Despite the sophistication that the Internet has
brought to mail order bride
dating, the perception of the mail order bride
business is still confused with the century old practice of
“buying” a mail order bride
sight unseen from a catalog. Therefore the phrase “mail
order brides” carries a stigma that robs mail
order brides of their dignity and the mail order bride
industry of some of its credibility. Also, the former practice
of printing mail order catalogs of marriage-minded women
continues to cast a shadow on the legitimacy of the modern mail
order bride business.
A short history of the mail order bride
catalog industry
The mail order bride
catalogs of today bear little resemblance to their
precursors of old. The practice of searching for a bride by
post started among early settlers in the New World who,
troubled by the lack of eligible women in their new
settlement, would write back to their homeland in the hope of
securing a wife. Early Japanese and other Asian immigrants
sought the help of relatives or matchmakers back home in their
search for Asian brides. The choice of Asian bride was
sometimes based on photos and a few letters exchanged between
the bride and the man, thus giving birth to the term “picture
brides.”
Origin of the term “mail order
brides”
It is easy to see why the mail order bride
catalog business gets a bad rap. The phrase “mail
order brides” is a gross misrepresentation of the actual
process that goes into searching for brides by mail. A mail
order bride is not something that is ordered through a
catalog and airmailed to the paying customer. The misleading
mail
order bride misnomer originated from mail order bride
agencies’ practice of printing and distributing by mail
catalogs of foreign women seeking a suitable husband from the
west. Based on published photos and profiles, the men would
then choose which mail order brides
they wished to correspond with. The mail order bride
agency furnishes the interested men with the information
necessary to initiate correspondence. In some cases, a mail
order bride catalog went a step further by arranging the
actual meeting between the man and the prospective mail order
bride.
The mail order bride
agency as matchmaker
In effect, the mail order bride catalog assumes the role of
matchmaker in the bride search process. For a certain fee, a
mail
order bride agency supplies their male clients with the
names and addresses of preferred women selected from the mail
order bride catalog for the purpose of correspondence. The
fee covers the cost of collecting information on the mail
order brides, printing and mailing and catalog. In no way
is payment made for the mail order bride. Furthermore, the mail
order bride agency does not coerce women into becoming mail
order brides. The mail order brides
themselves volunteer their names and addresses to mail
order bride catalogs, in the hope of finding a good
husband.
The mail order bride
catalog shakes off its shadowy image
What’s in a name? To the mail order bride
industry, a mountain of distorted perceptions and half-truths.
Since the inception of the first mail order bride
catalog, the stain of the “mail order brides”
phrase has been difficult to wash off. In an attempt to
correct misconceptions about mail order bride
agencies, the mail order bride
industry describes itself more appropriately as: international
introduction services, international dating agencies, or
international matchmaking agencies. These terms are a more
valid description of how mail order bride
agencies function today. The mail order bride
catalog has also taken the initiative of policing its ranks by
exposing scammers and frauds. Additionally, mail order brides
and their prospective husbands themselves benefit from the
increased efficiency and sophistication of Internet-based mail
order bride catalogs. Communication has become more
immediate and information more freely available, thereby
reducing the odds of becoming victimized by those few who are
using the mail order bride
catalog industry to make a quick buck.
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