Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the motivations of women in the Former Soviet Union who seek marriage to foreigners through internet sites. I explore the differing impacts of local reformulations of gender roles, feminism and femininity, alongside self-presentations on sites and the expectations of foreign men.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years increasing numbers of women in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have chosen to seek marriage to foreigners through the internet. Much recent writing on this topic has treated the global rise in mail-order-brides as 'trafficking in women' (Hughes, 2001). Here, I present an alternative through exploring womens' roles and motivations and develop possibilities for seeing them as effective agents of their own lives. I do this through building on ethnographic understandings to explore local reformulations of gender roles and identities in this post-socialist context and how these intertwine with constructions of feminism and femininity.

Through investigating the images and details which women have chosen to place on internet sites, I explore the ways that women conform to roles and characteristics which they believe men will find attractive for marriage. I argue that in order to present themselves in these ways the women demonstrate considerable skill and knowledge about themselves and the expectations that others will have of them.

Developing this I move on to discuss my ethnographic encounters with women seeking to marry abroad, or having already done so, through internet sites, and to place these within their specific socio-historical circumstances. I argue that in the post-socialist era many women feel that the demands being made of them and their bodies, for example in nationalist calls to reproduce the nation, create few opportunities for exploring new forms of gender roles and identities locally. Consequently, women are looking for alternatives. Bearing this in mind I interrogate the differing motivations for engaging in marriage with foreigners.

I conclude this paper by suggesting that we need to formulate new ways of exploring this topic which recognise women who engage in internet marriages as active, knowledgeable agents who are able to make informed decisions about their own futures.