Men and Women in Beograd...continued...

It may seem a bit odd for me to be bringing this up again - but my curiosity about the visual differential between men and women in Beograd, I have since realized, has its roots in some most interesting causes...all of which I have discussed at length with a variety of people from Serbia and Bosnia over the past few weeks.

1. In Beograd there are roughly 3 females to every 1 male. Thus, women are in extreme competition over who can land a man...and men don't really have to worry so much about landing a woman because as long as he is male, he is pretty much set. Men don't have to worry about how they appear in order to find a woman.

2. Women in Serbia tend to take care of themselves, as a rule, especially young women. And, by the way, I have seen more types cellulite cream here than I ever imagined possible.

3. Serbia is, generally speaking, a male-dominated culture.

4. Men tend to get jobs over women, and the unemployment in Serbia is around 25%... higher in smaller towns and villages, especially in southern Serbia.

5. It was the men who have fought in the wars in the 90's...and this, inevitably, takes its toll.

6. Beograd, in particular, is inundated by U.S. visuals (like MTV, movies, sitcoms like "Sex and the City" etc.)...And, I believe, Serbian youth in-particular have a fascination with certain 'western' characteristics...like, appearance and style.

There you have it. Seemingly meaningless observations can indeed lead to interesting insights! So much for my budding theory on how the combination of intense Beograd lightning storms with a specific level of DU in the Beograd water system has created some sort-of beauty energy that only women are susceptible to.

P.S. I have been told that in some parts of Bosnia there are 5 females to every 1 male...or, in one case of a refugee camp near Tuzla: 8 females to every 1 male. The reasons for this are obvious - war. It gives me a glimpse of how Europe must have been like ten years after WWII. This loss of men and the other, very apparent signs of the war (from my extremely brief observation) has lead more to a state of bitterness and/or depressive tendencies in Bosnia... as opposed to women being obsessed with physical appearance. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of beautiful women in Bosnia, but it is not quite the same. Which makes me wonder if, maybe (for some Serbian women - or, perhaps, women in general) this obsession about appearance also has something to do with covering up something...racing toward the future in order to disregard the past that the had little to no real control over in the first place.