Russia - Men
Russia lost more lives than any other nation involved in WWII. The majority of those who perished in the Great Patriotic War were men, leaving countless wives and children back home without husbands and fathers. Many of the soldiers who did survive were injured or permanently disabled and in need of regular care. The toll the war took on Russia’s male population is still evident today and forced women to take up what was traditionally men’s work.
The Russian military’s grueling training programs are infamous and separate the men from the boys. Any recruits who are a little soft around the edges have to toughen up fast. In Russia, a stiff upper lip has always been viewed as a virtue and encouraged. In Soviet times, the authorities pushed physical exercise to motivate the people, help channel superfluous energy, and to promote a healthy lifestyle. In the villages, fist fighting was a way for feisty men to let off steam. In cities, there was more violence on the streets as a new culture typified by physical prowess and fighting ability was quickly taking shape.
Men do not suffer from gender stereotypes. They suffer from an inability to fit into them. “Boys don’t cry,” especially in Russia. A guy is expected to conceal his feelings and always show emotional prowess and self-control. The most striking of the stereotypes about "real men" are those that are aimed at protecting against traits that are generally considered feminine in society. It is believed that for a man to be somewhat like a woman is the main humiliation, and men who fear for their masculinity are more often victims of fear of not conforming to stereotypical ideas about masculinity. A man cannot use cosmetics, otherwise he will be ridiculed.
Paying the bill is a question of honor. This point isn’t about equality - even if a girl takes a man on a date and has more money than him, he will always pay.It is believed that a husband's salary should be higher than that of a wife, because he is a breadwinner. A typical Russian man will be offended if his date offers to share the bill. He’ll beg, steal, or borrow (if he’s broke) to make sure he picks up the tab at the end of a meal - otherwise he’s “not a man” (“ne muzhik”). Women are very critical of men's failures, so that the man does not relax, so that a man could boast, and not sink into the ground out of shame for being rokhlya ("not macho, but a schmuck").
An alpha male must constantly, at the first opportunity, increase your income and increase the number of status items. In principle, this can also include the dogma that a man is judged by the woman who is next to him: by her wardrobe and jewelry, by her leisure and entertainment. Naturally, this should be provided by a man, so as not to lose face in the eyes of the crowd. A man must be athletic and fit. The bodybuilding trend began with posters of Schwarzenegger during perestroika, and has been developing since then. In general, it is an indicator of social status, signaling that a person has the time and opportunity to visit a fitness center or conduct some other activity. A man must be skilled, be able to repair equipment, understand it and do something with your own hands.
A man must solve his problems on his own, courageously overcome difficulties . A man should be calm. It follows that a man is practically devoid of support and help from outside. In a difficult life situation, a man has no one to turn to. As a result, there are herds of declassed or asocial elements. Those who quietly drink themselves intoxicated, break down on the family, or even commit suicide - due to stress, depression, depression, especially since a man should not show his weakness.
Gender stereotypes affect the life expectancy of men. The transition to market economies in many post-communist societies of the former Soviet Union and other former eastern bloc countries in Europe produced a “demographic collapse,” a 1999 report by the United Nations Development Programme found. Among the most serious findings was a four year drop in life expectancy among Russian men since 1980, from 62 years to 58. By 2020 the average life expectancy for men in Russia was 67.75 years, for women - 77.82. The difference is 10 years. In Britain, it is significantly less - about four.
The immediate cause of the rising mortality was the ‘rise in self-destructive behavior, especially among men.’ Old problems such as alcoholism have increased; drug misuse, a relatively new problem in the former communist bloc, has risen dramatically in recent years.” The report, Transition 1999, stated that suicide rates climbed steeply, by 60 percent in Russia.
Deaths of middle-aged Russians increased dramatically in the decade since the transition, due to illness, alcoholism, and psychological depression. The ratio of men to women in the former Soviet Union fell sharply. This led to the 5.9 million so-called "missing men" in Russia. The transition to private enterprise led to a rise in self-destructive behavior, especially among men and to a population crisis of unprecedented proportions with fewer marriages and children. Poverty was increasing, literacy was slipping, things that were not characteristic of this region" before the transition.
“What we are arguing,” said Omar Noman, an economist for the development fund and one of the report’s contributors, “is that the transition to market economies [in the region] is the biggest… killer we have seen in the 20th century, if you take out famines and wars. The sudden shock and what it did to the system… has effectively meant that five million [Russian men’s] lives have been lost in the 1990s.”
“The typical patterns are that a man loses his job and develops a drinking problem,” said Noman. “The women then leave and the men die, first emotionally and then physically.” Over the decade, the Russian death rate from accidents - most of them involving alcohol- rose 83% since 1991.
"Gender attitudes and social stereotypes prevent them from going to a doctor on time, tell their loved ones about their problems, make them keep everything to themselves. The main slogan of feminists that patriarchy kills everyone is just about this," explains the Genrich Belle Foundation Gender Program Coordinator Irina Kosterina. - Power masculinity still exists, and it is attractive because it gives many benefits to men. You can show aggression and quickly get what they need. But patriarchy has serious costs. "
Before the communists toppled what Lenin called military-feudal imperialism in Russia, over 75 percent of the country worked the land as peasants – they were the salt of the earth. Life was no walk in the park and from around the age of six children were put to work. The Russian army’s foot soldiers hailed from the peasantry, so too the crews of Russian explorers, and for good reason: they were reliable and tough.
The typical Russian man is called Alexander, the most popular male name in the country since the 1950s. The most common surname is Ivanov, but in different regions other names are more common. Over 190 ethnic groups live in Russia and in Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan, 1,587 km south of Moscow) for example the most widespread male name is Magomed – Alexander Ivanov might be regarded as a rather exotic character there. But given ethnic Russians make up the majority of the country’s 143.5 million inhabitants, Alexander, or Sasha for short, fits the bill.
Russia is a patriarchal country. In politics and business, this patriarchal attitude persists. A woman who aspires to become president provokes ridicule and even contempt. A woman who manages to set up an effective business often arouses suspicions that she has been helped either by her husband or her lover. But the situation in the family is completely different. To listen to men talking, they are all tough guys in charge of everything at home. But they are lying. It is their wives who, at home, are in charge. It is a performance that millions of Russians act out on a daily basis. Relations are based on a canny formula. Formally, the man is the head of the family and appears to decide everything. The wife appears to pay heed to his every word. But in the overwhelming majority of families the exact opposite is true. It is the wife who decides everything - from the color of the wallpaper to where to go on holiday.
This derives from he dysfunctional family model which emerged a long time ago under socialism. Men worked hard for long hours, and they had almost no time for the children. In Soviet memoirs daddy is always either at work, away on business, at the front, or in prison. Women - the mummies and grannies - had to take care of everything.
There are as many stereotypes about Russian men as about Russian women, but the former phrase does not necessarily conjure up as positive an image. According to one popular belief, the Russian man wears a sheepskin coat year-round, engages in a good deal of drinking and enjoys waxing nostalgic to the tunes of a balalaika. Russian men are still not what one would call stylish. It has been a long-standing unspoken tradition that a true Russian man does not fuss over his appearance. Even though Pushkin wrote that “being a sensible type is not at odds with tending to the beauty of one’s nails,” it seems most modern Russian men would not agree with him.
The hipsters, or stilyagi, of the 1950s Soviet Union deliberately adopted elements of Western, primarily American, style such as brightly colored shirts, semolina-crusted shoes (quite literally – the fine grain was professionally caked onto otherwise regular shoes), and short skinny pants with colored socks peeking from underneath. The Soviet mass media habitually ridiculed them and criticized them as idlers and layabouts, and while many of them did indeed look ridiculous, their style was in the name of rebellion, not for a lack of taste. The original stilyagi have faded into history, but young people with a penchant for unconventional fashions, jazz and creative professions do remain.
Jeans had expression, freedom and sex appeal. They boosted confidence. They made one whole. Anyone travelling overseas in the 1970s had a moral obligation to bring back a pair of jeans. All those destined to stay at home had to look for jeans elsewhere, including the black market. Jeans instantly became a stylish staple in the Soviet man’s wardrobe. One way to do it was to wear blue jeans. Levis, Wrangler and Lee were among the most popular brands, costing up to 100 rubles a pair (which was equivalent to nearly two months’ wages). Like those in the west, Soviet youths wanted to look like rock stars, too.
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