Mail-Order Brides

A couple of months ago, I had to get in touch with my About.com editors because I noticed these suspicious and questionable ads for mail-order brides appearing on the Newlyweds site. They got me thinking. When I think about mail-order brides, I get this image of poverty-stricken women from third world countries forced to marry men they barely know. Their desperation for a better life convinces them that money in exchange for marriage would be better than their current lot in life.

But I picked up an issue of Glamour from the summer recently, and I found a story about a woman who has been married to an American man who found her through a mail-order service. She describes their relationship much like friends of mine who met their spouses through an Internet dating site. However, the same article in Glamour made it clear that this woman's story was the exception and not the rule. Many mail-order brides have awful experiences, and their marriages are plagued with abuse. What do you think about mail-order brides? What would it be like to be a newlywed in mail-order marriage?