"Can I interest you in a Soviet Union?"
In fiction, women from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe tend to be sultry Femme Fatales, Pole dancers, or both.
The Femme Fatale version arose in the UK during the Cold War. Tales abounded of the glamorous, alluring Russian woman who would throw herself at a visiting British businessman, seducing him into wild, unrestrained sex acts. Later, after he'd returned home to his family, the businessman would learn that the tryst had been filmed and that pictures would go to his wife and to the government if he didn't comply with whatever demands the blackmailers made—and that the sexy vixen he'd bedded was a full colonel in the KGB.
In comparison, in North America during the Cold War this trope practically did not exist (unless the woman was going to do a High-Heel–Face Turn). Russian women were considered to be the ugliest humans in existence—"deformed monsters" wouldn't be putting it too strongly. Ryan Stiles's comment ("Russia! Our women look like men!") might be understating the point. Johnny Carson wasn't the only comedian to base entire comedy sets on the purported hideousness of all Russian women, but he was the most famous—and hundreds of comedians copied him.
A more common stereotype nowadays is that the entire region consists of Ugly Guys and their Hot Wives...see Husky Russkie.
More recent North American and Western European stereotypes about Eastern European women tend to a different kind of Fan Disservice - if one appears she will almost always be depicted as a downtrodden Mail-Order Bride, or an even more pathetic Sex Slave who is hideously abused, and often tortured and murdered, by Human Trafficking Ruthless Foreign Gangsters.
Contrast Ugly Slavic Women (its now-forgotten opposite) as well as Brawn Hilda (with which Ugly Slavic Women often overlapped). See also The Baroness (a specific Character Archetype), Sexy Scandinavian, Gorgeous Greek, Hot Gypsy Woman and Circassian Beauty.
Note that the personality and function of the character in the story matters. A Slavic character that is good-looking does not automatically count; a Slavic character that uses her sex appeal to seduce, manipulate, distract or beguile a main character does count. A Slavic character doing this in a Slavic work filled with Slavs definitely doesn't.
If you were looking for sensual slaves, see Go-Go Enslavement.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Irina Jelavic from Assassination Classroom, a Southern Slavic assassin specializing in seduction.
- Parodied and subverted with Ukraine and Belarus in Hetalia: Axis Powers. Ukraine is voluptuous with huge breasts and is implied to have no problems showing them off to get her way, and when Italy goes around "testing" chests her response is to suggestively tell him she won't mind if he "takes responsibility." But this is hilariously dissonant with the rest of her personality; a super kind, sensitive, motherly humble farm lady who would be assumed to be The Ingenue. Meanwhile, Ukraine's sister Belarus is a very beautiful young woman, with a cold disposition, violent tendencies, and lots of sexual knowledge...who only has eyes on her older brother and would rather use knives to get her way than her beauty, and she's extremely blunt, foul-mouthed and actually quite childish. Poland could count as a parody as well; he's a part-time cross-dresser.
- Tatenashi Sarashiki of Infinite Stratos. She's one of the most attractive girls in the IS Academy and also the strongest IS pilot, warranting her the position of Student Council President. She is also a tease-happy Shameless Fanservice Girl towards the primary male character. Though she's actually a half-Russian, half-Japanese.
- In Brave10, Russian born ninja Anastasia is the Ms. Fanservice of the series.
- Late chapters of Crying Freeman (both manga and anime) have Russian mobsters provide an enemy of Freeman's with a female assassin named Kyutche. While described as "an Eskimo" (according to the manga's English translation), the artists of both media give her Caucasian features and the anime also makes her an albino.
Comic Books
- Lulu Romanov in Nikolai Dante. In fact, most of the female characters, since it is set mostly in Russia.
- Marvel Comics
- Black Widow. She is a Russian Femme Fatale. Certain writers really play up the Russian-ness in combination with sensuality and take it to some really stereotypical and creepy places! Rule of thumb: if she's being written with a Russian accent, she's usually being written for fetish appeal.
- X-Men: In contrast to her brother Colossus, who's a Husky Russkie, Magik has become a tall, svelte, dangerous-looking blonde in a midriff-baring black outfit.
Fashion Industry
- Eastern European features are currently highly-coveted in the fashion industry. See, for example, Karolína Kurková [1]
◊, Carmen Kass◊, and Natalia Vodianova◊. This trend is not entirely new: Paulina Porizkova◊ was on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue multiple times starting in 1984 when she was 19 and then was signed by Estee Lauder.
Film
- For many years, a staple of the James Bond movies:
- Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love.
- Major Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me.
- Pola Ivanova in A View to a Kill.
- Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights. Kara is a Czechoslovakian cellist, and Bond's love interest.
- Rosika Miklos in The Living Daylights is a Big Beautiful Woman who decides to Show Some Leg to cover Koskov's defection. A bit different from the usual Slavic Bond girl in that she is bigger, and she does not seduce 007.
- GoldenEye is has two: Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen, who is actually Dutch) and Natalya Simonova (played by Polish actress Izabella Scorupco).
- A very blonde (in contrast to her Red Alert 3 look, pictured above) Ivana Miličević played Valenka, Le Chiffre's girlfriend in Casino Royale (2006).
- Ivana Humpalot in Austin Powers parodies all the James Bond examples.
- Czechoslovakiannote exchange student Nadia from American Pie.
- Areola from Not Another Teen Movie, who was a Parody of Nadia, although her accent is all over the place, something she acknowledges in the film.
- Birthday Girl features Nicole Kidman as a beautiful Russian mail-order bride who quickly wins the heart of her shy husband in spite of their language barrier. Of course it turns out that she's really a conwoman who seduces the men she marries.
- Ludmilla, the wife of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, is a towering and intimidating Femme Fatale in contrast to the more modest wives of the other boxers.
- A male version is played for laughs in A Fish Called Wanda. Wanda is turned on whenever Archie Leach speaks Russian.
- Lilya 4-ever is a wildly depressing film about a bullied Russian teenage girl who is conned and forced into prostitution in Sweden, until she commits suicide. Can be viewed as a deconstruction of the trope. The film was based on a real story, although the young prostitute who killed herself was a Lithuanian in real life (and thus not a Sensual Slav, technically.)
- Averted in Patton where right after victory in Europe, General Patton and his staff have to smile through a celebration with their Soviet allies — and all the women are frumpy and unattractive. Screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola, in the DVD commentary, notes that this dated stereotype was based on Nikita Krushchev's wife (seen here◊ with Jackie Kennedy) and that the recent prevalence of gorgeous supermodels from Russia has proven they actually have some of the most beautiful women in the world.
- Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so very much. Like her comicbook counterpart she's Russian, though you wouldn't be able to tell by her accent (or her being played by Scarlett Johansson). As a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, she's also trained to use her sex appeal to seduce targets if the mission calls for it — though usually, she prefers using her fists.
- A male version is Ivan Simanov from Red. He previously dated Victoria back when they were working for their respective agencies (the KGB and MI6 respectively), to the point that she was forced by her superiors to choose between killing him and jeopardizing her mission. She did shoot him, but he survived.
- Played straight with Katja Petrakovich from Red 2, who has been described by Marvin as "Frank Moses's Kryptonite"
- Valentina in Transporter 3. She stays for most of the film with a flimsy gold dress, and has both red hair and Youthful Freckles.
- Mail Order Bride (2003). Ivana Miličević plays another sexy Russian, in this case a scam artist who marries a bunch of mafioso so she can rob them before going back to Moscow.
- Orphan : Horribly deconstructed. Thanks to a combination of deformity and sexual frustration, the only reason Esther/Leena goes in and out of foster homes is because she wants to seduce the father of the family adopting her. When it invariably fails, she has a nervous breakdown and kills everyone. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and she is actually Estonian , not Russian, so she is not Slavic anyways.
- Alexander Lemtov from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is a Rare Male Example. He's first introduced doing a very sensual song called "Lion Of Love" with several skimpy backup dancers, and he's a romantic rival for Lars Erickssong, along with his Gorgeous Greek friend Mita Xemakis. Ultimately, he doesn't seduce Sigrit, though, and we find out that he's actually Armored Closet Gay.
Folklore
- Allegedly, the creation of the US Cold War Era aversion of trope is said to originate from the Olympic Games in the 1980s. Steroids were then recent things, and according to the Urban Myth the Soviets pumped their female athletes full of the stuff. Resulting in... Mannish, hairy women.
- Another Urban Legend circulated in the 1990s claimed women from former Communist countries had been socially and sexually oppressed for decades by the regime, and they were eager to recover the lost years.
Literature
- America (The Book)'s section on Russia notes the Russian Paradox that young Russian women are beautiful while old Russian women are hideous. A picture comparison purports to show a young beauty queen before and after she crosses the threshold, becoming an old crone in the span of two weeks.
- Irina in Gorky Park. Presumably due to the above-mentioned perception of Soviet women at the time the novel was written, there's a scene where Osborne discusses how she's more attractive from Western standards of beauty, and it's more practical to have a Big Beautiful Woman in a country where it gets very cold in winter.
- Mishka from Valhalla fits the profile as a seductive and skilled, often devious spy.
- Red Sparrow is based on a program featuring glamorous Russian spies seducing westerners. When asked, author Jason Matthews said the CIA tried it, but Eastern Europeans didn't care about partners having sex with seductive foreigners; it was considered a perk of the job.
Live Action TV
- Zoya the Destroya, Ruth Wilder's Soviet wrestling alter ego on GLOW (2017).
- Elena, of Peep Show, Series 6.
- In the Suite Life on Deck episode "Das Boots", Cody's opponent in a chess tournament is one Sasha Matryoshka, who's so ridiculously hot that he can't concentrate on his game. As Sasha is a gender-neutral name in Russian, Cody assumes it's a boy until he sees her.
- In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Our Man Bashir", Julian set up a Bond-esque spy program, which included a lady like this as a possible love interest, Colonel Komananov of the KGB. Thanks to an atypical transporter accident, Kira's body ends up at that character until the program ends.
- Sophie in 2 Broke Girls.
- NTSF:SD:SUV:::
- Subverted when Piper becomes a Manchurian Agent with a sudden Russian accent. She tries to seduce her female boss Kove, who tells her upfront that she's just not into making out with another woman and would honestly prefer a Tap on the Head.
- Played straight in a subsequent episode with an actual Russian spy, who incapacitates the President of the Navy with a Kiss of Death and seduces Piper herself within no more than 10 seconds.
- Hürrem in the Turkish drama Magnificent Century is a sexy Ukrainian harem girl who wins the Sultan's heart.
- Utopia: Dugdale is seduced by a Russian call girl to facilitate blackmail, though she turns out to secretly be British.
Music
- The Beatles have a song called "Back in the USSR."
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind. - Poland's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014, "We Are Slavic" by Donatan and Cleo, is basically about how Slavic women are the hottest in the world. The music video is all about extreme closeups on the cleavages of women in Polish national dress.
- Alex Gaudino, known for his music videos of women in sexy attire, has an entry for this trope in "Moscow Never Sleeps."
Professional Wrestling
- Lithuanian-born WWE Diva Aksana slowly evolved from a slightly dim Funny Foreigner to playing this up.
- Rusev's manager Lana is billed from Russia (actually American-born with Portuguese and Venezuelan heritage, but lived for most of her childhood in Latvia). Though she plays with it, in the fact that she's not exceptionally sexual (apart from simply being a very attractive woman in a revealing business suit.) She actually fits much closer in personality to The Baroness, as she does seem to enjoy watching Rusev (her real-life husband, by the way) hurt people.
Video Games
- Major Raikov from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
- A certain Not So French woman from No More Heroes comes to mind (half Ukraine, half Japanese, in case you were wondering).
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 saw Lieutenant Zofia (Soviet counterpart to Lieutenant Eva): "Vinter in Moscow iz cold... but purrrhaps zis vinter vill be... different?". Though her actress was actually Polish.
- "Zofia" is the Polish variation of "Sophia", so what if she is actually Polish ?
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and its Uprising expansion give us Lieutenant Dasha Fedorovich (pictured above), played by Bosnian-born Ivana Milicevic. There are a number of other sexualized Soviet soldiers as well such as black ops agent Natasha Volkova and air force general Zhana Agonskaya.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 saw Lieutenant Zofia (Soviet counterpart to Lieutenant Eva): "Vinter in Moscow iz cold... but purrrhaps zis vinter vill be... different?". Though her actress was actually Polish.
- Zhanna, the Heavy Weapons Guy's younger sister in the Team Fortress 2 webcomics. Big Beautiful Woman? Check. Girlish Pigtails? Check. Hasn't seen a man in years due to her overprotective big brother trying to hide her, her mother, and other sisters from the KGB, who's agents they've been secretly torturing as revenge for putting them in a gulag? Check. She tries seducing Scout, who eventually turns down losing his virginity for a chance with Miss Pauling, so she tries her luck with Soldier, who is walking around the house naked, double-fisting bear legs:
Zhanna: "YOU."Soldier: "Back off, lady, I'm eating both of these."Zhanna: "Make love to me."Soldier: "Okay."[Zhanna yanks him into the bedroom, causing him to drop the bear leg in the hallway]
- They later become an Official Couple later on, and somehow are always Crazy-Prepared, with over a thousand contingency plans up their sleeves. Soldier in particular manages to convince her to fight robots naked and covered in honey.
Zhanna: I love you, and I love America! - A male example: Smoke, as he appeared in Mortal Kombat 9, where he is revealed to be Czechoslovakian.
- Kolin from Street Fighter V, who apparently originates from a disbanded Soviet republic, is portrayed as a sensual, dangerous Femme Fatale and sports a strong Russian accent, as well as a classic ushanka fur hat.
- Wonder-Pink from The Wonderful 101. From Transylvania, Romania? Check. Eastern-European accent? Check. Does a bunch of sexual poses during her Transformation Sequence? Big check. Uses a spiked whip as her Weapon of Choice? Definitely check. Strong Dominatrix undertones? Big fat check.
- The Northern Union ship girls from Azur Lane, aside from Gnevny, are fairly buxom, and play up their "Russianess" (being modeled like The Baroness and drunkenly loving Vodka) for fanservice.
Web Comics
- Larisa from Sandra and Woo is considered very attractive by her schoolmates, has no qualms (and in fact prefers) to use sex appeal to get what she wants, and speaks with a noticeable Russian accent.
Web Original
- Marina Orlova, aka Hot For Words, plays up to this trope.
- Critical Role's Jester attempts to pull this off, especially with Fjord when she's flirting with him. Attempts being the key word as she's too sweet natured to really pull it off. However, her mother, the famed Ruby of the Sea plays this straight.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy David Dobrik. In November 2019, People magazine named Dobrik Sexiest Heartthrob of 2019, beating out Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes
Western Animation
- Molotov Cocktease from The Venture Bros..
- Natasha Fatale from Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- The Baroness from G.I. Joe.
- Linka from Captain Planet and the Planeteers, at least from Wheeler's point of view.
- Katya Kazanova, a KGB agent in Archer who apparently does a High-Heel–Face Turn for our hero... or is she a Honey Pot Double Agent? She and Archer go rogue as their respective agencies try to figure out her true allegiance.
- The Simpsons:
- In "He Loves to Fly and He D’ohs", there's a beautiful flight attendant in Mr. Burns' airplane. She's a tall and slim blonde and her name's Svetlana, a decidedly Slavic name. She's supposed to do anything for Homer. Anything except sex.
Svetlana: My name is Svetlana, but you can call me "hey, baby".
Mr. Burns: And just so you know, she'll do anything for you. Anything except sex. And I do mean anything.
Homer: Oh... I'm aroused and confused. - "The Fabulous Faker Boy": Bart falls in love with a young Russian woman Zhenya, his piano teacher. She speaks with a strong accent which makes her more interesting and adds an exotic touch to her beauty. In his Imagine Spot, Bart sees Zhenya as a seductive chanteuse who is Sitting Sexy on a Piano dressed in a tight-fitting red dress.
- In "He Loves to Fly and He D’ohs", there's a beautiful flight attendant in Mr. Burns' airplane. She's a tall and slim blonde and her name's Svetlana, a decidedly Slavic name. She's supposed to do anything for Homer. Anything except sex.
