the west and find a friend
Oh Nikita, you will never know..."
That's it - that's the one Stenady!
~for the uninformed, that's the pet form of Styovo~
I have been searching for the long period of time but i didn't got the answer why the Russian womans are so hot?
Nice story, I found my hot Russian women in Russia and decided to
stay there and set up my own dating agency.
www.email2femail.com
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