209 lines
8.9 KiB
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209 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
From fork-admin@xent.com Fri Sep 6 11:41:57 2002
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From: "Adam L. Beberg" <beberg@mithral.com>
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To: <fork@spamassassin.taint.org>
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Subject: Selling Wedded Bliss (was Re: Ouch...)
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Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 19:07:40 -0700 (PDT)
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...an alternative to the "kind of de-feminized, over-sized, self-centered,
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mercenary-minded lady available on the British singles scene,"
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Glad to see American culture is making it's way into the British bars too :)
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God bless us uncivilized bastards, every one.
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Still, definately something not right about the below. People are now
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cheaper then a decent laptop? (ok, so we knew that already)
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-------------
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Selling Wedded Bliss Big Business in Thailand
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Thu Aug 29,10:19 AM ET
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By Andrew Marshall
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BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) - English dentist Ken Moylan came to Thailand
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looking for a wife. It took two hours to find her.
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"The first day I went out with Wan, she came back to my hotel and hung all
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my clothes up and tidied the room. I thought it was marvelous," he said. "I
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knew then there was something special."
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Moylan, 49, is one of thousands of men who use introduction agencies to meet
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-- and marry -- Thai women. He lives in England now with 28-year-old Wan,
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who is expecting their first child.
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Critics of marriage agencies say they exploit the grinding poverty of women
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in developing countries, offering dreams of a new life in the West that
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often turn sour. But Moylan says he has no regrets about coming to Thailand
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in search of a wife.
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"I got to Thailand at 2 p.m., and by 4 p.m. I'd met Wan," he said. "I knew I
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found her attractive. I could tell straight away that she was very caring."
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Moylan spent a week in Thailand, and after returning to England kept in
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touch with Wan by phone and mail. Six months later she came to England and
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the couple married.
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MR. MARRIAGE
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Lawrence Lynch, 49, runs Thai Professional Introduction Services, the agency
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Moylan used to meet his wife. Lynch, who calls himself "Mr. Marriage,"
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started the company after also marrying a Thai woman through an introduction
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agency.
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Since then he has helped set up hundreds of marriages.
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"In the last five years we've done about 400," he said. "To the best of my
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knowledge, they have all been successful."
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Male clients pay $2,213 for the service, although men from countries that
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require them to handle some of the visa work on their own get a discount.
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Clients then get to view catalogs and videos of hundreds of Thai women
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looking for a husband. If they like what they see they come to Bangkok.
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Clients are introduced to several women in chaperoned meetings in Lynch's
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office -- encounters that can often be awkward given mutual shyness and
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language problems.
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"We find that the gentlemen are usually just as nervous as the ladies,"
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Lynch said. "But once they start meeting the ladies they soon relax."
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After the first meeting, couples can decide to go on dates to get to know
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each other better. Within two weeks of arrival, Lynch says, almost every
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client has found a potential wife.
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"At the end of a fortnight it's very, very rare for a guy to go back and
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think he hasn't made his mind up," he said. In most cases, marriage follows,
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usually within the next year.
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Roongthip Kamchat, managing director of Thai No. 1 Connections, a
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Bangkok-based agency, says she has introduced about 1,000 couples, and less
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than 10 percent have broken up.
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Roongthip says she sometimes has a difficult time calming men who have just
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arrived in Bangkok looking for a wife.
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"Sometimes they are very nervous," she said. "And sometimes they are very
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impatient and say 'Give me a lady, I want to get married now.' I say: 'Calm
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down, OK, we'll talk."'
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But if men are really in a hurry, Roongthip says, she can find them a wife
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and get them married within a week. Lynch says clients he has found wives
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for include a blind man, a man with one leg and a man with post-traumatic
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stress disorder.
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WHY?
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Similar marriage agencies can be found in many developing countries. Critics
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say they thrive on the neediness of lonely Western men who are unable to
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form relationships in their own country, and on the desperation of
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impoverished women who believe they can find a better life in the West.
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But Moylan says that if the arrangement makes both partners happy, there is
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no reason to object. "If you talk about people who are needy, I think
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everybody wants someone to love them, and wants someone to love, so yes, I
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need Wan," he said.
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"Thai women are dissatisfied with life in Thailand. I think there's no
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secret there. They are looking for a better life. I don't have a problem
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with that. In return they are willing to give a lot of love and care to
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their future husband."
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Lynch says men are dissatisfied with Western women too, and that is why they
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choose to use his agency.
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His brochure promises an alternative to the "kind of de-feminized,
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over-sized, self-centered, mercenary-minded lady available on the British
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singles scene," and says he can make dreams come true even for men who are
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not "God's gift to women."
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Roongthip said many Western men found it difficult to meet women in their
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own countries -- and found Thai women attractive.
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"They don't know how to meet women. Even if they go to pubs or discotheques
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or restaurants or department stores, how can they ask people to marry them?
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Impossible," she said.
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"Many Thai girls are slim, have long hair, black eyes, small nose. They are
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good at taking care and joking and laughing, not strict. Different from
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ladies from other countries."
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Although many couples married through agencies have a considerable age gap,
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the agencies say this is not a problem. They say language problems are also
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not a major obstacle.
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"Thai ladies are not ageist, and they have no qualms whatsoever about having
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a husband who is significantly older," Lynch said. "When I met my wife she
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couldn't speak a word of English. We muddled along with a phonetic
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dictionary. The ladies are very keen to learn English and they pick it up
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very quickly."
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Many agencies also offer tuition for woman on what to expect when they move
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to the West.
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"We have kitchens, we have study classes," Roongthip said. "We teach them
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how to eat, and when to make tea."
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PITFALLS
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But not all dreams come true. "Bee" is a 26-year-old Thai woman who went to
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Switzerland two years ago with a man she met through an agency. Now she is
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back in Bangkok, sad and angry.
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"He had no friends, and I was so lonely," she said. "I tried to make him
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happy but he just wanted sex and somebody to keep his house clean. He never
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spoke to me."
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Bee came back to Bangkok earlier this year. "I thought I would be happy
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there," she said. "But it was the worst time of my life."
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Lynch says that while some agencies are badly run, he makes checks to ensure
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unsuitable candidates are weeded out.
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"We are ethical and professional," he said. "We will not take on all
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comers."
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Moylan says that despite possible pitfalls, his own marriage is proof the
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arrangement can work. Wan's sister has just signed up with Lynch's company,
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looking for a foreign husband.
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"Perhaps there are cases of women being exploited. I'm sure there are,"
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Moylan said. "But in the majority of cases the women get a good deal."
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