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Re:How the Internet Gave Mail-Order Brides the Power by derefr on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @09:01PM (#14199678)
If we interpret "the power" in this case to refer to bargaining power, then oddly enough, the Internet has been the worst thing for mail-order brides (and their less-remote equivalents, "sugar babies.")

Look at a "regular" dating site: there are far more active male users than female, the men send almost all the messages, and the women reply to nearly none of them.

Now look at one of these mail-order bride "dating" sites, or, equivalently, a "sugar-baby" site like SeekingArrangement—where, in either case, the men come pre-qualified as having money and being willing to give that money to the women: now, on these sites, there are far more active female users than male, the women send almost all the messages, and the men reply to nearly none of them.

When you take non-wealthy men out of the dating pool, suddenly there are few enough men left that supply-and-demand forces women to compete over men. Which puts them in a much weaker negotiating position than they would be otherwise.

Re:How the Internet Gave Mail-Order Brides the Power by uniclaude on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @10:41PM (#14200062)
Aren't those two systems vastly different in the long term?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I wouldn't expect "Sugar Babies" to be looking for potential husbands on those online platforms. Whereas mail order brides seem to be in for a longer commitment.

If the two value propositions are so different (essentially a hot temporary girlfriend vs a wife), there is no real competition, and the bargaining power should not be too affected.

Re:How the Internet Gave Mail-Order Brides the Power by derefr on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @11:01PM (#14200119)
Many of the mail-order brides are actually seeking US citizenship via "green-card marriage", often with an agreement to live together for a set period, and then to divorce after that set period. That's a very similar position to that of the "sugar babies", with either wealth or freedom on the table.

For the mail-order brides who actually want to be someone's bride, yes, it's a bit different.

Re:How the Internet Gave Mail-Order Brides the Power by emodendroket on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @06:47AM (#14201985)
> Many of the mail-order brides are actually seeking US citizenship via "green-card marriage", often with an agreement to live together for a set period, and then to divorce after that set period.

That certainly doesn't seem to be what the article describes and it's hard to see why Western men who were strangers to the women would agree to this arrangement unless they were being paid.

Also, having gone through the process of getting a green card for a spouse, I think this would be harder than you're probably imagining.

Re:How the Internet Gave Mail-Order Brides the Power by emodendroket on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @06:28PM (#14207618)
I should also say that you're committing a crime if you try this.