Sex i Grad

what is the point of the sex and the city columns? why can't they ever be written by -- guys? why it has to be a hot chick that writes about sex. and why, in this particular case, it has to be a chick that thinks she is hot and that her hotness is everything and all?! i don't care how hot mona might be and i don't care what do horny truck drivers and bus drivers think about her. how about she writes about the pick up trends and pick up strategies in the belgrade, hot pick up places and unsafe sex? that's sex and the city column .. .not a column screaming "i'm hot and that's it".

Ona I can't recognise this description of Belgrade's men. Most of Belgrade's men prefer to hang out in smoke filled betting shops than chat with women or you might be able to find them filling their ample stomachs in a kafana (again with no sign of women)... If its attention from attractive men that you are seeking which you don't get in Toronto, you will get that in Belgrade, but that tends not to last... Its not that I don't think some of your observations are accurate, they are, but I find male worship tone here a little too much. Remember all these unsmiling women had fathers who brought them up a certain way.

bganon do you honestly think there is a queue of Serbian girls waiting to come to meet the likes of you? NO, I DON'T THINK SO I miss Belgrade! Ziveli

Dear Krenar, if you even have to ask 'what's the point?' well then you’re really missing ‘it’, and that is saying enough in itself. Unfortunately for you, others don't feel quite the same way. Statistics show that my column has 5 times more views than your blog, and your bounce rate is really high (that's people who go to your blog and then leave immediately). More readers continue to read our website after reading my piece than do after reading yours. Believe it or not Krenar, sex is important to other people. And, if you want, I would be more than pleased to have you rant from a 'guy's perspective' for one week - it might even be therapeutic for you. And for the record, I don't think I'm hot, I know I am.

There's a lot in this column that does not make sense, and that without getting into the author's assertion about the 'hotness' of Serb men aside (to each their own). I am personally particularly puzzled by the statement that in her hometown of Toronto, "you usually have to wait a week to see just one decent looking guy" -- it is a common assumption among Serb women between 25 and 40 that all the smart, educated, cute, liberal-minded men we'd deem as 'a catch' or 'husband material' are, wait for it, IN TORONTO, a result of 1990s draft avoidance and the brain drain. How did the author miss them all these years, only to be enthralled by the also-rans back in Belgrade? Maybe the discrepancy is down to the author's standards, which considering her shout-out to gym-rat meatheads, bus drivers and armed men in uniform, are not what one might call exacting. Nevertheless, if the author took a moment to reflect on the situation she describes above, she too might take to the moaning so beloved by her Serbian sisters: after a year and a half in the capital, she is describing the lifestyle of a woman still single, and getting so desperate as to think that being handed a free drink (no conversation, no chat-up lines, no phone numbers, no date!) means she is 'getting attention'. Oy Vey!

I forgot to also to add that, after reading Mona's response to Krenar, I established, beyond reasonable doubt, Mona's writing depths. Mona, I'm really sorry but if the likes of you are the ones that increase the amount of Balkan Insight readers (I still stubbornly believe is reporting of real and important stuff that does it), I will leave this website for good. Please don't take credit off of reporters who really do a job over here, who report real concerns based on real facts. I do know Canada is boring, especially Toronto, but for crying out loud don't take the Balkans peoples lightly. You will risk, as you already are, being made fun of, something that you actually really deserve.

"it is a common assumption among Serb women between 25 and 40 that all the smart, educated, cute, liberal-minded men we'd deem as 'a catch' or 'husband material' are, wait for it, IN TORONTO, a result of 1990s draft avoidance and the brain drain." Those men are now too old for Mona, who looks younger than those who left back in 1991-1999. Second, their numbers aren't near as much as in Belgrade and their percentage of the entire Toronto area is low. Plus, the Serb diaspora is known to put on weight when they leave the Balkans. They start eating all the junk food and get less exercise and tend to become less and less attractive as the years go by. As for krenar, nothing is stopping him from writing his own column. He complains that it's only women writing these - well, let the men step up to the plate and express their opinion. Additionally he is wrongly accusing her of claiming the article is all about her looks and it is not. It is about the men in Belgrade. She is only saying that she gets their attention because she isn't caught up in a circle of women only looking at and chatting amongst themselves, while never smiling.

Mona, I enjoyed reading your article and I am in agreement with many of your comments and observations regarding the men and women of Belgrade. I too was impressed and also slightly taken aback by the response I received from men while I was in Belgrade many years ago. They were definitely more "manly". Compared to their North American counterparts, specifically Canadian men (in cities like Toronto, London, Windsor), Serbian men overall from my observations and experience, showed a world of difference in their approach towards women in terms of their chilvary and gentlemanliness. They were also much more direct (i.e. if they like you, you will know it immediately, they won't play the waiting game). The women in Belgrade were very beautiful but many looked very miserable and unapproachable. But as a Serbian woman myself, I think that is just in our constitution and upbringing (i.e. take care of your appearance, look attractive, have pride and don't appear too interested or eager to meet a man -let the man approach you, make him work to get your attention). As far as Toronto is conerned the men altogether from my experience, seemed demasculinized and aloof.

If Ona Mona of Canada thinks that Belgrade men are more good-looking than men in Canada, I would like to endorse what George Bernard Shaw once said: Serbian women are the most beautiful in the world! I lived in Belgrade for a year during the academic year 2004-2005. I turned into a rubber-neck everytime a Serbian woman passed me by, tall, beautiful and sexy.