Monday 8 June 2009

Emancipation

I’ve got my portion of dancing tonight. And some things have cleared out, which is a great progress given my current state of mind. But I will have to give it some time and some thought before I can write about it.

My yesterday’s post has resulted in a discussion with Jeroen and Remie about the way men and women treat each other in the Netherlands. It’s a great shock for every post-USSR female when a man she is going out with does not open up the doors for her, does not help her to put her coat on and does not do many other things she is used to get from men. I’ve talked to many Dutch men about this. And all of them say they would love to give women this kind of attention, but don’t do it because Dutch women wouldn’t appreciate it. But I’m not sure I know any Dutch woman who would get angry or upset about the fact that men open up the doors for her. And both Jeroen and Remie confirmed that when they do that, Dutch women don’t get angry. They are either flattered or think the man wants something more. It’s just the result of the fact that they are not used to such treatment and by no means a sign they wouldn’t like to be treated like this more often. This is a very sad situation, don’t you think?

Dancing is actually much more dangerous than it seems. My feet are covered with scratches from other women’s heels. Trust me – they hurt! I might have caught another cold by dancing in a room with all the windows and doors open. I am going to take a hot bath. It might help if I’m lucky.

El Cantante - Nice movie:


Trivia: I have 25 pairs of shoes.

3 comments:

  1. Don't get angry ... often. Although, more often resulting in some discomfort because expectations.

    You should also keep in mind that for most Dutch the rules of this fame are rather confusing. Even when our parens have been tought most of these rules (my grandmother knew the stairs rule ;) ), we didn't...

    Society changes rather fast.

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  2. Can we change it back? If we are fast enough, we might even see the results before we die!

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  3. I am afraid, most Dutch don't want to turn it back ... its not 'normall' anymore and the idea is probably considered rude (you only see two things for us woman ...).

    Unfortunally, look to reality.. How many woman you still consider woman have high-level jobs in this country? On the cost of what ?

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