Interpreting Mail Order Brides Through Memes
I chose to summarize Nicole Constable’s book Romance on a Global Stage: Pen Pals, Virtual Ethnography, and “Mail Order” Marriages through a series of ten memes. In her book Constable showcases men and women who are looking for love via foreign correspondence services. The dynamic is usually Western men seeking Asian or Eastern European women. Constable tackles the stereotypes that surround these relationships and disputes them by showing the mail order brides as empowered women choosing to enter relationships with foreign men.
When I was looking for memes to use in my summary, it was difficult to find ones that fit Constable’s book. Most of the memes played on the negative stereotypes about mail order brides. For instance, many contained racist and misogynist images. Despite this, I found a series of memes that shows both the stereotypes and the feminist side of mail order bride relationships.
