Internet Mail-Order Brides:
Final Research Project
Cesar Ortiz
English
Due: May 29, 2007

Internet Mail-Order Brides
• Internet Mail-Order Brides are women who wish to leave their
home countries for a variety of reasons. Dreaming of all they
know they could have but being limited in many ways some
women decide to find “love” and marry their way into a new
life.
• The Internet Mail-Order Bride industry is very complex, like
many other businesses, there are different types and situations.
Of course there are success stories of good men finding good
women and developing a great relationship and marriage.
• There are the failures though, many men and women in these
types of situations face hardships that lead to the complete
opposite of what they had begun to look for in the beginning of
the process.

Where it all began…
• The mail-order bride industry is
not new.
• This type of arrangement has
been around for many centuries.
• These types of marriage
arrangements date back to the
frontier days, when men would
travel across the country for work
and would try to seek a wife or
companion by advertising
themselves in a variety of ways.
These men would then take on a
wife who they did not know but
who was also looking for a
husband who might be able to
offer them a better way of life.

Reasons Men Seek Mail Order Brides
• Men become discouraged after searching for a woman from
their own culture and finding nothing.
• Aging
• The promise that they will find true happiness and romance
through the business.
• Curiosity
• The potential possibility of finding a mate who is of a different
culture where a man/husband is treated like a king.
• Older men start to doubt the possibility of having a family and
begin to look for alternatives in doing so.

The Booming Industry
• The mail-order bride industry that
many people are familiar with was
typically a situation where men could
meet women from other countries who
were interested in getting married and
moving to a new country.
• The ways in which a man who is
interested in the mail-order bride
industry has changed it is no longer an
industry that is conducted through the
mail, however that has changed there
are new ways.
• The companies who are responsible
for these types of situations are
developing new ways to make them
happen, such as the internet, which has
made the market boom.

Reasons Why Women Want to be
Internet Mail-Order Brides
• Women in under privileged countries see the potential
life they could have if they become a mail-order bride.
• Promises of a new life with a promised perfect
husband.
• The gender problems women face in other countries.
• Financial security for their families and themselves.
• Safety for their children.
• Education possibilities.

Where Do The Women Come From?
• Internet Mail-Order Brides come from • Popular places where internet mail-
all around the world. order come from:
• The most popular places for internet -The Philippines
mail-order brides are places where -China
women are secondary, treated poorly -Russia
and unhappy.
-Colombia
• Another common trait between the
-Costa Rica
places where internet mail-order brides
come from is poverty and financial -Canada
instability. -Ukraine
-India
• Internet Mail-Order brides come from
many different places around the
world, those listed above are examples
but are not the only countries.

Potential Problems For Mail-Order
Brides
• Women who are migrated over to a new country to marry their
new husbands can be at great risk for abuse.
• Some men are not properly investigated and the women so not
know if these men are a threat to them.
• Abuse is a very key possibility in these arrangements, some
women are abused repeatedly by their spouses and their lives
are endangered continuously.
• A common problem that comes with abuse is that the men think
they are in control of the women because they helped them
come into the new country so they in turn want exactly what
they thought they were going to get, if the women is not exactly
what they thought abuse is a key reaction.

What Causes The Problems
• Causes of abuse against internet
mail-order brides:
-Culture differences
-Language barriers
-Men get angry if their new
wife is not all that they thought
they were getting
-Problems with other family
members
-Disagreements about
children
-Age differences
-Husbands want control
over their new wives
-Violent past

After the Abuse Begins
• Many of the abuse women who
got married as internet mail-order
brides, decide to stay after they
have got abused for different
reasons such as:
-Fear of Deportation
-Fear of being killed
-Fears for their children
-Being alone in a new place
where they might not no anyone
besides their husband
-Many of the women are not
educated about their rights in the
new countries they move to

Who is Typically A Husband
• Men who are looking for
an internet male-order
bride have typically the
following traits:
-Older in age
-Financially secure
and stable
-White

The Typical Process
• There are different ways in
which men can find an
internet mail order bride:
-Visiting a promised
country where brides are
available
-Correspondence with a
paired individual
-Catalog
-Face-to face agency
help with “specialists”

Internet Mail-Order Brides as a
Business
• The Internet Mail-Order Bride industry has changed dramatically from
what many people think it is.
• As a business people companies try to promote their match making skills
and success stories.
• These businesses do not educate the women as they should for them to
know what risks they could face, like in other businesses the risks are not
publicized.
• The women are recruited by recruiters going into their countries and
pursuing them filling their heads with promises of what could be.
• The men who are looking for mail-order brides are also made promises.
• The companies try to make sure that their companies are protect
themselves because they act as a match-making service, they promise that
men will meet someone, once the couple is married they have no
involvement so if anything illegal happens they are not responsible.

Success Stories
• There are situations where Internet Mail-Order brides
do get what they are promised.
• Some couples who find each other through this type of
arrangement are happy.
• There are agencies who do take their role in this
process seriously and take the proper precautions
necessary in making sure that the women are not a risk
or danger.
• In the success stories, men and women are married and
start a family without any complications or problems.

Internet Mail Order Brides Today
• Today the mail-order bride industry has changed from what it has been in
the past:
-The industry is thriving over the internet, which is turning out to be
a very successful expansion.
-The industry is becoming more widespread as places around the
world are struggling with poverty.
-More women are being convinced into becoming mail-order brides
because they want to escape the problems they face in their home
countries.
-Women are looking for different ways to come to countries such as
the United States to have a better future and to make better lives for their
families.
-Men are looking for easier and more “secure” ways to find what
they are looking for in a mate.
-Companies are promoting new ways to get more people involved in
these types of arrangements in order to make money.

The Politics of the Mail-Order Bride
Industry
• Today Congress is trying to help the women who are involved
in these types of arrangements because of the murders of mail-
order brides that have occurred over recent years.
• It is difficult for the government to protect these women but
they are trying to find ways to protect them.
• Immigration Naturalization Service (INS) is also trying to pass
different laws and amendments in order to serve as a protection
for these women.
• Two major problems that prevent women from getting help are
that they are afraid of being deported and also that they are
unaware of their rights.
• One way that women are being helped in these situations is by
the many shelters that hospitals and other outlets are offering
these abused women.

What Can Be Done
• Women need to be educated about
their rights as new citizens in their
new countries.
• Women need to be educated on what
they can do if abuse occurs.
• Men need to be investigated more
thoroughly as a precaution.
• The companies who partake in these
types of match making should be
under a more intense microscope.
• Congress and law makers should pass
more laws in order to prevent and
protect all parties involved in these
types of arrangements.
• The companies should play a more
active role after the marriage has been
done, they should keep close contact
with the couples to help in ensuring
safety for the women.

What I’ve Learned…
• Through my research for this project I have learned a things that I was not
aware of:
-How popular this industry is
-How many people are involved
-The problems that women face in their homelands that leads them to
this decision
-The little that is done to help protect these women once they are
placed with their new husbands
-The abuse that these women endure
• It is truly an eye-opener to see that in order to have a better life women feel
they have no other way to a better life than to trust a stranger and leave all
that they no behind
• One of the most important thing that I learned through this project is that
there should be more ways for men and women to be happy, and people
around the world should take a more active role in helping women and
even men who are faced with such difficult lives that they feel they have
no other way out.

Works Cited
• Anderson, Michelle. “A License To Abuse: The Impact of Conditional Status on Female
Immigrants.” Male Order Brides and the Abuse of Immigrant Women. April
1993.The Yale Law Journal. 20 May 2007.
<http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/anderson/brides/pg1.html>
• CBS News. “Mail-Order Bride Bill in Works.” CBS News. 5 July 2003. The Associated
Press. 21 May 2007.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/05/politics/main561828.shtml>
• Hainsworth, Jeremy. \"Canada - Mail Order Brides Face Exploitation in Canada
Research.\" 8 October 2006. Mail Order Brides Face Exploitation in Canada. 6
November 2006. HumanTrafficking.org. 21 May
2007.<http://www.humantrafficking.org/updates/465>
• Hansen, Jane. “Mail-order bride business is popular, controversial.” 07 December 2001. The
Atlantic-Journal Constitution. 20 May
2007.<http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/breaking/1204/08bride.html>
• “Russian Mail Order Bride Case Study.” Trade and Environmental Database Case Studies.
20 May 2007. <http://www.american.edu/TED/bride.htm>
• Wikipedia. “Mail-order Bride.” 22 May 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail-
order_bride>