I often happen to participate in discussions that Russian women are going to become like American soon. They watch American movies, catch American lifestyle and American values.

    Really, we can feel American influence in Russia today. And the matter doesn’t lie in Hollywood or McDonalds. Women’s independence is becoming trendy. According to the last population census, there are more women with higher education than men now. Some women have several higher educations.

    Nevertheless, Russia has its own way. Our history counts thousands of years, it is too much to change the mentality of the whole nation for a short period. Throughout its history Russia often took a fancy to fashionable western trends. In the 18th century Germany was a favorite, in the 19th century France. It had a certain effect, but didn’t change the Russian character.

    It seems to me that the same will happen to Americanism. Feminism is a bright phenomenon, but life values of a Russian woman have been formed solidly.

    While I was thinking about this subject, the following idea struck me: why not give the floor to the Russian women? I did the searching on feminism in the Russian blogs and found different opinions: supporting feminism, sneering at it and rejecting. It must be interesting!

So, here is what Russian women write about feminism in their web-diaries:

“It seems to me that feminism is not a conviction, but a forced state that is formed due to the peculiarities of character. My granny, her zodiac sign is Leo by the way, behaved like a feminist all her life, the head of the family, can’t stand men, did everything by herself – a man in a skirt.  

She couldn’t find a worthy man, frankly speaking…

It is just such women – strong, good, very touching for me somehow and even at times causing a kind smile on my face – are sometimes unbearable pains in the neck and maximalists”.  

“I am not a feminist, I prefer to have a right for female weaknesses. I have a good attitude to feminists, as everyone chooses her own way. Besides, if it were not them, women would have less rights and more duties now”.

“Feminists are the women which believe that when a husband beats his wife, only 50% of female members in the parliament can change this situation”.

“Feminism infuriates me, I think of feminists in the range from “badly” thru “with compassion” to “with bewilderment”, though I forgive it to some of them”.

“I feel sorry for feminists. IMHO, they are deeply unhappy”.

“For me feminism is ridiculous stupidity, because I am inclined to admit men’s right for leadership and it doesn’t humiliate me at all”.

“Russian women that unite into professional organizations don’t know what feminism is. When they are asked if they are feminists or not, they answer: “Certainly, no, not in the least”. They response in this manner, because they consider that feminism is some swear-word”.

“I think that actually most Russian women are…feminists by life, by fate, because they are forced to struggle for their rights and they struggle and take all sorts of responsibilities upon themselves – they are feminists in this sense, no doubt and I can’t differ from them.”

“The marriage experience of a Soviet woman is characterized by the disappointment in a Soviet type of family. Family life is too heavy burden of twofold or threefold work at her job, home and for providing a family, frequent cases of man’s alcoholism and no help about the house from her husband’s part”.

“There is another sort of women. Gloomy despots. Or feminists, the name is relative. They bear malice for the whole world. For some reason they always consider themselves to be fine romantics, but in fact they turn out to be colder than ice and in relationship they think only about themselves”.

“There is no feminism, I am sure about it! I say it as a specimen of this, so to say, weak sex. NO, because I (I will speak from my person) feel comfortable, I LIKE when a man opens the door for me, when he gives me his seat and massages my feet. I like to ask a strong man to help me with the car or with moving the furniture.

BUT! I won’t die if I don’t have this strong shoulder beside me. Yes, I am taught by the experience put down in the History textbook, that it is possible to do without this necessary shoulder by my side. I can easily open the bottle of beer, change the spark-plugs and wheels of my car.  So to say, I am taught and “shod” in the matter of survival, thanks to this non-existent feminism, which taught me everything that a modern woman can do.”

“I think that feminism is a far-fetched excuse. It took place in the beginning of the last century when women really had great restrictions and no suffrage, but now it is just a convenient excuse of a woman who has complex about her loneliness”.

What do you think about it?