Mail Order Feminism
Publication Date
2013
Document Type
Paper
Abstract
Increasingly, working class and lower class men are unable to marry. As their financial prospects have declined, so has their marriageability. American women, whose financial and educational prospects have improved during this same period, are now rejecting relationships with men they no longer view as their equals and this trend is creating a large class of unwilling bachelors. Mail order marriage provides a solution. Mail order marriages provide men with a pathway to marriage and, contrary to popular stereotypes, these marriages are also beneficial for the women.
This article will show that assumptions about spousal abuse in mail order marriages are unsupported and that U.S. law provides effective protections for mail order brides. Moreover, this article will show how, rather than attracting vulnerable and desperate women, mail order marriages empower women. In fact, this article will argue that these foreign brides should be recognized as feminists and not victims. In addition, this article will examine American’s widespread aversion to mail order marriages and consider what this reaction says about modern perceptions of love and marriage.
Recommended Citation
Preprint version 2013.