Buzz
A mail-order bride refers to a woman who publicly expresses her interest in marrying a man from a different—often wealthier—country. Historically, the term was used to describe women who appeared in catalogs for men to choose as potential spouses. While some couples involved women from European countries marrying men in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries, others were within the same country. This list highlights ten interesting facts you may not know about the phenomenon of mail-order brides.
10. The Sweet Escape
It's a common misconception that Russian brides are desperate women seeking to marry a foreigner—especially an American—in hopes of escaping Russia and starting a new life. However, this view is mostly inaccurate. Russia has an imbalanced gender ratio, with roughly 8 men for every 10 women in a culture where marriage is highly valued. As a result, many Russian women are driven to search for husbands beyond their borders. As one mail-order bride agency puts it: '[Russian Brides] behave as though you were just another man who might approach her at a bar, where she can say 'yes' if she's interested or 'no thanks' if she's not.'
9. The Risks Involved
Becoming a mail-order bride can come with significant risks. There have been at least four documented instances where American men have brutally murdered their mail-order brides. However, it is not just one-sided; there is also a case where a mail-order bride killed her American husband. Before entering into a mail-order marriage, it is important to carefully examine the reasons why your future spouse is choosing this route to find a partner. While you may be fortunate enough to meet someone seeking a fresh start, you could also become one of the tragic cases. Here’s one such story:
Anastasia King, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, was tragically found strangled and buried in a shallow grave in Washington state in December 2000. At just 18, Anastasia had received an email from a 38-year-old Seattle man, Indle King, through a mail-order bride website. He traveled to her country, and they were married shortly thereafter. Two years later, after significant marital issues, Indle sought another bride. Allegedly unwilling to pay for a divorce, he instructed a tenant in their Washington home to murder Anastasia. Indle, weighing nearly 300 pounds, pinned Anastasia down as the tenant strangled her with a necktie. Both men were convicted of murder.
8. Divorce Rates
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), marriages arranged through mail-order bride services tend to have a lower divorce rate compared to the national average. In fact, about 80 percent of these marriages have endured for the years for which data is available. Additionally, the USCIS reports that mail-order bride and e-mail correspondence services facilitate around 4,000 to 6,000 marriages between U.S. men and foreign women annually.
7. The American Frontier
The idea of mail-order brides dates back to the American frontier in the mid-1800s. As men from the Eastern United States moved West to claim land, start farms, establish businesses, and search for gold, they found financial success but struggled with a lack of female companionship. With very few women residing in the West, these men were left with no other option but to reach out to women in the East. They would send letters to churches and place personal ads in magazines and newspapers. In return, the women would correspond and send photographs.
6. Picture Brides
The modern trend of online dating, where people connect with potential partners through a photo and a brief bio, is not a recent development. This practice dates back to the 'Picture Bride Period' between 1908 and 1924, when thousands of immigrant women moved to Hawaii to marry plantation workers. These women were selected through photographs and family recommendations, and over 20,000 arrived in Hawaii during this period. The majority were from Japan, with some coming from Korea. Upon arrival, these women met their husbands at the immigration station in Honolulu Harbor. Many of the men were much older than their brides, and in some cases, the photos sent to them were misleading. Some men even used photos of younger, more attractive friends to deceive their brides. The hopes these women had for a better life were often dashed when they arrived at rundown homes and were forced to work on the plantations. In 1924, Japan stopped issuing passports for picture brides, which effectively ended the practice.
5. Strange Education
Johns Hopkins University offers a course called 'Mail Order Brides: Understanding the Philippines in Southeast Asian Context,' which aims to explore Filipino kinship and gender. It's unclear why anyone would be drawn to studying this subject, but evidently, there must be some demand for it.
4. Negative Attitudes
Since 2003, the Australian Federal Government's determination to reduce what was seen as 'unsuitable immigration' under Prime Minister John Howard has intensified. The initial response to the initiative was mixed, but the Australian public gradually supported these policies after the media uproar surrounding the Jana Klintoukh case. This controversy erupted when the current events show Today Tonight broadcast footage of a young Russian-born Australian woman, claiming she was brought to Australia through an online service and forced into sexual slavery by her 'husband', confined to his Sydney residence.
3. Deceptive Advertising
On November 18, 2004, a federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland awarded Ukrainian mail-order bride Nataliya Fox $433,500 ($341,000 of which were punitive damages) against international marriage broker Encounters International and its Russian immigrant owner, Natasha Spivack (pictured above). Spivack orchestrated Nataliya’s marriage to an American man with a history of violently mistreating women. After being matched with Nataliya, he continued to abuse her throughout their marriage. The jury found the marriage broker guilty of fraud, unfair and deceptive business practices, willful negligence, unauthorized use of Ms. Fox’s name and likeness, and defamation. The jury held the mail-order bride company (Natasha Spivak) accountable for not informing Nataliya about a federal law allowing foreign nationals to escape abusive marriages without the risk of automatic deportation, and for misleading her about her legal rights. The jury also found EI (Natasha Spivak) liable for falsely claiming to screen male clients when it did not and for using Nataliya’s marriage to Mr. Fox as a so-called EI 'success' story without her consent, even after she fled to a domestic violence shelter.
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2. Massive Profits
The mail-order bride industry generates significant profits. In Taiwan, mail-order brides are mainly from Mainland China and Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. Women from Vietnam typically range from 20 to 28 years old. Taiwanese men spend an average of US$10,000 on these marriages, but only US$500 to US$1,000 reaches the bride’s family, with the majority of the money going to the marriage brokers representing the groom and bride. This leaves an extremely high profit margin.
1. Mail-Order Husbands
The Philippines has prohibited the practice of arranging or facilitating marriages between Filipino women and foreign men. In response to reports in the local media of Filipinas suffering abuse from their foreign husbands, the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 6955, known as the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law, in 1990. As a result, many Filipinas now use 'reverse publications'—publications in which men advertise themselves—to connect with foreign men for marriage on behalf of the Filipinas.
