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GLOBALIZATION, GENDER, AND PARTNER SELECTION
AGE PREFERENCE I ENTITLEMENT: A RUSSO-AMERICAN
CASE STUDY

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GLOBALIZATION, GENDER, AND PARTNER SELECTION AGE PREFERENCE /
ENTITLEMENT: A RUSSO-AMERICAN CASE STUDY

By

Aleksandr Gurgenovich Dovlatov

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Sociology

2005

ABSTRACT
GLOBALIZATION, GENDER, AND PARTNER SELECTION AGE PREFERENCE /
ENTITLEMENT: A RUSSO-AMERICAN CASE STUDY
By

Aleksandr Gurgenovich Dovlatov

This thesis explores, describes, and analyzes the socio-demographic characteristics of
users of on-line international marriage-broker and partner-locator web sites. Data is
extracted from three major online partner selection web sites; one from the USA, one
from Russia, and one from an international “mail-order bride” web site. I investigate
gender inequalities created by globalization processes and discuss the lack of
international legislation in globalization era. Western men, being in a favorable
socioeconomic situation might abuse imbalance of power and take advantage from
women who seek marriages from abroad. Analysis of socio-demographic characteristics
reveals age preferences differences in partner seeking strategies. Specifically, Western
men are looking for females younger that they would be “entitled” to in their home land.
The overall study is discussed within the context of increased globalization,

transnationalism, and Internet technology.

Copyright by
ALEKSANDR GURGENOVICH DOVLATOV
2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND..........

Internet-Brokered Relationships: 2']. If. ..'. ... .'.. 12'. .°.. .'.. .......'.

FINDINGS............ ..

Explanation of Diééiéiiéés' i}; Ag; Eié'féééiiée'g. f. I. f. I I f .'.' . .. ..I .f. ..'. ..

iv

...v
...1
.................... 9
...17

.....22
...32

...36

...38

Tablel
Table2
Table3
Table4A
Table4B
Table5

Table 6. .. ..

LIST OF TABLES

.20

24

27

28

30

35

INTRODUCTION

On March 4 1999 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now known as the
US. Citizenship and Immigration Service) reported to Congress on the extent, growth,
and activities of mail-order bride businesses in the United States. Congress mandated the
report, under Section 652 of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act, because of concern that the unregulated international matchmaking
industry may exploit women and promote fraudulent marriages.
This report indicated that:

o More than 200 international matchmaking organizations operated in the United
States in 1998, and the number is growing.

0 Every year these organizations brought thousands of couples together who many
and petition for immigration of the female spouse to the United States. This
volume represents between 3 and 4 percent of the direct immigration of female
spouses to this country but only 0.4 percent of all immigration to the United
States.

0 Most of the women came from the Philippines or from the newly independent
states of the former Soviet Union.

The attention to mail-order marriages reflects growing concern regarding the global
recruitment and transportation of women in a variety of exploitative ways. The
information on trafficking suggests that mail-order brides may become victims of
international trafficking in women and girls. The global magnitude and impact of this
traffic in women are already well documented (Glodava and Onizuka, 1997; Caldwell,

1997; Sholes, 1997; Hughes, 2000; Visson, 2001; Pehar, 2003; Constable, 2003, 2005).

The findings of the 1999 INS report stated that while no definitive data exist,
estimates of the number of mail-order marriages range from 4,000 to 6,000 yearly, that
concern about immigration fraud and domestic violence involving foreign-born spouses
is well founded, that the subject is inherently difficult to study, and that few quantifiable
sources of information exist. Moreover, the number of businesses engaged in some
aspect of the international matchmaking industry is growing rapidly, capitalizing upon
the increased globalization of travel, communication, and the growth of the Internet The
number of cases in which immigrants have successfully petitioned for permanent resident
alien status without spousal sponsorship, based on a showing of abuse, has grown rapidly
and these trends indicate a need for continued monitoring of mail-order marriages.
Finally, the report made note of the power imbalance in relations between an American
husband and foreign spouse and that this imbalance could be a “plausible” reason for the
occurrence of domestic violence within the relationship. This opinion is tacitly
reinforced by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum’s observation that,
“[a] foreign spouse relies on her husband for legal protection against deportation and his
cooperation in securing legal permanent residency.” (NAPAWF, 2004)

By the summer of 2003 concern over the activities and outcomes of international
marriage brokers (1MB, also known as “mail—order bride” agencies) had escalated
significantly. It is now recognized that IMBS operate internationally, connecting not only
American men to foreign women, but also foreigners to foreigners, in many countries.
There has been tremendous growth in the industry, with some estimates putting the

number of brokers at 400 and the number of arranged marriages at between 8000 and

12000 annually between American men and foreign women mainly from Asia and the
countries of the former Soviet Union
The rising incidence of homicides and abuse among “mail-order brides” has led to the
passage of state legislation to protect 1MB women and to pending federal legislation.
The federal legislation (S. 1455/H.R. 2949) was introduced in 2003 by Senator Maria
Cantwell and Representative Rick Larsen from Washington State and seeks to regulate
international marriagebroker activity in the United States and to provide for certain
protections for individuals who utilize the services of international marriage brokers.
Specifically, the International Marriage Broker legislation would:
0 Prohibit the disclosure of personal contact information of the potential foreign
client without written consent
0 Require the American client to undergo a criminal background check and disclose
information to the foreign client
0 Inform the foreign client of the number of marriages the American client has had
and the reason behind the dissolution of the marriage(s)
0 Limit the American client to one petition per year for a foreign spouse
0 Inform the foreign spouse (in her native language) of her legal right to self-
petition for legal permanent residency, and the resources available to her, if she
becomes a victim of domestic violence.
Empirical research on international marriage brokerage is limited by problems of data
representativeness, validity, and reliability. The extremely fluid arise and demise of
some IMBS and their use of internet technology make finding or creating base line data

on 1MB clients very difficult (INS, 1999, Scholes, 1997, TAHIRIH, 2003). In fact, the

INS report specifically discusses the limitations inherent in existing data sources and the
difficulty of developing a generalizable picture of who uses these online partner matching
sites. In this research, we propose a new strategy for the creation of base line data; we
extract data from three major online partner selection web Sites (one from the US, one
from Russia, and one international/transnational) to compare female and male attributes
within different international contexts (the United States and Russia). Furthermore, we
explore, describe, and analyze the socio-demographic characteristics of users of online
international marriage broker/partner locator web sites. _

The paper proceeds in five stages. As a background to the overall study we locate
IMBS within the context of increased globalization, international migration, and
technology. We discuss, from a sociological perspective, the gendered differences in age
requirements inherent in such intemet-brokered relationships. This is followed by a
concise description of the data and methods employed to explore and describe differences
among and between users of online partner matching web sites. Fourth is an explanation
of how socio-demographic characteristics can model and account for age differences in

partner-seeking preferences across cultures, and the article concludes with an assessment

of the implications of the findings for future research.

BACKGROUND

At least four possible definitions of globalization have emerged in the last decade:
globalization as a historical epoch; globalization as the confluence of economic
phenomena; globalization as the hegemony of American values; globalization as a
technological and social revolution (Reich, 1998). Globalization is often viewed as a
primarily economic phenomenon, involving the increasing interaction, or integration, of
national economic systems through the growth in international trade, investment, capital,
and labor (migration) flows (Kobrin, 1997; Friedman, 1998; Held 1997; Stiglitz, 2002;
Nye 2004). This economic interpretation is frequently combined with the rapid increase
in cross-border social, cultural and technological exchange as a common, popular
conception of globalization.

Others define globalization more specifically as a process in which geographic
distance becomes a factor of diminishing importance in the establishment and
maintenance of cross border economic, political and socio-cultural relations (Lubbers,
2003). Giddens expands upon this by defining globalization as a decoupling of space and
time (a “distanciation”), emphasizing that with instantaneous communications,
knowledge and culture can be shared arormd the world simultaneously (Giddens, 1990,
1991, 2002). Giddens sees three transformations as being preeminent in altering the
social panorama: globalization, the knowledge economy, and the intersection of
globalization and the knowledge economy to create profound changes in the experiences
of individuals, families, household, and communities at the local, national, and

international levels. The latter component can be summarized as experiential change and

is often summarized and articulated as “the global rise of individualism” (Monbiot, 2004;
Giddens 2002).

There are profound consequences in the structural phenomenon of societies
breaking free from the hold of tradition and custom through the twin forces of
globalization and the knowledge economy. Individualism has made itself felt throughout
race, ethnic, gender, and family relations. But individualism is more than selfishness or
the rank consumerism endorsed by the expansion of a market economy. It also includes
the ability to harness the power of technology to control, direct, and manipulate resources
and opportunities at a totally individual level. Mauro Guillén distills this succinctly when
he defines globalization as “a process leading to greater interdependence and mutual
awareness (reflexivity) among economic, political and social units in the world, and
among actors in general” (Guillén, 2001 :4). From his comprehensive review of the
different cross-disciplinary theoretical perspectives on globalization and their
accompanying rich literatures, Guillén concludes that we know very little about the
consequences of globalization (both as an aggregate and among its individual
components) on critical sociological variables like organizational patterns, authority
structures, social inequality, and social movements.

Contemporary globalization processes also raise important values questions.
Globalization, as a process of socio—economic and socio—cultural change and exchange,
has intended and unintended ethical consequences on the lives of human beings. They are
value-laden processes that entail value choices and conflicts. The conventional
interpretations and definitions of globalization outlined above conceal value choices and

ethical dilemmas. For example, Table 1 delineates selected, conventionally accepted

social and political indicators ofien presented as a gauge of increased globalization, for
the world as a whole and also, for the United States and for Russia. As expected, all
indicators (intemet users, hosts, and secure servers; international telephone usages;
international travel) Show a significant increase between 1980 and the end of the century.
Yet possible ethics, social justice, and humanitarian aspects of these indications of
increased globalization are all too often relegated to the sidelines or ignored.

If not specifically for globalization, some of the ethical aspects of the related
concept of development have been investigated by a hybrid group of researchers and
practitioners that compose the field of development ethics (Goulet, 1995; Gasper, 1997).
Development ethics looks at the types, distribution and significance of the costs and gains
from major socio-economic change. This field of knowledge focuses its attention on the
value conscious ways of thinking and choosing between alternative development
trajectories and goals. In parallel, there is an increasing amount of work addressing
questions of global justice, either as sociological, ethical or cultural reflections on
globalization (Hainsworth, 2003 ). This work has examined the health, education,
environment, humanitarian and gender dilemmas and abuse arising from an increasingly
globalized world and argues that the dangers and inequalities inherent in globalization
require a rethinking and new ethical approach (Singer, 2002).

From table 1, the globalization indicators of greatest relevance here are those
related to the rise of intemet technology. The dramatic increase in the number of intemet
users, hosts, and secure servers worldwide is well-known, as is the dominance of the
United States in these trends. Although it started relatively late, Russia has also shown

marked increases in the use and availability of intemet technology. Russians understand

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and use intemet technology in a wide variety of social and economic information-
exchange settings both within Russia and between Russia and the west. The setting of
most interest here is the use of the internet to facilitate marriage brokering or what is
more generally referred to as “computer mediated relationships,” (Merkle and
Richardson, 2000).

Internet-Brokered Relationships.

The impact of the intemet on social life has been well documented (Nunes, 1995;
Turkle, 1995, 1997; Morris and Ogan, 1996). Merkle (1999, 2000), in particular, has
examined the characteristics of computer mediated relationships in comparison to face-
to-face relationships and documents the increasing complexity of interpersonal
relationships in the age of the Internet.

In conjunction with globalization there has been a concomitant explosion in the number
Of adoptions, marriages, and other “relationship-arrangements” facilitated by commercial
intermediaries both within and between western and non-western countries. Computer
technology and the Internet have dramatically changed access to information and have
removed communication barriers between nations. The use and misuse of the intemet for
the on-line implementation of many of these international “transactions” has been
documented (Hughes, 1998, INS, 1999; Chittenden, 2000; Lloyd, 2000; Pehar, 2003 ).

Changing gee-political boundaries and the unregulated rise of the intemet have
given the age-old practice of arranged marriage new meaning and relevance. In
particular, with the spread of the Internet and the collapse of the Soviet Union, western
men are using on-line marriage agencies or introduction services to find spouses from the

former Soviet Union. In an industry that was traditionally dominated by agencies in the

Pacific Rim, this new breed of Russian Internet marriage agencies is rapidly expanding
and overtaking the market (Chittenden, 2000). As Hughes, (1998) succinctly described

the situation at the end of the 19905:

“The collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of new independent states have
created political turmoil, economic crisis, poverty and high unemployment. Women
have been the hardest hit through the loss of institutional stability. In Russia, 6.5
million women are without jobs, and employed women’s salaries were only 43 percent
of men’s salaries. Violence against women is a severe problem. An estimated 14,000
women are killed each year by their husbands or relatives. A law against family
violence has yet to be passed and there are only two shelters for battered women in
Russia These circumstances make women desperate for opportunities. The traffickers,
pimps, and mail-order-bride agencies take advantage of this vulnerable population to
recruit them into many types of trafficking. One of the commonly promoted
characteristics of women from Eastern Europe is that they "traditionally expect to
marry gentlemen that are 10 to 20 years older. " An agent offering women from Russia
also explained the disadvantages of American women and advantages of Russian
women:

There is a surplus of beautifirl women in their 20 ’s and 30 ’s who
cannot find a decent man. An attractive 25-year-old woman with
a good education in the US is out of reach for most men over 35.
In Russia women greatly outnumber the available men. Many
women in the US are spoiled by having it too good all their lives
and have very confirsed values. Experience shows [sic] us that
Russian women come to relationships with much drfl’erent
expectations.”

With a specific focus on Asian-Pacific women, Sciachitano (2000) locates the
mail-order bride industry within the feminist critique of the rhetoric of power relations in
the commodification of women’s bodies in mail-order websites. The “cyber” bride
industry is an extension of the US/Western patriarchal tradition of imperialist
globalization. The reproduction of “western cultural ideologies, imperialist nostalgia, and
the ongoing sexual politics of global capitalism” fits well within Edward Said’s definition
of cultural imperialism where he sees imperialism and colonialism not simply as acts of
accumulation and acquisition but more as the ideological conviction that certain

territories and people require and beseech domination (Sciachitano, 2000; p. 57-5 8). The

“cyber” bride industry facilitates the submission of local processes and customs

10

(marriage and mate selection) to the global process of exploitation and sees women as
property to be bought, used, abused, and discarded as any other globally available
commodity.

It is also important to understand the economic, social, and cultural structural
conditions which directly impact and motivate women in some non-western societies,
specifically Russia, to join and participate in the mail-order bride intemet market place.
There is an established literature on the Russia Diaspora (see for example, Shlapentokh et
al., 1994; Melvin, 1995; Poppe and Hagendoom, 2001; Barrington et al., 2003) and an
extensive literature on women in contemporary Russia (Racioppi and See, 1997;
Sperling, 1999; Caiazza, 2002; Engel 2004). Similarly, the phenomena of internal
migration has been examined (see Heleniak, 1997; Brown, 1997) as has general trends in
international migration (Zayonchkovskaya, 2000) but there is comparatively little
scholarly research as yet on the causes, channels, and consequences of international
migration for Russian women and one of the major channels is that of marriage to a
foreigner.

Russian women are at a distinct disadvantage. Some scholars describe women in
Russia as second-class citizens, or as “out-moded patriarchal stereotypes,” (Chittenden,
2000). Some Russian feminists, supposedly the champions of women and equality, are
accused of describing housework as being beneath men and Russian women are idealized
as being gentle and sensitive with natural maternal instincts and the “capacity to love,”
(Goscillo, 1996; Chittenden, 2000). Chittenden also points out that Soviet propagandists
have always emphasized the 80% of teachers and doctors who are women while

deemphasizing the lack of social prestige and respect attached to theses jobs. Women

11

earn less than half of men’s wages, are more likely to be laid off and constitute firlly
three-quarters of the unemployed. Within this perspective, mail-order bride agencies
represent a way out of oppression and poverty and, with an American husband, a way
into the American dream.

Furthermore, as in many non-western societies, marriage often represents the
emotional and personal culmination of a woman’s life and is the core institution of
Russian society and culture. Demographically, Russian women are in a very tight
marriage market. Women outnumber men at every age after 15 and due to the
deteriorating health system, the high rate of heart disease, poor public health facilities,
and poor health practices (e.g. alcoholism) Russian women live considerably longer than
their male counterparts. Several commentators document the immense pressure to marry
experienced by Russian women (e.g. Chittenden 2000). Pro-marriage and pro-natalist
policies designed to provide economic and non-economic assistance to couples and
families has resulted in a decline in the age at first marriage to below 20 years.
Chittenden notes that, “unlike other developing nations, this does not result in a decrease
in education.” Quite the opposite in fact, Russian women continue their education after
marriage leading to a significant increase in the numbers of young, educated women
adopting subordinate female gender roles. This educational background facilitates their
access and ability to use on-line marriage brokering services

The growth of these online marriage brokering services has been phenomenal.
Emphasizing Southeast Asia (the Philippines) and Russia (along with the other countries
of the former Soviet Union), Scholes and Phataralaoha (2002) comprehensively discuss

the rise of the mail-order bride industry in the US, the women and men who enroll and

12

participate, the impact on US. marriages and immigration, and the fraud, crime, and
abuse arising from the availability and use of these services. Seventy percent of Asian
women users were Filipino (this despite the fact that Filipino law makes such online
listings illegal) and 85% of the women were under age 30 (61% under age 25).
Analyzing data from one of the largest Russian online sites, they find Russian women to
be older with 31% under age 25 and 44% over age 30. The perception among these
women is that American husbands are thoughtful and faithful, characteristics they do not
associate with native men.

Reviews of the early research on the characteristics of male clients of mail-order
bride agencies found them to be generally white, highly educated, politically
conservative, professionally successful and drawn to foreign wives through idealized
notions of traditionalism and the conventional role of women as wives, home-keepers,
and mothers (Scholes and Phataralaoha, 2002). In addition to reviewing the early
literature, Scholes and Phataralaoha also examine the “success rates” of international
marriage brokers in terms of what percentage of female clients married US. men.
Reliable data on these patterns and trends is very scarce. The authors estimate that about
4% of the up to 150,000 women seeking U.S. husbands eventually marry, (4,000 and
6,000 marriages between US. men and foreign brides each year), representing a tiny
fraction of the 2 to 3 million marriages that occur in the US. every year. These 4,000 to
6,000 marriages result in less than six per cent of America’s annual number of new
citizens and the majority of foreign female permanent resident become so through
“meeting their spouse at work or in school or through marriage to US. service men

stationed overseas.”

l3

These substantively trivial numbers conceal the context, motives, and experiences
embedded within international marriage brokerage business. Writing in the mid 19905
Glodava and Onizuka explicitly state that “those who have used the mail-order bride
route to find a mate have control in mind rather than a loving and enduring relationship”
(Glodava and Onizuka, 1994:26 also cited in Scholes and Phataralaoha, 2002).
Furthermore, the most common times for mail-order brides to leave the marriage are
upon receipt of the green card (permanent residency) or afier 2 years of marriage which
signals receipt of non-conditional residence. Abuse of alien wives within these marriages
is very difficult, if not impossible, to quantify placing heavy reliance upon individual
case studies of reported abuse, violence, and homicide. Such cases have gained
considerable public attention and have been the driving force behind the push for
legislation to protect individuals who utilize the services of international marriage
brokers.

Incidences of abuse, fraud, victimization and crime within the international
marriage brokering industry are increasing. An expose by the Atlanta-Journal
Constitution on December 4, 2005 lays bare the victimization of international online
brides. For women from Russia, the ease of entry to the United States through this

mechanism is irresistible:

‘. .. the complex procedure of getting the visa would require a lot of Katerina. Under
federal immigration laws, she would have to undergo a thorough medical examination,
pass a complete criminal background check and travel to Moscow for an inten/iew at the
US Embassy, where officials would probe into her marriage and family history. Frank, on
the other hand, would need to do little other than sign his name. And while he could get
all the information gathered about her, she would know only what he chose to tell her. "
(Atlanta-Joumal Constitution, Dec 04, 2004)

The extreme outcome can be horrific:

14

'Anastasia King was murdered by her husband in Washington state, never having known
he had been married before to another mail-order bride who had obtained a restraining
order against him. (Atlanta—Joumal Constitution, Dec 04, 2004)

Many Internet brides settle into happy relationships; Encounters International, a
major online marriage broker claims a success rate of 86% and cites just 35 divorces out
of 257 marriages (Newsweek Magazine, February 7, 2005). However, further evidence
that the incidence of abuse among these women is rising comes from the Tahirih Justice
Center, an international women’s rights group that has monitored problems in the
international marriage brokerage business over time. Specifically, “in a survey of 75
legal service providers representing battered immigrant women nationwide, 55% had
assisted women who met their abusers through IMBS many of the men were repeat
abusers who habitually use IMBS to find their next victims,” (Tahirih, 2003:7).

The federal legislation now pending would require any US. citizen planning to
marry a mail-order bride to first undergo a criminal back-ground check. Before a fiancee
immigrated here, a US consular officer would inform the potential mail-order
bride/groom of any criminal convictions or civil orders against the future spouse and the
groom/bride-to-be would also receive information about their rights in the US. should
they become the victim of domestic violence. This proposed legislation has met with
resistance from international marriage agencies who fear that the time lag and extra cost
implied by the back-ground check will create an incentive for men seeking mail-order
brides to use unregulated on-line match-making companies based outside the US. which
are rapidly growing in number with the increased ease of intemet technology and on-line
communication (see table 1).

Lloyd (2000) specifically examines the business of marketing women

internationally as brides to men in economically developed nations. The intemet mail-

15

order bride industry is international; poverty and gender roles are what motivate women
in non-western countries to participate while power-embedded ethnic and gender
stereotypes promote western male participation. The mail-order bride industry is
virtually unregulated and “the international law-making community has paid little
attention to the open trafficking of women in this form, instead concentrating on forced
prostitution and trafficking of children,” (Lloyd, 2000:349). Critics of the pending
legislation, citing the extremely low barriers to entry and increased globalization of
technology and communication, claim that “there are probably 10,000 to 20,000 local
[mail-order bride] companies in the former Soviet Union and that the US. legislation will
simply drive clients to these unregulated sites while “law-abiding US. companies would
be driven out of business,” (St. Petersburg Times, Sept 2, 2003). Until now, there have
been no international comparative empirical analyses of the patterns and user-
characteristics of on-Iine computer mediated relationship agencies.

I address these issues by explicitly including an international comparative analysis
of on-line mail order bride agencies. This analysis builds a base-line data set which
enables the comparison of on-line user characteristics within the United States and Russia
and across these two countries. Beyond a straightforward exploration and description of
on-line users socio—demographic characteristics, we build an age profile for both male
and female users, we examine the age and age preference differences by gender between
the age of the on-line client and the age of their ideal partner, and we explain variation in
the age-preference profile of users in terms of their socio-economic background

characteristics.

16

DATA

A purposive sampling technique was applied to select data from three large,
publicly available Internet web sites during December 2004 — February 2005. Purposive
sampling depends on the researcher’s expert knowledge to select units that are “typical”
or “representative” of the population. The technique involves identifying important
sources of variation in the population and then to select a sample that reflects this
variation. Purposive sampling is an acknowledged alternative to rigorous random
sampling in situations where such rigor is impossible to achieve. While purposive
sampling permits much stronger inferences than convenience sampling, its major
weakness is that expert knowledge of the population is a prerequisite. In this research
such expert knowledge has been accumulated during the two years preceding the data
selection.

These three online sites are large, well known and heavily used vehicles for
posting and retrieving personal information by individuals looking for short-term or long-
term relationships. Their durability in terms of years in existence, heavy use, and
widespread name-brand recognition make these three web sites relatively more reliable
and valid sources of data than others. The first site is a well known intemet source in
USA, the second is its Russian equivalent, and the third is another Russian site that has
been online for more than 5 years and is consistently ranked very high on Internet search
engines and indexes. we label these three sites as follows: 1) USA —r USA, indicating
that both the searcher and the desired partner are individuals located within the United
States; 2) East -+ West, indicating that the searcher is located in the West (most

commonly the United States) and the desired pmtner is in the East (Russia); and 3)

17

Russian -+ Russian, indicating that both the searcher and the desired partner are located
in Russia. Given the focus of the research, only heterosexual partner searches were
included in the data set.

The USA-+USA site provides a commercial subscription service for both men
and women On this site USA men are looking for USA women and vise versa The
East—>West site is free for females but is a paid commercial service for men. On this site
Western (and a very small number of non-western) men are searching for women mainly
from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus but also from many other Commonwealth of Independent
Countries (CICs). The third data source, the Russian—Russian site is free for both men
and women and comprised of Russian men or women seeking partners.

On all sites both gender, and age are required data input fields and an equal
number of males and females were selected from each data source. Table 2 provides a
detailed socio-demographic profile of the total dataset and the three component data sets.
Selected socio-demographic background characteristics are presented for both male and
females.

A total of 702 cases, 234 for each web site, were initially selected using purposive
sampling technique. However because of extreme values on some variables (mostly age),
seven cases were eliminated from this total leaving a grand total of 695 cases. For the
overall data set, individuals were mostly from large cities, fairly equally distributed
across age categories with a median age of 38 years, mostly single, white, and college
educated. With the exception of the skilled occupation category, the 695 cases were

rather equitably distributed across occupation classifications and almost half spoke at

18

least one foreign language. However there are marked differences from these overall
norms when the data is disaggregated into the three component data sets.

For the USA—+USA data, a significant majority are from large cities (65%), well over
50% of both males and females are over 40 years of age, about a third are single, and
both sexes are overwhelmingly white and very highly educated. The major differences
between the USA—*USA males and females are that males overwhelmingly describe
themselves as of average or athletic body type, are more likely to hold a skilled
occupation, and Speak a foreign language. Individuals from boththe East—>West and the
Russian—*Russian data sets are younger, while Americans seeking Americans are much
more likely to be single, to Speak a foreign language and, like the Americans, are highly

educated.

19

 

Table 2. Selected Background Characteristics of Online Partner Seeking Participants from three Online Partner Selection Services: 2004-2005.

 

 

 

US —> US EAST —> WEST RUSSIAN —> RUSSIAN TOTAL N
Female M Female M Female m Female Milk ItLal
City Size
Large 65.0% 65.0% 55.6% 32.8% 93.0% 98.2% 71.0% 65.0% 68.0% 472
Age Group
< 25 12.0% 7.7% 63.2% 12.0% 7.9% 10.6% 27.9% 10.1% 19.0% 132
25-29 4.3% 11.1% 16.2% 10.3% 11.4% 10.6% 10.6% 10.7% 10.6% 74
30-34 8.5% 6.0% 12.8% 22.2% 7% 16.8% 9.5% 15.0% 12.2% 85
35-39 14.5% 4.3% 6.8% 16.2% 11.4% 9.7% 10.9% 10.1% 10.5% 73
40-44 13.7% 10.3% 0.9% 12.0% 16.7% 14.2% 10.3% 12.1% 11.2% 78
45-49 6.0% 7.7% --— 12.0% 17.5% 24.8% 7.8% 14.1% 10.9% 76
50+ 41.0% 53.0% --- 17.1% 28.1% 13.3% 23.0% 28.0% 25.5% 177
Age Group 2
less or equal 38 36.8% 28.2% 98.3% 57.3% 36.8% 46.9% 57.5% 44.1 50.8% 353
Marital status
Never married 29.8% 34.5% 80.3% 65.2% 87.5% 74.5% 65.4% 56.9% 61.2% 404
Ethnicity
White 78.3% 81.9% 97.4% 91.5% 100% 100% 91.9% 91.0% 91.5% 601
Body Type
Average 45.2% 37.6% --- --- 61.4% 41.9% 51.4% 39.5% 45.1% 178
Athletic 10.4% 40.2% —-— —-— 17.1% 29.0% 13.0% 35.2% 24.8% 98
Large 26.1% 17.1% ——— --— 12.9% 18.3% 21.1% 17.6% 19.2% 76
Slim 18.3% 5.1% --— ——— 8.6% 10.8% 14.6% 7.6% 10.9% 43
Has Children
Yes 60.9% 53.5% 16.2% 33.6% 70.1% 56.8% 48.4% 47.4% 47.9% 318
Religiousness
Yes 54.7% 55.6% 94.0% 64.1% -—— 4.4% 50.0% 41.8% 45.9% 319
Foreign Language(s)
Yes 15.4% 24.8% 98.3% 67.5% 41.2% 52.2% 51.7% 48.1% 49.9% 347
Education
College + 87.6% 92.1% 90.6% 84.7% 100% 89.5% 90.0% 88.5% 89.3% 442
Occupation
Professional 32.1% 26.0% 18.8% 18.3% 42.1% 26.5% 27.3% 22.6% 24.9% 117
Service 44.4% 35.4% 34.8% 34.9% 42.1% 32.4% 39.4% 34.7% 37.0% 174
Skilled 2.5% 13.5% 9.8% 12.8% 5.3% 26.5% 6.5% 15.1% 10.9% 51
Unskilled/Other 21.0% 25.0% 36.6% 33.9% 10.5% 14.7% 26.8% 27.6% 27.2% 128
N 117 117 117 117 114 113 348 347 695

 

20

 

 

Of particular interest is the difference between the men and women of the
East—’West data set, given that the males represent fee-paying Americans searching for
self-identified “available” Russian women The Russian women are young, educated,
single, have not had children, speak a foreign language and hold mainly service or
unskilled jobs. The American men are not from large cities, older, quite possibly have
been married with children, and have had some college education. Also of interest is the
comparison between the Russian women searching for American men and Russian
women searching for Russian men. Overwhelmingly, Russian women searching for
Russian men are from large cities, are considerably older, probably have children, do not
speak a foreign language, and are much more likely to hold a professional level
occupation than Russian women willing to accept American partners. That both groups
of women are almost equally well educated and overwhelmingly white reflects the socio-
demographic norms of Russian society. The age, language ability, presence of children,
and occupational differences explain, at least from a socio-demographic perspective, why

some women search for Russian partners and other for non-Russian partners.

21

FINDINGS

Sociobiologists or evolutionary psychologists have attributed observed
differences in the ages of male and female partners to be an indicator of mating
preferences and as evidence of biologically based sex-specific characteristics in human
mating patterns (Buss and Barnes, 1986; Buss, 1987, 1989 1992; Greenlees and McGree,
1994). Males desire younger, more fecund females; females seek older males who can
materialistically, in terms of prestige, income and the attendant security thereof, ensure
the likelihood of their young surviving to reproductive age. Arguments that male-female
age differences with respect to mating preferences and choices reflect sex-linked
differences in reproductive strategies, echoing the biological processes of fitness and
selection, have been firmly rejected by sociologists and anthropologists. Such arguments
are seen as ecologically fallacious (Davis 1998:379), dismissive of different social
maturation rates between males and females (McGuffin and Scourfield, 1997), indifferent
to the existence of higher male mortality at every age (Preston, 1976, Weeks, 2005), and
unconcerned with cultural and social structural factors which shape female and male
mating preferences, choices, and patterns. In short, historical and contemporary cultural,
demographic, economic, and social dynamics and indicators best explain age preference
differences. Paying close attention to these dynamics, and for selected indicators, tables
3 through 6 explore, describe, and explain age differences and age-preference differences
for males and females seeking partners through computer mediated searches in the United
States and in Russia.

First, we present a simple cross-tabulation of average age for both the entire data

set and the component data sets within categories of socio—demographic background

22

characteristics. Apparent immediately is that the USA->USA partner seekers, male and
female, are almost uniformly considerably older than both the males and females from
either of the other two web sites, East—>West and Russian—*Russian. In only three
categories are USA women younger than Russian women (never married, large body
type, and some college education) and in all three cases the American women are
younger slightly younger than Russian women seeking Russian partners. In general, the
youngest seekers of a computer mediated relationship are those females and males
looking for international partners. Both the domestic marriage broker sites attract a
considerably older clientele, across almost all socio—demographic characteristics.

There are interesting patterns within each of the three different online data sets.
As would be expected, individuals who are married and have children are, on average,
much older and while this observation holds across datasets and sex, married Russian
females with children in the East—)West context are very significantly younger than their
married with children counterparts of either sex in any other context. Across all
categories of the socio-demographic variables western men seeking Russian women are
very much older than Russian women seeking western men. In some case the differences
are striking. For western males, in no socio-demographic category is the average age
below 33 and across categories the range is over 11 year. Whereas for Russian females,
in no socio-demographic category is the average age above 31 years and the ranges is
tighter.

In summary, Table 3 clearly shows that in the United States, computer mediated
relationship services attract a considerably older clientele mostly in their 405 and 508. In

Russia, there is a similar tendency towards middle age among users of these brokerages,

23

 

Table 3. Mean Ages of Online Partner Seeking Participants from three Online Partner Selection Services: 2004-2005.

 

 

US ——> US EAST ——> WEST RUSSIAN —> RUSSIAN TOTAL
Female wk? Female Male .Fe_ma_1€ Mal; EM M.al_€
City Size
Small 34.1 58.9 24.2 38.2 32.6 26.5 28.9 45.0
Large 51.8 42.2 25.3 37.2 42.4 39.5 40.8 40.0
Marital status
Never Married 31.1 34.7 23.3 33.9 42.3 37.9 32.4 35.6
Ever Married 52.1 54.9 31.0 44.7 42.5 45.2 46.8 50.3
Ethnicity
White 46.2 50.4 24.8 36.9 41.8 39.2 36.9 42.4
Other 43.5 37.5 26.3 33.6 - - 41.7 36.5
Body Type
Average 47.8 50.4 - — 42.9 40.9 45.6 46.0
Athletic 42.3 43.3 - — 36.2 36.7 39.3 40.9
Large 42.5 54.3 — - 46.1 40.5 43.3 48.0
Slim 46.8 47.3 — - 46.3 40.6 46.7 43.1
Has Children
No 35.4 38.4 23.7 34.4 29.2 30.4 27.7 34.7
Yes 52.5 56.5 30.5 44.5 47.3 45.6 47.6 49.6
Religiousness
N0 43.1 48.8 25.3 35.8 41.8 40.0 41.5 41.4
Yes 47.6 47.5 24.8 38.9 - 22.4 33.2 42.2
Foreign Language(s)
No 45.7 49.9 22.0 37.3 43.3 40.4 44.4 44.3
Yes 44.8 42.4 24.9 38.0 39.6 38.2 30.7 38.8
Education
Less than College 47.4 60.3 24.5 36.2 - 40.0 37.3 44.2
College + 45.6 47.1 24.9 38.3 47.3 38.9 36.0 42.6
Occupation
Professional 51.8 51.3 23.4 40.3 46.5 41.1 41.0 45.5
Service 41.6 44.4 28.0 35.6 44.2 36.7 36.2 39.3
Skilled 52.0 47.5 25.4 38.6 49.5 38.0 32.1 41.7
Unskilled/Other 48.4 49.7 22.2 38.9 44.2 45.4 30.8 43.3
Total Mean Age 45.5 48.1 24.8 37.8 41.8 39.2 37.3 41.7
Standard Deviation 15.15 15.21 5.36 10.4 11.45 10.98 14.52 13.18
N 117 117 117 117 114 113 348 347

 

24

 

 

with the clientele mostly being in their upper 305 and lower 40s. Individuals looking for
international partners present a strikingly different profile. Across all socio-demographic
categories the Russian women are in their 203, while the western men are in their mid to
upper 30s and low 40s.

To further facilitate this international comparison of age profiles, simple
percentage cross-tabulations of the age-range of partner seekers by the age-range of their
desired partner in 5 year age categories for the total data set and the three component data
sets are presented in tables 4A and 4B.

Table 4A presents the age preference categories of desired females for male
partner seekers and table 48 presents the age preference categories of desired males for
female partner seekers. The percentages on the diagonal show a preference for desired
partners of the same age category as the seeker while the percentages above and below
the diagonal show a preference for younger or older desired partners respectively. Panel
D of both tables shows these cross-tabulations for the combined data and the other panels
are for the three component data sets. As expected, for the combined data set men desire
partners younger than themselves while women have a similar strong proclivity towards
older desired partners. We note in passing that older males’ and older females’
preferences for desired partners either in the same age category or in one or two age
categories younger (for males) and older (for females) supports the research (e.g. Davis,
1998) that rejects sociobiological interpretations of partner age difference preferences.
Sociobiologists predictions of: 1) male preference for very young female partners whose

potential fecundity would assure male reproductive needs and 2) female preference for

25

significantly older male partners who would provide the stability and resources critical to
female reproductive strategies, are decisively rejected by these data.

Panels A of both tables show that both American men and women prefer a desired
partner either within their own age group or within an immediately adjacent age group
(older for females, younger for males). This is especially true for older partner seekers;
71% of 45-49 year olds and almost 92% of females over the age of 50 desire a partner in
their own age group, and the respective percentages for males in the same age groups are
55% and 64% respectively. For international seekers, there is a much weaker desire for
potential partners to be within their own age group. Middle aged men in particular are
seeking younger women, often overwhelmingly so. Russian women seeking western
men also overwhelmingly prefer potential partners to be older. For Russians seeking
Russians the desired partner age preference patterns are intermediate between the two
extremes of USA—>USA and East-+West, although Russian men do desire younger
partners.

To go beyond these simple descriptive patterns in the age preference differences
of computer mediated relationship brokerages requires the inclusion of a matrix of
independent variables. It is impossible to replicate the analyses of Tables 4A and 43 by
simply adding controls for additional variables; interpretations of the resulting cross-
tabulations are fraught with ambiguity because of small numbers in some cells.
However, when the dependent variable (the difference between the age of the user and
that of their desired partner) is operationalized as a continuous metric it becomes possible

to calculate the actual difference in years between the seekers and their desired

26

Table 4A. FEMALE Age Preferences of Male Online Partner Seekers, 2004-2005 (percentages)

 

 

 

Male Seeker Age Category
<25 yrs 25-29 yrs 30-34 yrs 35-39 yrs 40-44 yrs 45-49 yrs 50+ yrs
Desired Female Age
A
US -» US

< 25 years 77.8 30.8
25-29 years 22.2 53.8 71.4 20.0 8.3
30.34 years 15.4 28.6 80.0 8.3 11.1 1.6
35-39 years 66.7 22.2 1.6
40-44 years 16.7 55.6 12.9
45-49 years 11.1 19.4
50+ years 64.5

B

EAST —+ WEST

<25 years 85.7 66.7 30.8 15.8 7.1
25-29 years 14.3 25.0 53.8 36.8 28.6 16.7 15.0
30-34 years 11.5 42.1 57.1 16.7 10.0
35-39 years 3.8 5.3 7.1 41.7 65.0
40-44 years 25.0 5.0
45-49 years 5.0
50+ years

C

RUSSIAN —+ RUSSIAN

< 25 years 90.9 81.8 20.0 15.4
25-29 years 9.1 9.1 73.3 60.0 30.8 4.2 14.3
30-34 years 9.1 6.7 20.0 30.8 37.5
35-39 years 20.0 15.4 25.0
40-44 years 7.7 25.0 7.1
45-49 years 8.3 42.9
50+ years 35.7

D

TOTAL

< 25 years 85.3 58.3 22.9 8.8 7.7
25-29 years 14.7 30.6 62.5 41.2 23.1 6.7 5.2
30—34 years 8.3 12.5 41.2 33.3 - 26.7 3.1
35-39 years 2.1 8.8 28.2 28.9 14.6
4044 years 2.8 7.7 31.1 10.4
45-49 years 6.7 19.8
50+ years 46.9

 

27

Table 4B. MALE Age Preferences of Female Online Partner Seekers, 2004-2005 (percentages).

 

Female Seeker Age Catego_ry
45 yrs 25-29 yrs 30-34 yrs 35-39 yrs 40-44 yrs 45-49 yrs 50+ yrs

Desired Male Age
A
US -v US
< 25 years 71.4
25-29 years 28.6 40.0
30-34 years 60.0 40.0 17.6
35-39 years 60.0 35.3 18.8
40—44 years 41.2 37.5 14.3 4.2
45-49 years 25.0 71.4 4.2
50+- years 5.9 18.8 14.3 91.7
B
EAST —’ WEST
< 25 years 6.8
25-29 years 33.8 5.6
30-34 years 44.6 61.1 12.5
35-39 years 10.8' 27.8 26.7 12.5
40-44 years 1.4 5.6 46.7 37.5
45-49 years 1.4 13.3 25.0 100.0
50+ years 1.4 13.3 12.5
C
RUSSIAN -> RUSSIAN
< 25 years 42.9
25-29 years 42.9 16.7
30-34 years 14.3 50.0 14.3 7.7
35-39 years 25.0 71.4 38.5 5.3
40—44 years 8.3 14.3 23.1 21.1 15.8
45-49 years 30.8 63.2 31.6 3.2
50+ years 15.8 47.4 96.8
D
TOTAL
< 25 years 18.9
25-29 years 33.7 14.3
30-34 years 35.8 57.1 15.6 13.2
35-39 years 8.4 22.9 46.9 31.6 8.3 3.8
40-44 years 1.1 5.7 25.0 34.2 27.8 15.4 2.5
45-49 years 1.1 6.3 15.8 47.2 42.3 3.8
50+ years 1.1 6.3 5.3 16.7 38.5 93.7

 

28

partners and to cross tabulate those differences by selected socio-demographic
characteristics]. Table 5 presents such cross tabulations.

Reading across the bottom of the table to examine the age difference between
partner seekers and the desired age of their potential partners, it is immediately apparent
that across the board men are looking for women significantly younger than themselves
and women are looking for older partners, especially Russian women. The age
preference differences are smallest within the USA—+USA data,where in fact there is
barely a one year difference between the age of women searchers and their desired
partners’ age. American men, on average, desire a woman about five and a half years
younger. For both the Russian and the international data, the differences are much
greater with the most striking disparity, 8.5 years being among western men looking for
younger Russian women and Russian women looking for older western men. Russian
males seeking Russian females also prefer much younger women while Russian women
prefer a partner almost four years older.

The age differences presented in the body of the table strongly reinforce the
overall finding that women universally prefer younger men and men prefer older women.
Only American women over age 50 prefer younger men. In general, American women’s
age preference differences are substantially trivial and statistically insignificant. Russian
women seeking western men prefer much older potential partners than Russian women
seeking Russian men across all categories of the independent variables. The biggest age
preference difference for men are those of western men seeking Russian women. For

example, the older the western man the younger a Russian female partner he prefers and

29

 

Table 6. Age Preferences Differences for Online Partner-Seeking Participants Rggressed upon Socio—demographic Characteristics: 2004-2005.

 

 

 

 

US —» US EAST —» WEST RUSSIAN —» RUSSIAN TOTAL T 1
fem—ale M_al§ Emails M_al§ m1; wig we Male _.0ta
City Size (ref. Small) 2 349 *1.
Large 1372 0.516 1.365 -0.265 0.546 10275211 (1 177)
(1.057) (1.200) (0.925) (1.664) (1.077) ( - ) -
Marital status (ref. never married) _ ***
ever married -0.427 -2.223 * -1.505 -5.372 *** —1.799 —0.554 -2.1 81 * -1.884 (1275426)
(1.355) (1.308) (1.625) (2.027) (2.938) (3.251) (1.157) (1.310) .
Has Children (ref. No) _
Yes 0297 —1.426 0.129 —0.715 -1.382 —3.458 —1.003 —2.240 * 115214 5:;
(1.239) (1.254) (1.736) (2.074) (2.137) (2.844) (1.150) (1.295) ( .
‘ Ethnicity (ref. White) *4: _ 064
non—White —0.995 3.169 ** 3.198 3.722 -2229 141-92510 (1083)
(1.190) (1.398) (3.023) (2.810) (1.714) ( ~ ) .
Religiousness (ref. No) *4.
Yes —0.396 0.895 0.804 -2125 5.814 1.642 0.2127 (12.1733
(0.962) (1.018) (1.889) (1.570) (6.295) (1.070) (1.1 ) .
Foreign Language(s) (ref. No)
Yes 1.721 -0.508 5.139 —0.762 0.744 —2.044 3.438 *** —2.229 ** 10099907)
(1.362) (1.251) (3.507) (1.639) (1.979) (2.756) (1.066) (1.101) ( -
Education (ref. HS) 0 613
College + 0.813 1.200 —2.022 -2.671 —0.557 1071752 (1 -709)
(1.457) (1.971) (1.652) (2.177) (1.579) ( - ) -
Body Type (ref. average) ***
in shape 0.029 -1.160 -2290 -1.864 -1 .561 —1.239 13.170947
(1.063) (1.079) (2.255) (2.644) (1.044) (1.137) ( - )
Occupation (ref. Professional/skilled)
_ 0.667
Unskilled / Other / service 0437 -1530 -0.103 0.497 0.498 —0.3 70 0.491 1011379 (1 094)
(1.002) (1.047) (1.002) (1.675) (1.900) (2.847) (0.984) ( - ) -
Constant
- . 3
coefficient 1.880 —4.203 * 4.129 —2.757 4.977 ** -3.636 3.547 * —3 .346 (2221195)
(2.009) (2.332) (4.162) (2.834) (2.280) (3.021) (2.177) (2.168) -
R2 0.075 0.199 0.092 0.228 0.117 0.172 0.307 0.148 0.3:
N 79 94 111 76 24 28 104 125
* = P Sig. < .10 ** = P Sig. < .05 *** = P Sig. < .01 , Pairwise deletion

30

 

 

western men who have ever been married or who have children prefer women
about 12 years younger. Russian men also show strong preferences for younger women
evident across socio-demographic covariates as do American men seeking American
women but the substantiveness and significance of the differences declines considerably.

This description of the background characteristics and age preference differences
among Americans, Russians, and Western/Russian users of computer mediated
relationship brokerages could perhaps be elaborated upon by the inclusion of more
control variables or by a closer examination of the variation between and among the
percentages and age differences presented in tables 4 and 5. However, the broad
observed themes of western males’ strong preference for younger Russian women,
Russian males lesser but still strong preference for younger Russian partners, the limited
age difference preference between potential American partners and the strong preference
of Russian women for older partners would probably unchanged. We move instead to a
multivariate analysis of age preference differences.

To examine the simultaneous effects of a matrix of independent variables on age
preference differences ordinary least squares regression techniques were employed The
major advantages of this approach are that such an analysis can examine the variation in
age preference difference and the relationship of each independent variable to age
preference difference while simultaneously controlling for all the other independent
variables in the equation. Nine equations were modeled: male and female separately for
each of the three component data sets and for the total data set. The resulting coefficients

and their associated standard errors are reported in table six.

31

Given the dichotomous nature of all the independent variables, the predictive
power of all models is very moderate, the proportion of variation in the dependent
variable explained ranges from a very modest 7 per cent to a very moderate 31%. The
regression equation for the total data sets shows city size, being ever married, religiosity,
and good physical condition as the most significant predictors of age preference
differences. However, the coeflicients for the separate regressions for the national and
international data sets, separated by gender, while having the expected sign and being
substantial in size are almost uniformly statistically insignificant (the one exception being
marital status which maintains its negative sign and significance for both western men
seeking Russian partners and western men seeking American partners).

I would like to explain in more details why there is different age entitlement
among participants of three regions because it is an important development in the context
of global inequalities.

Explanation of Differences in Age Preferences.

It is obvious from Table 5 that there are considerable age differences in dating
pattern among people from the three regions; USA, Russia, and global. Specifically,
American women are looking for American men who are 1.14 years older than them,
American men are looking for American women 5.49 years younger, Russian women are
looking for Western men 8.59 years older, Western men are looking for Russian women
8.43 years younger, Russian women are looking for Russian men 3.76 years older,
Russian men are looking for Russian women 7.47 years younger.

In USA, on average, an American man desires to have a wife or a dating partner

who is 5.49 years younger. Dating Russian women, American and Western men are

32

looking for someone who is in average 8.43 years younger than themselves. Why, when
dating internationally, do American men request in their profiles that Russian women
should be younger than American women? One answer may be that since these women
are from economically less successful countries unequal development in the global
economy makes Russian women less powerful than American women. American men
can request more from a woman on the global market than in domestic market. Just as
General Motors uses its comparative advantage on the global market, so do American
men. This is why for American men, Russian women are more attractive than American
women. This is why there is a difference in age entitlement. For a Russian woman, to
marry an American means marrying up, there fore some concessions have to be made.

It is also common sense that richer men request younger and more attractive
women. Poor men might request not so young women or even older women.
Unfortunately, no analysis of income differences or preferences was possible. Income
data is not collected on the international web site. On the USA web site, there is a
variable “income”, but the data is neither valid nor reliable and could not be included for
analysis. The Russian web site also does not have a requirement for participants to
indicate their income.

A closer examination of Russian-)Russian web site, reveals that age entitlement
here is different from both USA-)USA and East-)West cases. Age entitlement here is
between the USA-)USA and East-)West ranges. Russian men are looking for Russian
women who are 7 .47 years younger, which is less than 8.43 —- the age entitlement of the
Western men on global market, and more than 5.49 - the age entitlement of the USA men

in domestic market. Russian women, in turn, are looking for Russian men who are 3.76

33

years older, which is more than 1.14 - the age entitlement of the USA women, and less
than 8.59 - the age entitlement of the women on international web site. This difference
can be explained by different levels of equality between genders in USA and Russia.
American women are more emancipated, more independent, have more income than
Russian women, therefore American women, in according to exchange theory can afford
to desire younger men than Russian women can. The same reasoning explains why
Russian men in Russia can afford to desire women younger than men in USA can. On the
international scene, Western men on the global market are stronger than both Russian and
American men in their homelands. In their turn, Eastern women are weaker on the global

market than both women in USA and women in Russia are. Table 5 shows this explicitly.

34

 

Table 5. Age Preferences Differences for Online Partner-Seeking Participants from three Online Partner Selection Services: 2004—2005.

 

 

 

 

US v» US EAST —> WEST RUSSIAN -> RUSSIAN TOTAL
Female Male Female M9 Female M Female Male

Age Groups

<25 2.50 *** 1.28 *** 9.14 0.64 *** 5.50 0.68 *** 7.89 *** 0.82 ***

25-29 3.30 ** -0.65 *** 7.31 —1.33 *** 6.25 *** -3.55 *** 6.37 *** —1.76 ***

30—34 1.70 —2.43 *** 9.30 -6.08 *** 4.93 -5.97 * 5.97 -5.51 ***

35—39 1.85 -5.20 5.25 * —8.710 4.15 -7.25 3.36 -7.76

40-44 1.94 -5.96 7.50 —12.04 *** 3.82 ~10.15 * 3.08 ** -9.54 ***

45-49 0.64 -7.00 —-- -10.92 1.47 —10.58 *** 1.25 *** -9.96 ***

50+ —0.05 * -7.54 *** -—- —17.83 *** 3.35 ~10.89 *** 1.28 *** -10.17 ***
Age

Youi‘g 0r equal 2.05 -1.08 —4.33 5.21 -4.13 6.52 -3.53

medlan 865

Older than median 0.61 * -7.22 *** 5.50 -13.93 *** 2.98 *** -10.42 *** 1.81 *** ~9.92 ***
City Size

Small 2.07 -6.60 7.66 -8.56 3.63 —1.75 5.05 -7.78

Large 0.63 * -4.89 * 9.33 * —8.36 3.78 —7.59 4.28 -6.75
Marital status

Never married 1.56 -3.43 8.87 —6.33 3.86 —6.95 5.69 -5.90

Ever married 0.86 -6.41 *** 7.43 -12.10 *** 1.19 ** —9.38 2.16 *** -852 ***
Has Children

No 1.33 —3.94 8.79 -6.87 4.75 —4.80 6.16 —5.48

Yes 1.04 -6.74 *** 7.56 —11.50 *** 3.29 -8.03 *** 2.79 *** —8.42 ***
Ethnicity

White 1.29 -6.16 8.47 -8.38 3.76 —7.47 4.76 —7.26

Non-White 0.44 —2.61 *** 13.33 * -5.93 m m 1.82 *** -3.45 ***
Body Type

Average 1.16 —5.34 —-- m 3.82 -7.19 2.17 -6.12

in Shape 1.06 —5.67 -—— -—- 1.56 * -8.50 1.23 -6.78
Religiousness

N0 1.39 -5.92 8.43 -6.94 3.76 -7.84 3.21 —7.10

Yes 0.93 -5.14 8.61 -9.26 * m -0.60 ** 5.77 *** -7.12
Foreign Language(s)

N0 0.89 -5.63 5.25 -7.24 3.54 -6.68 1.96 —6.27

Yes 2.50 -5.05 8.65 -9.00 4.08 -8.20 6.86 *** -8.03 **
Education

High School 0.25 -7.50 10.86 -6.24 -_- -5,75 4,92 661

College + 1.34 —5.42 8.36 * -8.94 3.74 -9.31 4.84 -7.25
Occupation

Professional / skilled 1.39 -4.91 8.60 —8.92 4.06 —8.31 4.91 -7.08

Unskilled / Other /

service 1.06 ~5.98 8.58 —8.30 4.80 -9.10 5.48 -7.47

Total age difference 1.14 5.49 8.59 ~8.43 3.76 —7.47 4.51 -7.11
N 117 117 117 117 114 113 348 347

 

Negative Sign means a partner seeker is looking for someone younger than he or she is.

35

*=PSig.<.10

** = P Sig. < .05

***=PSig. <.01

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

The increasing number of international maniages, its impact on immigration, and
lack of legislation is a problem today and will continue into the future. The INS reported
to Congress in 1999 on the extent, growth, and activities of mail-order bride businesses in
the United States. The attention to mail-order marriages reflects growing concern
regarding the global recruitment and transportation of women in a variety of exploitative
ways. The information on trafficking suggests that mail-order brides may become victims
of international trafficking in women and girls. The rising incidence of homicides and
abuse among “mail-order brides” has led to the pending federal legislation to protect
women who use International Marriage Brokerage organizations. Women involved in
mail-order bride activities are mostly from the Philippines or from the newly independent
states of the former Soviet Union.

In this research focused on the Russo-American case I discussed, from a
sociological perspective, the gendered differences in age requirements inherent in such
Intemet-brokered relationships. Gender inequality on the global level is one of the major
themes of this research. Quantitative analysis of age preferences differences reveals some
aspects of gender and power relationships. From a sociological point of view it is
important to study the mail-order bride phenomena, because Intemet-mediated
relationships have become a widespread activity around the globe.

I found, when dating internationally American men request in their profiles that
Russian women should be younger than American women. One explanation to it is that
Russian women are from an economically less successful country. Unequal development

in the global economy makes Russian women less powerful than American women and

36

therefore more attractive for men. In their own countries, American women are more
emancipated, more independent, have more income than Russian women, therefore
American women, in according to exchange theory can afford to desire younger men than
Russian women can.

Arguments of sociobiologists or evolutionary psychologists that male-female age
differences with respect to mating preferences and choices reflect sex-linked differences
in reproductive strategies, echoing the biological processes of fitness and selection, have
been firmly rejected by sociologists and anthropologists. This research also suggests that
age preferences in mate selection are not explained by sex-linked biological reproductive
strategies, but by other causes. Historical, cultural, demographic, economic, and social
factors best explain age preference differences.

I do not discuss consequences of Internet dating, namely how many marriages
occur and how they work after successful dating, because it is impossible to track
international on-line relationships. Lack of resources prevent me from exploring research
on how many people got married, how many abuse cases there are in these marriages,
how many there are happy marriages, and how many divorces.

Mail-order brides case studies, like the present one, should also be done with
Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, and African countries. The overall study is discussed

within the context of increased globalization, transnationalism, and Internet technology.

37

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' The average difference between the age of the online user and their expressed desired age of a potential
partner is calculated as: ((Pattner’s Minimum Desired Age + Partner’s Maximum desired Ages )/2) — Age
of Seeker

41

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