00:00hi everyone my name is Elvira Perry i'm an author and today i'm diving into the fascinating
00:06and often misunderstood world of russian women you've heard the reputation right
00:12russian women as femme fatale beautiful alluring but dangerous this image of course mostly comes
00:20from hollywood movies where russian women are played by well not russians think of Barbara
00:27about Jacqueline Bisset or Miriam double gorgeous yes but as russian as california sunshine if you
00:36know a bit of russian history you might also have a certain image of russian women based on portraits
00:43of tsarenas but here's the twist for about 200 years russian tsarenas were actually german and
00:52the artists who painted them were either foreign or heavily influenced by european traditions so what
00:59are russian women really like that's a question as vast as russia itself with over 100 nationalities
01:08living in the country there is no single answer but today i'll share insights into the lives of women
01:15in the northwest of russia it's where i'm from and it's a world i know deeply
01:27by western beauty standards slavic women are often considered very attractive why it's all in the
01:34features round faces large eyes small mouths and delicate noses of course there are exceptions
01:41especially since russia is such a melting pot of ethnicities but these traits are quite common
01:48living in california can spot a fellow slav in the crowd instantly just by their facial features it's
01:54like having a built-in radar no need to hear them speak you just know they are one of ours
02:01these features
02:02round faces and large eyes are universally associated with babies which our brains instinctively find cute
02:11this works beautifully for women but not so much for men western beauty standards for men emphasize
02:17strong jaw lines and defined features which slavic men don't always have for an interesting contrast head
02:24to argentina there many men look like roman gods with sharp jaw lines and flawless profiles argentine women
02:32often share these features too it's stunning but a completely different aesthetic from what you'd find among
02:44slavs
02:45traditionally in russia being thin wasn't a good thing the words for thin and bad even share the
02:52same root hudu beauty was associated with being robust stately and rosy-cheeked someone with enough to
03:00grab onto as the saying goes take a look at portraits of russian noble women from the past you'll notice
03:06there's very few thin women among them a double chin was considered attractive think about how tolstoy
03:14described anna karenina or katerina from resurrection they were full-figured and even worried about losing
03:21weight natasha rostova from war and peace also gains weight when she finds happiness which confused us
03:28in the 1980s when being thin was their ultimate goal
03:37historically women were valued less than men and there were three main reasons for this
03:44childbirth without modern medicine or anesthesia was extremely dangerous
03:50many women didn't survive their first delivery a girl was raised with the grim understanding that her
03:57greatest test in life might also be her last women who survived childbirth and had healthy children
04:05gained more value in society but their bodies paid the price multiple pregnancies led to two flaws
04:12serious health issues and often early deaths many related to complications from childbirth in russia's
04:19harsh climate survival required grueling physical labor plowing a field for example demanded significant
04:27strength to push a plow hitting a home meant chopping and hauling wood as coal and pit weren't available
04:34in central russia men's physical strength made them more valuable as workers and a male surf was worth
04:40three times as much as a female surf a widow without grown sons to help her was often forced to
04:47beg for
04:48living unless she had a skill like breathing chewing or distilling homemade liquor even among the nobility
04:54daughters were valued less than sons most noble families were poor and relied on military or government
05:00service for survival careers closed off to women things began to change when factories sprang up in cities
05:08suddenly women could earn their own wages but tradition still lingered and women were paid significantly
05:16less than men this disparity persisted well into the 20th century even under the soviet union which claimed to
05:24value equality in old russia your social class determined your entire life if you were born into the lower classes
05:38the chances of climbing the social ladder were slim to none yet occasionally miracles happened
05:45wealthy aristocrats who owned vast estates and thousands of serfs sometimes trained the most talented
05:53among them to perform in their private theaters these performers weren't just entertainers they were living
06:01status symbols lavishly dressed and showcased before guests they were as much a display of wealth as the
06:09family silver one such serve actress was praskovia jamchukova her stage name meaning pearl was bestowed by her
06:17master count nikolay shremetyev praskovia became the star of shremetyev's private theater earning acclaim even from
06:26sarina catherine the great praskovia's story was a real-life cinderella tale shremetyev eventually married her
06:33despite the vast differences in their social standing but their happiness was fleeting praskovia died
06:41during childbirth at just 34. far more often these stories didn't end in fairy tale weddings wealthy men
06:49would seduce and abandon beautiful young women a practice called to ruin a maiden for these women life
06:58after such ruin was grim many ended up in prostitution or took their own lives
07:09not all stories were about rising to greatness some women voluntarily gave up their wealth and status
07:16for love in 1825 a group of noblemen inspired by the revolutions in america and france attempted a coup
07:25to abolish serbdom in russia the uprising failed and the leaders were exiled to siberia here's the remarkable
07:34part 11 noble women married to these revolutionaries chose to join their husbands in siberia they gave up
07:43their privileges wealth and freedom living under harsh conditions to be with the men they loved their
07:49sacrifice is immortalized in poems books films and even a monument in irkutsk
08:00being ambitious and intelligent was often a curse for women in 18th and 19th century russia
08:15women of the lower classes barely scraped by while those of noble or merchant families were often
08:23limited to roles in religion or charity however for women in the upper aristocracy the game changed
08:30especially under the reign of female rulers like catherine the great take princess dashkova a close
08:37confidant of catherine who became the first non-royal woman to hold a high government position as the
08:43director of the imperial academy of science in saint petersburg such an achievement would have been
08:50unimaginable under the reign of male monarchs but ambition in a stifling system could also breed
08:56darkness consider sulti chikha an 18th century moscow landowner who inherited great wealth and absolute
09:04control after her husband's death with unchecked power over her serfs she turned into a tyrant she
09:13beat her servants with locks squalded them with boiling water and even left them tight naked to
09:20pools in the winter cold she was convicted of at least 38 murders and ironically her house stood near
09:28what later became the kgb headquarters talk about cursed real estate
09:38russian women enjoyed more legal freedom than many of their european counterparts they could inherit and
09:45manage property and widows our unmarried women occasionally stepped into the role of business owners
09:52one remarkable example is vera fersanova a trailblazing entrepreneur who owned the luxurious sanduni buffs
09:59restaurants and elite apartment buildings many of which remain iconic landmarks in moscow today
10:08she managed her empire single-handedly becoming one of the most successful business women and philanthropists of
10:16her era however stories like hers were exceptions not the rule most women lacked access to education or
10:24vocational training universities did not admit women until 1896 and even then their career paths were
10:32largely limited to teaching or nursing
10:41working into the arts or sciences was nearly impossible for women but some managed to break the rules
10:49take sophia kovalevskaia the first female math professor in the world she had to stage a sham marriage just to
10:56study abroad because her father refused to let her pursue an education in everyday life women were often the
11:03unsung artists drawing writing or playing instruments but serious art and literature were of limits
11:11writing a novel like tolstoy or turgenev who do you think you are one bizarre story from the early 20th
11:18century
11:18involved a mysterious poetess cherubina de gabriac literally circles were abuzz with admiration for her verses
11:27believing that the author was half russian half spanish nobility
11:31but when it was revealed that cherubina was actually a humble school teacher named
11:36elizaveta dmitrieva all interest vanished this allure was gone the moment her identity was exposed
11:50in my next video we'll explore the fascinating world of soviet women their triumphs tragedies and breakthroughs
11:57now discover the untold story of the bolshevik revolution of 1917 in russian treasures
12:04my historical novel coming in early 2025 if you love rich intricate stories that reveal the human side of monumental
12:13events
12:13you won't want to miss this sign up for my waiting list now and be the first to embark on
12:20this extraordinary journey into russia's most pivotal moment
12:24the link is in the description
12:26you
12:27you
12:28you
12:29you
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