Those Beautiful Ukranian Women

An advert being shown on Dutch tv has caused outrage in Holland and Ukraine. The advert is for a type of beer that it makers claim will keep Dutch men at home during Euro 2012 rather than travelling to Ukraine where the tournament is being held.

And the reason why Dutch women might want to keep their men at home? Because apparently the women in the Ukraine are so beautiful and available they are a threat to men and other women. The ad shows how simply typing ukr into an internet search engine will bring up the result “Ukrainian women”. In fact Travelors Digest ranked Ukraine as number one for the presence of beautiful women.

The Ukraine ambassador is “shocked” at the advert and upset at the image it presents of his country.

I am also shocked but I think for very different reasons to that of the ambassador.

Obviously the advert is offensive to men, although I don’t expect most men will see it as so. The message is that men cannot resist a beautiful woman and will cheat on their wives and girlfriends as soon as a sexually available female is within their eyesight. Nice message there, men just can’t help it you know! A hugely damaging stereotype that treats men like idiots makes women insecure and blames the women for being too damn attractive to resist. Maybe the burkha is the way to go??

However, even worse is the fact that this so called harmless cliché of beautiful Ukrainian women luring men is anything but harmless.  

Ukraine has a major sex industry which is unregulated and allowed to flourish due to government corruption. There are estimates that there are some 50,000 women involved in the sex industry and they start young. A quick internet search will bring up many articles and stories about young girls being approached in nightclubs, and thanks to a, quite frankly archaic approach to women rights, once a woman has worked in the sex industry she is considered unredeemable and unrapeable.

Ukraine is also now a major hub for sex trafficking across Europe.  Odessa in particular is infamous for its multibillion dollar international business. These women are tricked or forced in to sexual slavery, with violence and rape used to break them. The major feminist group in the Ukraine Femen proclaim that “feminism does not exist in Ukraine”. Their protests at the lack of womens rights, prostitution, trafficking and violence against women have been met with violence and intimidation from the authorities.

Suddenly making light hearted fun of the sexually available Ukrainian women doesn’t seem to amusing. When clichés are actually terrifying fact it is probably a good time to stop using them to sell beer and actually do something about them.  Why does the idea that women are there for men to have sex with and that men can’t help it have any place on a television advert? What message is this sending?

I am glad the Ukrainian ambassador is shocked and offended, but maybe he should place his outrage at the sharp end where beautiful Ukrainian women are being raped and murdered rather than wring his hands and worry about how his country will be perceived from a tv ad.