Are Mail Order Brides still relevant for millennial today?

[darkmastersidex]

Just wondering

[Breakaway]

I don't think anything is relevant to millenials today... they are fvcked.

[MrMan]

They say the term 'mail order bride' came from a practice in the 1800's. Some men who settled out west wanted to get married, but there was a lack of women. So they'd find out about a single woman, maybe through relatives, friends, or acquaintances and start writing letters. Letters would go back and forth until the man would invite the woman out west to be his bride.

It kind of made sense that this would work. Half a million men were dead after the Civil War, so for a while there was a dearth of men and a large generation of women with lots of old maids. Men were drawn out west by land being given away and various opportunities. I can just imagine if some 35-year-old woman who would have been married off already if there hadn't been a war was sick of being an old made. And some man who'd built up a farm or ranch started writing her letters and proposed marriage. In a society where being marriage was important and there weren't lots of economic opportunities for women, it makes sense.

They really believed in marriage back then. A 'mail order bride' marriage wouldn't have been considered disposable or a sham if they really got married. The laws made it hard to get a divorce. And men were in charge and the legal system recognized the husband's role. So the legal and social structure was in place to allow this.

There are some similarities to online dating, especially international online dating. Sometimes international dating involves such great distances that it is difficult for the couple to meet up. That is especially true of the international variety. The couple write back and forth and build up their relationship that way. Of course, nowadays, people can Skype and that's better than just writing letters and sending black and white photos.