“Ungainly, messy and unsociable.” These are a just a few of the 'qualities' of Dutch women, according to some foreigners. Luckily they are also described as intelligent, not out for money and – last but not least – attractive.
Journalist Santje Kramer asked 24 foreigners who live in the Netherlands for their views on Dutch women and collected her findings in a book: Het Poldermodel (The Polder Model – a reference to the Dutch term for concession politics).
Kramer interviewed men and women from all over the world, many of whom have lived in the Netherlands for many years. They often have - or have had - a Dutch partner and may, therefore, be "experts by experience".
Natural look
Most of them are positive about the way Dutch women look. They are tall, blond, good-looking and 'well-built'. They also have a natural look. “All those pretty girls on bikes, with their open and positive expression and wearing little make-up,” sighs an Australian.
One British person calls them the “most beautiful girls on Earth”. They are also reported to be easy to approach.
But there's criticism too. How can they let their appearance go the way they do? They don’t wear jewellery or enough make-up, or brush their hair. A Greek gasps: “If God gives them such beauty, they should do something with it”.
The ‘polder’ woman appears to prefer not to wear high heels, but picks cumbersome flat boots instead, even in combination with a dress or skirt. They prefer to look tough rather than feminine. So it is not surprising that chunky Australian Ugg shoes are so popular in the Netherlands, preferably combined with plain jeans and a T-shirt.
A Russian woman complains that she felt like a whore when she used to venture out in the Netherlands as she would in Russia - in a short skirt and high heels. Nowadays she conforms to Dutch dress sense.
In rural areas it is even worse. All the women have short hair because “it is so practical”. A Frenchman says he often wonders which one is the women when he stands behind a couple.
Free spirit
But the foreigners also have some nice things to say about Dutch women. They have a free spirit, are nice, not jealous and you can have a decent conversation with them because they are intelligent.
They are not golddiggers (something one Israeli claims cannot be said about his female compatriots). They are strong, do their own DIY and are not spoilt.
Rude and direct
But then there’s their behaviour … which has become dangerously similar to that of men, it seems. They are rude, dominant and far too direct. A Belgian film director remarks: “She wants to be the boss and prefers to work with small men.” People also complain that Dutch women do not know how to flirt, only work part-time and put their children on a pedestal. And another thing… sometimes they are just plain unfriendly.
No sympathy
The author of the book, Santje Kramer, does not have any sympathy for Dutch women. On the contrary, she completely agrees with the criticism. Dressed elegantly and wearing high heels herself, she says “The climate here does not help women dress more elegantly”.
“We women go out on our bikes in all weathers. But in the summer you often see women wearing ugly cowboy boots with their short skirts.” She says it is not true that you can look tough and feminine at the same time.
Nevertheless she was shocked to hear from foreigners that Dutch women are so off-putting. “They criticise us for not being able to flirt. The book has made me pay attention to things like this and I see that people here never look at each other. Everyone stares at the ground. It is as if they want to say 'don’t bother me and I won’t bother you'.”
Perhaps it’s a sign of Dutch individualism – a subject you could fill another critical book with.
(nc/gsh/tf/imm)
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i lived in the netherlands last year and im going back this year,the women loved me,i loved them,they are amazing.FACT .. the men were friendly i made some great friends for life over there and it was so chilled out and different,i loved it .. but bk to the women OH EMM GEEHEEEEE they are abso fabso over there,everytime i went out on the pull.i pulled! but then again scottish people are welcoming and friendly so i think its you guys that need to ask yourselves "whats wrong with me?" coz for me it was like dying and waking up in beautiful dutch women heaven,cant wait to go back :)
HEY GUY'S PLEASE,DUTCH WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL,THEY HAVE THEIR STYLE,AND WHATS WRONG WITH THAT;THAT IS WHAT MAKES THEM SPECIAL,EXCEPTIONAL,AND VERY SEXY,FOR ME, THERE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN EUROPE.
I am married to a Dutch guy. he has slept around a lot. The women there are an easy lay. He has picked many women from bars and had one night stands. The Dutch women are not too clean, are bossy and have emasculated the men.
Sounds like the perfect women on Earth live in NL. Why you hatin' people?
Dutch Women go to office whitout make up in jeans and knitten sweaters. also in local politics were the men are in suits you see women whit absolute no dress sense at all! they are representing voters in jeans and jumpers. they have in general rough attitudes and are very unfriendly and afraid of things out of the box, they make me sad
I've traveled and lived in various countries in Europe, Asia and the US for 15 years. While I was living in Netherlands for 3.5 years; Amsterdam, around Raanstad and Maastricht; I dated the best women that NL had to offer. I can say from my experience that they are essentially some of the worse quality women I have ever come across giving only Anglo Saxon women a run for their money.
They are practically useless in the kitchen and even worse in bed. They completely lack feminism and any taste fashion; it is a wonder that I didn't just turn gay while living there. As a consolation, they are low maintenance chicks and are really good drivers; you can certainly trust them behind the wheel of a car.
The beauty comes when we look at individuals, the danger when we lump them into groups.
I am just a fun of these super pretty ladies! I love the dutch girls so much that I moved to Amsterdam to enjoy them. I love their company and girly manners.
They ''talk the talk and walk the walk'' but so do I ....and they are just SUPER-ULTRA-F**-SEXY in their boots, long legs, ponytail, red cheeks and nose and green eyes!
Sure they are not easy to live with and some sleep around like dogs but life is short.... treat them nice, love them, entertain them and change them for one of her best friends if they get too stroppy with their opinions.
I am on my 6th ''Schat'' and keep on going ;-)))
why isn't RNW editor/moderator deleting comments by Andre Yudin from Russia? He is disrespecting not only the Dutch woman, but womanhood with his obscene comments.
Although we were reluctant to do so, we have deleted a couple of comments from the discussion below. We prefer to give respondents free rein here, but comments which contain rude, abusive and offensive language are removed.
I'm sorry that it took a while to intervene. As you will know, we've got hundreds of articles on our website, each with comments below them, and it's sometimes difficult to monitor all of the comments we get. Our apologies to those of you who were offended by unsavoury comments which remained online for too long.
Rob Kievit,
Senior Editor, RNW English
Hey,you,radio netherlands and you,"senior editor",don't you understand?I TOLD you to delete ALL my commnts on your site.
Andrei Yudin, maybe the problem is your statement "I TOLD". How about "Sir, I am very sorry for my comments and I did not mean to ofend anyone; therefore, would you "please" delete my comments. Thank you."
Ok,do it as you please,it doesn't bother me at all.In my turn,I will use these facts to denounce your f...ing rnw before Russians and all the foreigners I happen to talk to in Moscow.
delete all my commens then
Thanks Rob Kievit! I visit your site because it is decent and does not entertain obscenity in the name of freedom of expression, especially against women. It will be very unfortunate if visitors misuse their freedom of expression and disrespect women in anyway. Please keep this site clean,...
According to Vera, you brain is located between your legs. I wonder what causes you not to categorize that as offensive.
brain is truly located between legs in axis,in math.
Is this forum not moderated to clean out the trolls??
Yes, this forum is moderated by "pure blood" Dutch females.
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
'I have not yet been able to answer.... the great question that has never been answered: What does a woman want?(Sigmund Freud, The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud,Vol.2).
A whistling girl and a crowing hen never came to a good end....
it is different in essence between not voting and abstention;similarly,everyone stares at ground either because of neck habit or busy mind,or everyone look straight ahead without eye contact,effect can be either very negative or positive. here i take this opportunity,urge all chinese people in canada abstention.
Perhaps they should show more of their tits and ass in order to gain a 'positive' recognition? A man's brain: located right between his legs.
A Dutch woman does not need the jewelry and make-up and the elegance of excessive and exaggerated, A Dutch woman adapted for working life and beauty , can not the human limited mind to express not via poetry nor prose, and not otherwise, the level of creativity the capability of God in the creation of these angels that live on earth and that A Dutch woman have self-confidence, so she do not wait to some one says to her she is beauty or her intelligence, A Dutch woman gift of God to mankind and one of miracles and evidence for the existence of God the Creator the wonderful limitless in his creation ability , the existence of A Dutch woman blessed by God completed promoted the beauty of this world and put reason to the human desire to live on this world.
And we can only thank God the creator, who created her and for this wonderful gift because A Dutch woman is one of the most important monuments of the towering beauty proud of humanity.
A Dutch woman with emotion and the highest levels of love and humanity and feelings of others, A Dutch woman higher levels of sophistication of human mental and physical, A Dutch woman does not in need accessories which are sold via commercial companies that make-up to add beauty to women because they do not need it , A Dutch woman is faithful to her children and her lover and her family, A Dutch woman symbol of love upscale transcendent, A Dutch woman is precious gem could not found in her level of beauty not all over the world, precious courage and daring, and bear a large part of responsibilities in society beside the man and are abandoning many of her rights to order those responsible.
God Bless Dutch woman
Yeah, it's an old thread but I had to comment. You're absolutely right!!
merely through this website,i believe all you said. you,anonymous 15 october 2011-7:35 pm
Didn't you study at school?Are you not aware that there are not any "god" or "gods" in the Universe?
you'd better have sex with a Dutch woman instead of worshipping her.As it is said here,the Dutch women are very easy to approach and have sex with and they don't demand money at that,unlike those "russian girls".
I didn't graduate communism school .
how much russian girl want for each love night ??
And I did graduate from the communist university.From all the communist ideology I studied there the only good discipline was the so-called "dialectical materialism" which teaches to approach the Universe in the scientific way.It was not by chance that the soviet physics was superior to the Dutch one.you should have gone to study in the ussr to get rid of your religious prejudices. [offensive remarks deleted]
materialism or idealism? you knew beauty was being materialised,so was science.
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