even if what you say is true (I do not know enough about American immigration to argue that) it does not mean that this is not a problem. These companies exist which by basic logic proves that somewhere there is a market. Just because a problem may not be apparent on our home soil does not mean it does not exist or that it is not a problem. I had no problem finding this offer, and your it is not happening in western civilizations mentality is ignorant. I have worked with many women who have been brought to our country to be bought and abused, although they have not come in through a mail order bride service. 
But in the end buying people is wrong. Whether it be through a company or a pimp. The world is bigger than your backyard. And yes sir it does exist. 

I believe the concern here has NOTHING to do with a woman making a poor decision and ending up in a "bad marriage" but EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING of women that takes place on a daily basis all over the world and is facilitated by the mail-order-bride rackets.  How unbelievably ignorant your statements are!  I am in awe!

I too am in awe of the ignorance of Mr. (I'm assuming) Teflon Expat.  It is a sorry state of affairs when the purchasing of a human life is defended by anyone. 

If you honestly believe that these practices are not exploitative, I invite you to educate yourself.  Go to http://www.protectionproject.org/commentary/brides.htm.  It is the Protection Project through Johns Hopkins University, one of the most respected educational institutions in the United States.  Be opening to realizing that this is the reality of what people are experiencing.
If you continue to defend it, that says a lot about you.

Apparently this witch hunt was launched at anger over Vietnam Brides International based on a news story here:http://divaasia.com/article/3812

But it seems that the reporter, like many reporters, sensationalized the business practices of this agency.  They help arrange marriages for $8,000, but the impression given is that the woman is being sold.  Naturally the reporter did not interview any of these women, because then she could not write this story. Moreover, the male customers of this service are Chinese, Taiwanese and other Chinese.  The article never mentions this, because reporter Crystal Chan has low integrity and she wanted American feminists to get angry at this practice believing it be ubiquitous.
Regarding IMBRA, here is some revealing truths about the law: 

http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2006/0111.html

Regarding the "scholarship" by Michelle Clark and cited by the protectionproject.org, Clark writes:
“Many matchmaking websites advertise their mail-order brides (implicitly, or in some cases, explicitly) as submissive, docile, faithful and loving domesticated wives who are looking to build a traditional, old fashioned home in which they will cater to their man. It is not unlikely that the men who choose to pursue the search for a wife through the mail-order bride path might be looking for just such a woman. It is also likely that a man who is seeking out a submissive woman is not seeking an equal partnership, but rather a relationship of dominance and control.v It is further likely that a man who marries a bride from a mail-order match will expect her to fit this stereotype. However, stereotypes are unlikely to reflect the reality of the personalities of even a minority of the women which they advertise. It then becomes likely that if a wife turns out not to “live up” to the advertised standard, the husband, who was seeking control in a relationship, might turn to abuse in order force the wife to live up to that standard. While little research has been done to investigate this issue, the little information available does point to the fact that men seeking mail-order brides might indeed be searching for the stereotyped women.” 

It is clear that she views the men as domineering and controlling.  Much of this seems to be derived from her interpretation of specific international dating agency web sites.  She is of the impression that the sites present the women in a derogatory manner.  In addition, she deduces from the web sites that the men who use the services of those agencies are likely to harbor views similar to the ones that she saw advertised.   In fact, her deductions are merely inferences based upon what she saw on the Internet, and how she interpreted that information.

Has the feminist lobby presented one methodologically sound study that has even made an attempt to assess the motivations of the men who pursue foreign women?   Apparently Ms Clark is concerned that the men are looking for submissive wives.  Well, lets assume that that is true.  On what basis is that evidence that the man will abuse his wife?  If things don’t work out as planned, there is an assumption that the man will beat up his wife.  On what is this presumption based? Could it not be equally possible that the man may just leave his wife when things do not work out as planned?  This whole mentality seems to assume that when men do not get their way, they become violent.  What is this presumption based upon?   There is ample evidence that women are just as likely to be guilty of violence in domestic relationships as men.  There is a growing body of literature that clearly refutes the notion that men are the sole cause of domestic violence.  

There are no reliable statistics that exist to make a claim about the potential for abuse in these relationships one way or the other.  The point is that the feminist lobby simply assumes that something is true based upon some anecdotal observations and their own presumptions.  

Regarding the linking of international matchmaking (US based) to trafficking:
Nice try.  It has been tried before, numerous times.  Our government refused to regulate the pursuit of foreign dates in the TVPA or label the concept as trafficking.  From time to time, the feminist lobby is placated by the Feds but there are some smart important people in the government and they know where to draw the line.  Match.com is owned by Ticketmaster and is the largest supplier of foreign women's contact information to American men.  Follow the money.

There has been more and more awareness raised, even in legislative bodies, about the exploitative practice of mail order brides. Here's another link to an interesting article by Harvard University:
http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~perspy/issues/2002/nov/mae.html

Can you visualize a woman from the Phillipines paying $8000 to purchase a husband?  Or for that matter, can you visualize a US woman paying for a husband from the Phillipines?  The reason you don't see this is because of the power base in the relationship.  As a general rule, men hold the power base in relationships, and that is supported by our society.  In virtually every society, this is the case, rather than the sexes having equal power. 

The other consideration is money.  Someone from an impoverished culture may be tempted by the chance to "get on her feet."  It is very easy for an abuser to then isolate that person, who is unfamiliar with the culture and language, and to control her every move.  He can also control her financially, sexually, and in pretty much every conceivable way.  This is why you don't see women from the US being purchased by men in impoverished countries through a legally sanctioned channel. 

You mentioned match.com and some of those types of sites.  One fundamental difference is that they are not charging $8000 just to go and meet somebody.  Why would someone need to pay this sort of money just to meet someone, unless there were more to it?  If I was intent on marrying someone from the Phillipines (which is obsessive and weird in and of itself), why could I not use $8000 and go move there?  I'll tell you why.  Because then I would not be the one in control, I would be no longer on my home turf and would be the outsider.  At least on match.com, both parties are generally on fairly equal footing, compared to the mail order brides practice.

The people who wrote the articles you mentioned are not basing their writings on blind assumption.  There is plenty of documented evidence that this sort of thing attracts a certain profile of user.  There is plenty of documented evidence throughout the international community of a PATTERN of very serious abuses of women and children who have immigrated here by means of mail order bride services, to the point where in some countries, this has been outlawed.

I don't think it's sexist, or a stretch, to believe that a guy who has to resort to purchasing a wife from a different country may have some social issues.

I think it's extremely careless to act like anyone who is concerned about the welfare of these women is sensationalizing anything, or conducting a "witch hunt."  You can go on believing what you choose, but statistics do not support your beliefs.

Romy, the link you cite is to an article by Mae Bunagan.  She thinks that the “mail order bride” industry is essentially a form of prostitution.  In her mind it is completely degrading to women. She has made it quite clear that she would like to see the entire industry outlawed.
She has an even lower opinion of the men who use such agencies.  In her mind the male clients of the “mail order bride” agencies are nothing more than domineering “pigs” that are likely to be abusive in relationships.  She doesn’t provide any substantiating statistics to justify her belief, other than some anecdotal stories of abuse.  Apparently the belief itself is sufficient evidence to establish the reality of her claims. 

Apparently, Ms Bunagan believes that any man who wants to marry a homemaker is a controlling individual, and will likely be a wife beater as well.  She also seems to believe that such a relationship is skewed to empower the man.  Apparently, in her mind, any “traditional” relationship is based upon inequality, and as such should not be tolerated in society.

These concepts clearly indicate what is a strong driving force behind the feminist movements attack on the international dating agencies.  It can be seen that the feminists believe that the industry is introducing ideas into America’s political culture that adversely impacts what they believe the relationships between men and women here in the United States should be.  Add on top of this their willingness to impose their own beliefs upon others, and you can see a disturbing trend.  

It isn’t so much a concern about the foreign women that seems to be motivating these individuals as much as a personal dislike for the perceived message of the “mail order bride” industry.  In addition, they are concerned about the potential impact that the industry will have on the manner in which men and women interact here in the United States.  It is a desire to uphold the feminist paradigm of relationships that seems to be their primary motivation. 

These sentiments clearly indicate that the feminist lobby will probably not be satisfied with the excessive and cumbersome restrictions that IMBRA imposes upon American men and foreign women who seek to communicate with one another through international introduction agencies.  One wonders what further legislative proposals will be proposed by the feminist lobby to deal with the international introduction agencies.

On to the next topic you raise.
No, I cannot imagine that a foreign man would have a romantic reason to pursue an American woman, no matter who is paying for the plane fare.  Your ilk does not have the best reputation among men of the world.  Whether that is well deserved is uncertain, but that is the perception. Also, its a good bet that nearly all American women would not pursue a foreign man with the rare exception of someone from Western Europe. Foreign romance is almost exclusively for American men.  Unless you have EVIDENCE to the contrary, it is not about power.  It is about desire and attraction and compatibility.  
Then you mention the notion of money.
Mature female adults make decisions about whom to date for many reasons.  Whether foreign or domestic, those reasons are surprisingly similar. You make assumptions about the potential for men to abuse a woman due to her lack of cultural knowledge or language or money.  Its a fact that you have no evidence of that trend.  To date, no feminist has provided evidence of such a trend despite being repeatedly asked to produce it. Lastly, it is laughable to even imagine a man who is surrounded by wonderful women in his home country to seek, of all things, a woman from the US.  Also, please provide EVIDENCE that men are "purchasing" women from anywhere.  What exactly do you mean by "purchase."  Please be the very first person to actually explain that.
Next topic
ONLY Vietnam Brides International has a membership fee that high.  VBI is NOT an American site.  It does NOT cater to American men.  Are we clear about that now? Nevertheless, please explain how VBI manages to "sell" a person.  
All US based and most foreign based international dating site including
www.match.com/matchus/international/index.aspx
charge small membership fees that, by the way, can be paid for with ANY credit card.  Are you gonna write to MasterCard too?  Good luck.  ALL dating sites that feature foreign women operate the SAME way: they provide a platform for two mature adult people to communicate with one another.  How is Match.com different from Scanna.com?
You are so hung up on this idea of control.  Okay. Lets go with that.  Now, provide the EVIDENCE that men who are seeking foreign romance partners are seeking control.  Yeah, that's what I thought.  Oh, and by the way, MANY American men are moving to SE Asia, Central and South America because they are beautiful and free places to live in, and yes, it does not hurt to be surrounded by an endless selection of NON-feminist young slim incomparable women. American women would do it too, if some desirable situation was available to them.  But its not.  Life is not fair.  Get over it.
So, just where is this "plenty of documented evidence" you mention regarding US based matchmakers?  Show me this "pattern" and not just a few isolated cases from the past 15 years. Be the first to do so and be famous!
How is the guy "purchasing a wife" especially when the only purchase is a postal or email address or for a personal introduction.  Tell me, so I can go purchase a wife.
What statistics????  Please change my beliefs but I need those statistics!!!

Teflon & Vincent,

I am at such a loss . . . all I can say is I will be praying for you guys.

As men, I wish you could imagine being the father or brother of one of these poor young women that get talked into participating in the whole mail-order-bride business believing in the promises of a better life in another country only to find themselves prisioners or slaves to the men they are promised to, or worse, prostitutes in so called "massage" parlors or the like for the rest of their lives being raped and beaten on a daily basis.

Would you want that for your daughter or sister or mother?  If not, how could you endorse this practice?  NEVERMIND, don't answer!  I'm sure you'll have an excuse.  If you were halfway decent men you wouldn't be considering buying a woman from overseas anyway . . . you'd already be happily otherwise committed in your own country!  GOOD LUCK

Korinne - I would not nor would any man in the US "endorse" such a practice if it actually existed.  In fact, we would do whatever possible to stop the practice and make sure it never again happened. Please provide the evidence that there is a trend of women from foreign countries immigrating to the US within the context of the "mail order bride business" (unclear as to what that is exactly) and these women have become prisoners, slaves, prostitutes, beaten, raped.  Just who is promising these women to these men?  Again, how does someone "buy" a woman from overseas?  You must have some knowledge of this and maybe you can share it with me because no matter how hard I try, I can't get anyone to sell me a woman.  As a "halfway decent man" don't you think I deserve better than a woman from my own country?

This will be my last post to this thread, regardless of your response, because, thank God, Diner's Club came to their senses.

I am sorry you have not been able to find someone who meets your non-feminist standard in the United States.  I think I can see why, and I understand if you are intimidated by feminist women.  Or for that matter maybe you have the idea that feminists are a bunch of pushy mean people.  That's okay too, we're just actually women who know we're as good as men in every conceivable way.  If you disagree with that, then no woman in any country should have to put up with you.
When match.com starts charging $8000 just to meet someone, I will know that they, too, are doing more than just introducing people.
You can believe what you choose, it's a free country (unlike some of the countries these exploited women come from).  I wish you well.

Orz, logic does not work with feminists, especially on this "issue."  To them, all women must conform to the Western or American paradigm of what constitutes a male/female relationship.  They do not care about the happiness or welfare of Asian women; however, they seem VERY concerned when American men show a desire for traditional women and actually pursue and marry them.  Emotion trumps logic.

Seriously, it's no better than the crusaders. These people are so caught up with their own self-righteousness that they lose sight of the broader world around them and become more narrow-minded than the people whom they accuse.

I'm an American and I've dated both American and Chinese woman. After dating my first Chinese girlfriend I seriously never looked back to American woman. A sorry group of self-aggrandizing, unfeminine, dumpy women who expect to get with a man much better than they themselves deserve. Sorry! I don't want a woman with penis-envy or one twice my size.

I'm happily married to a Chinese woman who I happened to meet at my place of work in China. We now have a son and are planning on moving back to the US in a couple months. While we didn't meet through a match-making organization ("mail order bride organization" as you people would call it) I fully support anyone who does wish to meet this way.

Thank you, Soo Huey Yap, for introducting reason and understanding into this conversation from the femenist side. I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

It's amazing to me how so many people on the 'culturally inclusive' Left are so out of touch with what that really means. Politically I'm pretty liberal and wouldn't be caught dead voting for a right-winger, however when it comes to my personal life I'm fairly conservative. I *do* want a 'traditional' marriage with the 'traditional' roles taken by man and wife. This idea has been so vilified by western feminists over the years that it is now instituted in our culture and it is really hard to find a woman who really just wants to be a woman. I don't have any problem with woman wanting careers, demanding equal pay, having the right to not be beaten by their husbands, etc. These issues are all besides the point. However, when a woman really *wants* to care for her family full-time it seems to be looked down upon as something demeaning. Quite the opposite. I have more respect for woman who want to *raise their own children* and who treat their husbands with *love, affection, dignity and respect* than some career-woman who ditches her family for her own personal ambitions.

Of course it's not an either-or situation either, there are lots of inbetweens. Some housewives have their own small business they run from home, some work part time while their kid is at school, etc. Families come in all shapes and colors and people come together to form union for all sorts of reasons. Understanding and embracing that is what it truly means to be Liberal.

I'm sorry I can't make sense of your post. What's this about ending up on skid row? I also don't understand where you say the "solution" is not to find a bride from another culture. There are 1000 reasons why I prefer my Asian wife, not only her willingness to take care of the family. Sorry Western women just don't do it for me.

Also you are complaining about being disabled and on welfare and wonder why you can't find a decent man. Even if your disadvantages are not your fault it doesn't mean people will overlook them. If you can't pay for the car I'm selling because you had the bad luck to get robbed I'm not going to still sell you the car. Life is hard.

"Their culture" means all of "them" including the women. We're not advocating *forced marriages* where a women does not want to be married to a particular person but is then forced to. What we are saying is that it is culturally acceptable for a marriage to be *arranged* and who are you to impose your standards of what is acceptable or not? Just because you were brought up differently doesn't make you right.

I hope you can find a guy... just be realistic and open-minded.

Many women feel like they are one divorce away from serious poverty. I don't know how many are actually at risk or not, but the fear is there. It's always going to be worse in a country where extended family support is less likely and/or the social security net is weak, like in the US. And that's one of the things that makes feminists so rabid. They can hear the wolf at the door.

While some people will always be attracted to foreign cultures, for whatever reason, it doesn't look good when men from western countries turning to more traditional wives from developing countries because they don't like how uptight western women are, instead of asking why western women are so uptight and whether western men can do anything to help.

Thinking about this, I realize that western men often want their wives to work, to help with the mortgage and general cost of living. It makes me wonder how often these mail-order brides will be expected to work outside the home.

I'm sorry if my comments wrt my disability confused you. It hadn't occured to me that people would consider disability to be something across the board. There are many of us who can't work or work much, but make great spouses and parents, because we can always tailor our home environments to suit us even when the work world is too unaccommodating. It is ironic, though, that those who *choose* to stay home are higher status than those who don't have the option of working outside the home in the first place, even when both are equally competent at home. I guess women who work are bigger fish. Is that also true for mail order brides?

about working outside vs. at home, I think it has to do with people's preferences and circumstances. While we could use a little extra money it is not really necessary for us to live well and I prefer my wife to stay at home and take of our son, cook, clean, etc.

Also, you say "instead of asking why western women are so uptight and whether western men can do anything to help" and I must ask, why?  Should we be loyal to the clan or something? I'm sorry but if you don't already have what I want I'm not going to get with you and try to change you into what I want! That's just silly and neither person would enjoy that arrangement. Also, it's not only attitudes and mindsets of Western woman that turn me off, it's also the level of physical attraction. I'm just not attracted to mass of dumpy woman out there. Asian woman are much more petite and feminine and your average Western girl just can't compare. You'll notice however that many Asian woman born in America start to become obese and dumpy themselves... it's really a shame.

And if your going to start saying shit like "your so shallow your only interested in their physical appearence blah blah" I will say get real.

*Everyone* is interested in physical appearance.