My "raised eyebrow" detector recently alerted me to the fact that there seems to be alot of ethnic Italian women dating aussie rules footballers (serves me right for reading the tabloids I guess).
Now admittedly some of these women may just have Italian sounding names without being "culturally" Italian, but the numbers involved still appear to be quite high?
The reason I mention this is that you rarely (if ever?) hear of an ethnic Greek woman dating/marrying a famous aussie rules footballer, but there doesn't seem to be any such "taboo" with Italians?
Why is that, and what does this tell us about (Australian born) Greek women, in comparison with their cultural cousins from Italy?
Whilst the straight comparison between Greeks and Italians is, in my opinion, easy to explain (the Italians have assimilated much more than the Greeks), the reason why such a high degree of Italian women are linked to AFL players is unknown.
ReplyDeleteCan it be that as the Anglo West female population has developed a self-reliance that is not acceptable to 'traditional' males who want to be the bread winner?
Result? Anglo men on the lower end of the scale get 'traditional' Asian women, whereas Anglo men at the higher end (AFL footballers) get 'traditional' Southern European women.
Excpet for Greek women who somehow have not fallen for the banal stupified cult world of AFL.
Savvas Tzionis
Often, comparisons are made between Italians and Greeks. Ouna fatsa, ouna ratsa and all that. Of course, there are many cultural similarities but there a significant differences. Some of those similarities may be leveled somewhat in the melting pot of Australia. Some of the differences are: the Greek emphasis on language and education; more clearly defined Greek identity (there are not the regional differences found in Italy); and the relative isolation created by Greek Orthodoxy (there are sister Churches in Serbs and Russians but Italian Catholics are much closer to Maltese and Spanish Catholics). There are more but what I am trying to say that one cannot make comparisons so easily without taking these differences into account.
ReplyDeleteThis particular blog was quite tongue in cheek, but I do suspect that quite a few of those WAGS with "Italian" names are actually Maltese?
ReplyDeleteA couple of others to add to the list.
ReplyDeleteCasey Stoner's first interaction with his Italo-Australian wife was when she asked him to sign her abdomen! Hmmm...
And Glenn McGrath's Italo-American wife who was arrested for drink driving during the week.
BTW... they got married at foot of Mt Etna in Sicily. Is that the equivalent of Greeks getting married in Santorini?
Savvas Tzionis
Gee, you really have been keeping up with the tabloid news lately? lol
ReplyDeleteRead Casey Stoner's wikidedia profile.
ReplyDeleteHe met her when she was 16 in 2005! And married her two years later!
you do realise that I have no idea who Casey Stoner is?
ReplyDeleteHe is a Flintstone character!! LOL
ReplyDeleteOr is that Stoney Curtis? :)