Around the World; Women from the United States

[Queen Michael]

I'm Swedish, and I've never heard this about American women here. Of course, I have heard the usual prejudices about Americans as a whole, but never anything specific about the she-creatures.

 

[DefunctTheory]

The only time I can remember US woman being treated differently was when I was in Korea, where a lot of the men absolutely loved them. Largely, it was physical - American woman are largely white, black, or hispanic. Besides the the exotic skin colors, those races tend to have more, um...

Then Korean women.

 

[Ryotknife]

I cant say that im surprised (that this perception exists, not if its true), but i think its due to how American media portrays American women rather than personal experience. Women in media are almost all "strong independent" characters but unfortunately that usually translates into dark, gritty, and broody. Meanwhile the eccentric and looney characters are almost always male.

 

[LetalisK]

The only time I can remember US woman being treated differently was when I was in Korea, where a lot of the men absolutely loved them. Largely, it was physical - American woman are largely white, black, or hispanic. Besides the the exotic skin colors, those races tend to have more, um...

Then Korean women.

That cartoon has no hips or ass.

I cant say that im surprised (that this perception exists, not if its true), but i think its due to how American media portrays American women rather than personal experience. Women in media are almost all "strong independent" characters but unfortunately that usually translates into dark, gritty, and broody. Meanwhile the eccentric and looney characters are almost always male.

That's interesting if the rest of the world sees our portrayals of women like that and we see our own portrayals as submissive and servile.

 

[FPLOON]

Right. This is going to seem a bit brutal, so I'll just be blunt and lay it out.

Here is how we see the American woman in the U.K.

She is probably going to sleep around.
She is a "woo" girl.
She says "like" a lot.
Imagine Snookie? Imagine Paris Hilton? There are what people think.
She will divorce you and take the kids and half your shit.
An American woman will shout in your face about her opinion.
American women have no grace or elegance.
American women want to be men.
American women are the worst kind of feminists.
American women will throw a rape charge at you for no reason.
American women have no empathy for anyone except other American women.
American women will ***** about each other behind their backs.
American women made the phrase "frenemies"
American women are self-obsessed and not very caring.
American women will get fat and call it "curves".
American women love the phrase "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve my best" like they're a fucking animal that needs handling.
American women are bad mothers, and bad wives.

American men, on the other hand, are seen as potentially violent, but kind, honest, and slightly silly creatures

Damn, son... Are you sure about all that? Some of those could probably describe me if I really think about it... Then again, the "divorce" bit reminded me that I live in California...

OT: All I can say to this is that TV shows/movies/sitcoms that revolve around American-based stuff are a hell of a perception to everyone else not living in America... I feel like the reverse is also likely, but I wouldn't know since I've never took a trip outside of America, let alone out of California...

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Should I blame reality TV, which isn't actually based on reality, because most of the things L. Declis listed seem to be a direct result of that?

Also if this is the case, I feel upset that so many people are basing their opinion almost solely on a country's TV shows, upset, but not surprised, considering we do the exact same thing.


On a side note, I like this website, I like the internet, meeting and talking with people who live elsewhere in the world, but I've found the more I do, the more terrified I grow of traveling. I would love to visit another country, even learn the language beforehand and do my best not to seem obnoxious, but I don't want to go someplace where I will be barely tolerated just for being from the US, despite all my effort to not be stereotypical, which is beginning to seem like most places.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Should I blame reality TV, which isn't actually based on reality, because most of the things L. Declis listed seem to be a direct result of that?.

It's no lie most Americans (two thirds) are overweight. I work with tourists, I can tell who's American just from the fat in their face.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Should I blame reality TV, which isn't actually based on reality, because most of the things L. Declis listed seem to be a direct result of that?.

It's no lie most Americans (two thirds) are overweight. I work with tourists, I can tell who's American just from the fat in their face.

That's why I said most things and Americans are very much aware we have a weight issue.
I actually wonder about the statistics of eating disorders and how they'll change in the next couple decades (my suspicion it that they'll increase).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Can't say im aware of American women being singled out to hate, here in Ukland. It's usually just the typical "All Americans are loud and chubby" with perhaps a bit too much positivity. But we are generally aware that is just a stereotype.
It could be certain male dominated countries that expect a level of...erm, suppression of females, getting all twisted up in their man-knickers about those free acting ladies. It would be my first guess.

To me, I see Honey boo-boo, then I see Mary Jane, then I think mah das humans, and continue eating chocolate biscuits.
You should see Uk night clubs around closing time. The females are going surprise you, while the males will punch you for staring at their females. Yes, society has its low points. Consistantly.

 

[asinann]

Should I blame reality TV, which isn't actually based on reality, because most of the things L. Declis listed seem to be a direct result of that?.

It's no lie most Americans (two thirds) are overweight. I work with tourists, I can tell who's American just from the fat in their face.

It doesn't help that at the average height, overweight means you weigh 130lbs.

 

[THM]

I actually wonder about the statistics of eating disorders and how they'll change in the next couple decades.

Depends on how prevalent 'fat acceptance' gets - if it becomes an accepted (and unassailable) part of Western culture, you'll probably see it nosedive (or at least the number of women able to publicly 'admit' to it). 'Fat acceptance', of course, is something else we have to thank American women for. :/

As for the other things listed? They might not all be true, but smoke, fire, yadda yadda.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Depends on how prevalent 'fat acceptance' gets - if it becomes an accepted (and unassailable) part of Western culture, you'll probably see it nosedive (or at least the number of women able to publicly 'admit' to it). 'Fat acceptance', of course, is something else we have to thank American women for. :/

I don't personally think fat acceptance is going to be a wide spread acceptable thing. I have a little niece who is overweight, she is consistently bullied by her older sister, who is rail thin. Considering nearly all media for little girls, almost all female role models period aren't even on the chubby side, fat acceptance mine as well be a far-fetched dream. Not that I think fat acceptance should be acceptable, but I think a certain amount of tolerance on both ends is needed. We should do our best to keep kids from bullying other kids for not fitting into the norm, while at the same time if one has an unhealthy weight (be it too skinny or too fat), work toward improving that without shoving it down their throats that they need to be super skinny or they're worthless.

Disclaimer, I don't have kids, don't know the first thing about being a parent, I'm sure that it's not remotely that easy.

 

[Lightspeaker]

I've DEFINITELY linked this before on this forum but its highly relevant to the topic and pretty funny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an_r6cAaxI8


Anyway its just the good old issue of stereotypes. I find L. Declis' list to be rather harsh but I find one of the points there particularly notable:
"Imagine Snookie? Imagine Paris Hilton? There are what people think."

That's basically it for the majority of people; because all they have to base their perceptions on is what films, TV shows and the news tells them. If the media presents people in a certain way, and holds up examples like those above, you can bet that people are going to start forming an opinion based on that presentation.

 

[Politrukk]

So while board at work today I came across a site where there were a bunch of different travel websites for different countries about things to expect when traveling in the United States. Something odd I noticed in a couple of them (the Japanese one particularly) was that they didn't seem to be too - fond, I want to say? - of women in/from the United States.

This made me think back a little and realize....I don't think I've ever seen or really heard of American women ever really being popular in other countries, or in their media. American men yes (to varying degrees) are depicted in and liked around the world in one degree or another.

But women?

Rarely if ever do they seem to depicted, and when they are, its not well - in fact its a bit of a joke on the Internet it seems to compare American women to women from other countries. But as far as media is concerned; French, German, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Canadian etc. whatever - all fine and depicted and seemingly liked. But it seems like American women rarely ever appear, and that they aren't terribly popular when they do.

And it brought to mind a video I saw in my sociology class when I was a Junior in college; it was about feminism/women's rights around the world and it had a bunch of interviews with women in France, Japan, Britain, Russia etc. We didn't see the whole video in class, but the part that I remember best was the part towards the end when they went back to interview the French businesswoman (I think she was like a CFO or something) and she was very cutting. I don't remember the words exactly but it was along the lines of "People don't like American women/dealing with American because they've forgotten how to be women/don't teach their daughters how to behave" (Hey, it was 5 years ago almost now. I don't remember the wording exactly, only the impression).

I remember thinking it a bit odd...but does the rest of the world really find women from the US so distasteful?

Edit: disclaimer: this is not meant to be offensive just the view I know people around me and perhaps including myself have of Americans.

Let me start out with saying that whilst I have heard about Women or American women being upset about the ROLES they are depictes as having in the media I've never heard big protests simply about their behaviour or to say those depictions were wholly false.

Now not every American female is a valley girl but when I hear comics talk about it even in America "stereotypes" like these exist.


American Women to us are often portrayed as Obnoxious, Judgy, Pushy, Unintelligent, Vicious, Untrustworthy, very sexualized and with very low or differing moral standards.

American Men aren't viewed so favourably, the entire "army" based society is a real put-off to a lot of people and American soldiers (who're mostly male still) that are stationed over here do actually act quite obnoxious in general.


Interviews where Americans showed they thought Amsterdam was a country or that Poland was somewhere near Mongolia on the world map also didn't help that view.


Americans are viewed as Bigoted,Immoral,Stupid, Selfcentred, Untrustworthy and Judgy.

Females get different complaints from males but the points still go to "United States of Jackassery".

Edit2: To be fair the only relaxed not stereotypical Americans I have come across were either 50/50 children where the mom was European and the dad American (where the parents always were split up and the dad was long back in America)
And then one guy who was a very laid back cool bloke but he was on drugs a lot...

 

[Zontar]

Should I blame reality TV, which isn't actually based on reality, because most of the things L. Declis listed seem to be a direct result of that?.

It's no lie most Americans (two thirds) are overweight. I work with tourists, I can tell who's American just from the fat in their face.

It doesn't help that at the average height, overweight means you weigh 130lbs.

At that level it's still beyond the point of having a bit more body fat then is considered health though, and, unless one is in at that weight due to muscle mass (which is almost never the case) it starts to have an adverse effect on ones health beyond that point. Plus there's also the fact that while most Americans are overweight, a full third are obese.

 

[Dizchu]

Here is how we see the American woman in the U.K.

She is probably going to sleep around.
She is a "woo" girl.
She says "like" a lot.
Imagine Snookie? Imagine Paris Hilton? There are what people think.
She will divorce you and take the kids and half your shit.
An American woman will shout in your face about her opinion.
American women have no grace or elegance.
American women want to be men.
American women are the worst kind of feminists.
American women will throw a rape charge at you for no reason.
American women have no empathy for anyone except other American women.
American women will ***** about each other behind their backs.
American women made the phrase "frenemies"
American women are self-obsessed and not very caring.
American women will get fat and call it "curves".
American women love the phrase "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve my best" like they're a fucking animal that needs handling.
American women are bad mothers, and bad wives.

American men, on the other hand, are seen as potentially violent, but kind, honest, and slightly silly creatures

Woah now, speak for yourself. Anyone that's ever talked to an American woman knows that the things you've listed are about as accurate as saying that all American men ride monster trucks around shopping mall parking lots yelling "yeehaww" while guzzling Coors Light.

Actually, most people in the UK that I know have a fairly equal view of American men and women. The USA is regarded as the land of excess, no matter the gender. Sure there's the "valley girl" stereotype and the "bible belt redneck" stereotype, but we generally know that they are stereotypes.

The "sleeping around" part is interesting seeing as Europe has much more liberal views on sex than the USA does. Sure, you can blame this on religious conservatism forcing them to conduct their sexual escapades behind closed doors, but you can't say that people in the UK think they're any worse than us. Have you seen the Jeremy Kyle Show like... ever?

 

[Silence]

She is probably going to sleep around.

*blink* Seriously? I'd always been under the impression that we Americans were generally viewed as sexually repressed (or at least prudish).

How America with sex is viewed in other countries:

The are openly prudish and think sex is the worst thing ever, but that just leads to suppression and an increase in sexual activity.
It's basically like you are either sexually repressed to a ridiculous degree or walk around half naked all the time.
American household:
Daughter gets taught sex is the worst thing ever, then gets in rebellious phase, starts to sleep around because of the former.

At least that is like it is seen some days. Another stereotype is that Americans (and especially american women) are stupid. You know the jokes about blondes? Just like that.

And yes, Americans are not particularly liked in Europe, even though most of it is closeley allied (and at least in germany we copy or take at least 75% of our stuff from America).

Note: Obviously this is saying how the worst stereotypes are. People who look past stereotypes obviously have a far more nuanced view.

 

[L. Declis]

Woah now, speak for yourself. Anyone that's ever talked to an American woman knows that the things you've listed are about as accurate as saying that all American men ride monster trucks around shopping mall parking lots yelling "yeehaww" while guzzling Coors Light.

The "sleeping around" part is interesting seeing as Europe has much more liberal views on sex than the USA does. Sure, you can blame this on religious conservatism forcing them to conduct their sexual escapades behind closed doors, but you can't say that people in the UK think they're any worse than us. Have you seen the Jeremy Kyle Show like... ever?

True, but he asked for stereotypes, and so I threw the stereotypes on the ground.... I'm not part of your system...

But seriously, if you were to ask me of my opinion regarding my own British society, it's not going to be much kinder. And yeah, obviously there are awesome parts to America. The idea of the American dream is something that I think is beautiful (I just wished they'd follow it), the optimism, Manifest Destiny, the American spirit, the patriotism, the personal freedom, the unity, the social spirit, there is a lot to the U.S. I like.

But America doesn't present itself well.

Also, Jeremy Kyle... Always loved that some serial adulterer drug addict would look down on other people. I don't think we're any better than the Americans; if anything, we're too similar

 

[Ryotknife]

Woah now, speak for yourself. Anyone that's ever talked to an American woman knows that the things you've listed are about as accurate as saying that all American men ride monster trucks around shopping mall parking lots yelling "yeehaww" while guzzling Coors Light.

The "sleeping around" part is interesting seeing as Europe has much more liberal views on sex than the USA does. Sure, you can blame this on religious conservatism forcing them to conduct their sexual escapades behind closed doors, but you can't say that people in the UK think they're any worse than us. Have you seen the Jeremy Kyle Show like... ever?

True, but he asked for stereotypes, and so I threw the stereotypes on the ground.... I'm not part of your system...

But seriously, if you were to ask me of my opinion regarding my own British society, it's not going to be much kinder. And yeah, obviously there are awesome parts to America. The idea of the American dream is something that I think is beautiful (I just wished they'd follow it), the optimism, Manifest Destiny, the American spirit, the patriotism, the personal freedom, the unity, the social spirit, there is a lot to the U.S. I like.

But America doesn't present itself well.

Also, Jeremy Kyle... Always loved that some serial adulterer drug addict would look down on other people. I don't think we're any better than the Americans; if anything, we're too similar

I guess we really dont present ourselves well because we are incredibly pessimistic. We are the most powerful nation in the world, yet many believe that life is worse now than it ever has been in our history. Nor is their any kind of unity or social spirit, at least not at the national level. The only unity or social spirit that exists is at the racial and ethnic level (which is fine if your country is mostly made up of one race or one ethnicity, but not in a diverse nation). Unless we are attacked, that is the only time we actually band together which is why it is kinda pointless for countries to attack us because we could do far more damage to ourselves than they can.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

But America doesn't present itself well.

So we should fire the PR department?

I guess we really dont present ourselves well because we are incredibly pessimistic. We are the most powerful nation in the world, yet many believe that life is worse now than it ever has been in our history. Nor is their any kind of unity or social spirit, at least not at the national level. The only unity or social spirit that exists is at the racial and ethnic level (which is fine if your country is mostly made up of one race or one ethnicity, but not in a diverse nation). Unless we are attacked, that is the only time we actually band together which is why it is kinda pointless for countries to attack us because we could do far more damage to ourselves than they can.

Since this phrase is already getting thrown around a few ways in this thread, speak for yourself.
I don't think we're anymore pessimistic than any other nation and I don't think we're the most powerful either for that matter depending on how you define power.

Life is significantly better now than it was in the past, that's just looking through rose colored glasses[footnote]I'm not saying you are looking through rose colored glasses, I guess I'm just agreeing with you here[/footnote]. I also happen to think the unity is there considering not a state has decided to leave even if we joke about it and how fast we do band together when we get attacked (aka when we actually have a reason to).