La Strada Documentation Center

Male-ordered. The mail-order bride industry and trafficking in women for sexual and labour exploitation

Document number
2228
Date
2009
Title
Male-ordered. The mail-order bride industry and trafficking in women for sexual and labour exploitation
Author/publisher
POPPY Project
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Prostitution; Sex work; Clients, Abolitionism; New Abolitionism; Prohibitionism; Regulationism, Sex tourism, Pornography, Domestic violence, Prostitution, Rape, Sexual harassment, Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution,
Summary
This report explores the concept of servile marriage and the ways in which it overlaps with trafficking and violence against women and girls, especially those brought to the United Kingdom. The report reviews the social, political and economic contexts in the UK and on a global scale that have contributed to the development and proliferation of the mail-order bride (MOB) industry, the trends that can currently be observed and the ways in which the industry promotes trafficking, slavery, prostitution, pornography, exploitation of vulnerable groups and racial and ethnic stereotyping. The report examines evidence from websites and marriage brokers as well as from men who have or intend to ‘purchase' a wife. Much of this evidence reflects the disconcerting levels of racialisation, links with sexual abuse of children, and the use of deceit and coercion to lure women from their homes and communities into lives of servitude in the UK.
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