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European women are particularly delighted by western men's willingness to take on someone else's child, something European and Russian men are frequently loathe to do, and this is particularly important since 30% of all European and Russian households are headed by single European women. The key word that comes back over and over when these men talk of the European women is "feminine." "These European girls are beautiful, faithful, and perfect women," said Sam.
How successful are these European women marriages? Since most couples have not been married for all that long, at this point it is hard to tell. While the European dating services vaunt success stories, they do not have the means to carefully screen the men for criminal records or mental illness, and there have been some cases of spousal abuse. And while criminal records are recorded or listed on the passport of a European woman, an American man is still taking a small risk in marrying someone who often does not speak English well (one girl described herself in a catalogue as"modest, embarrassing, sure, faithful and kind"), is isolated from her family, friends, and profession, and may be from a completely different social and educational background.
Passports and economics aside, European women and western men who marry seem to view each other as endowed with precisely those qualities which are missing in prospective spouses at home. Put slightly differently, the negative reactions of Americans and Europeans to certain types of behavior in their own cultures seems to foster their attraction to each other. Harvey Balzer, director of Georgetown University's European Area Program, commented in an 1996 Radio Liberty interview that "American men are somewhat sick of emancipated women, and European women are somewhat sick of domestic dictators.
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