Posted by cleo on August 15, 2000 at 06:38:41:
In Reply to: Re: Do Greek men prefer Greek women? posted by Billy K. on August 14, 2000 at 21:32:23:
: Good points concerning fathers and chauvinism...
: But I would like to go a bit further on that...
: In Greece itself, although it has become modern,
: some of the old values remain.
: I personally have problems dealing with the women
: in Greece. Due to the fathers, the girls often
: are at the two extremes---either quiet and withdrawn, or on the opposite end where they
: scream at you. Other Greek-American men visiting there have a problem with that, and in fact, some
: of the female visitors don't like the fact you
: can't keep a civilized conversation with the women there.
: As for Greek-American women, some of the fathers
: have another agenda--the princess thing. They feel
: that the daughters have to marry "above" what they
: are, this image thing. Give you a case in point---truck drivers make a decent living---but some of these fathers will discourage the daughters from
: dating a truck driver....because you should only
: marry a doctor, lawyer, etc.
: So, the dads do scare guys away, even though they
: are Greek and are decent human beings. Gets to be
: a waste of time for guys to deal with the fathers.
Billy
I'd agree totally with what you've said. I didn't mean to come down so hard just on the guys. Problems and attitudes seem to have been perpetuated by everyone. I live in the UK and I know girls who have had the same old problems with their fathers. However, there are many who won't stand on their own two feet to do anything about it. I also think that children are brought up to expect to marry other Greeks and its looked on as odd if they don't. Its funny when you've been brought up outside of the culture and observe it closely. There is so much fuss made (particularly by the older generations). No wonder there's so many people confused and desperately trying to find some Greek Prince/princess in the wilds of Canada/USA/Australia. In a country which has been invaded so many times that everyone is a mixture of races, I can't understand how people get so up tight about it all, especially when its been their choice to go and live in a 'foreign' country. Forget 'when in Rome' - it doesn't come into it. I think there are big problems now because the young people relly grow up with the culture of the country they live in and the old people still think they are in the village.