Does International Dating Force American Women to 'Submit
to the Patriarchy'?
May 7th, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
Background: Fox News columnist Wendy McElroy and others have
criticized the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA) for
being anti-male.
According to McElroy, "the IMBRA requires American men
who wish to correspond with foreign women through private for-profit
matchmaking agencies to first provide those businesses with their police
records and other personal information to be turned over to the women.
Corresponding with a foreigner is legal. Marrying a foreigner is legal....Now
American men who wish to pursue a legal activity must release their government
files to a foreign business and foreign individuals."
A group has formed to protest the anti-male IMBRA--Online
Dating Rights (ODR). The ODR criticizes the IMBRA, and notes "this is the
first time in US history criminal background checks have been required for two
people to communicate." To learn
more, click here and here.
Some American women perceive international dating as
weakening American women's position within the marriage market. For example,
prominent feminist blogger Amanda Marcotte labels foreign women who marry
American men "scabs." She believes that international dating may
induce American women to "submit to patriarchy." In other words,
international dating undercuts American women's never-ending struggle for
equity in their relationships with men by providing men with
"scabs"--women who can be substituted for American women who don't
submit to male domination.
I don't buy it. There are probably some men who date
internationally because they want a genuinely submissive wife. However, I
believe most men who date internationally do so because they want to avoid
America's divorce epidemic--an epidemic which has not spread to some foreign
countries. The vast majority of American divorces are initiated by women, not
by men. Is it so wrong that a man might want to protect the stability of the
family he wants to create by choosing a woman who he believes will be less
likely to initiative a divorce? It seems fair enough to me, particularly for
men who have already gone through a divorce.
I'm skeptical that the IMBRA has much to do with a need to
protect foreign women from American men--I think American women's advocates
don't like men being able to date internationally. My overall view of
international dating for men is that I don't recommend it nor do I oppose it.
It's their lives, they should be
allowed to date whomever they want.