Posted on 12/23/2006 5:15:33 PM PST by Dallas59
BANGKOK (AFP) - "I could not find anybody in the States. There was nothing in America for me. That's why I'm here," says the clean-cut 52-year-old bachelor, who bears a passing resemblance to Hollywood actor Michael Douglas.
Sullivan, an emergency nurse from Florida, is one of a growing number of foreign men seeking young and beautiful Thai brides via the Internet.
Speaking at the Bangkok office of Sweet Singles, a Thai bride-by-Internet company, Sullivan says he has decided to "go beyond boundaries" in his search for a wife after a futile quest in the United States.
"American women in my age are, basically, a wreck. They are physically and emotionally beaten up from relationships and life. They are untrusting," says the well-built Sullivan, sporting a pink shirt and white pants.
"I think the feminist movement in America in the 60s really trashed American feminism. American women lack a certain femininity about them that women of other countries have," he laughs.
Sullivan contacted Sweet Singles six months ago and was introduced to Yoshita Tongsalee, an attractive 27-year-old teacher of traditional Thai dancing.
After corresponding with her via e-mails for three weeks, Sullivan decided to meet her and flew to Bangkok in early December.
"Just from e-mails, I knew she was the one. I just knew," says the American, his emerald earring dazzling.
"I find Thai women in general to be less self-centered and more family-centered than I find in western women," he says. The couple plans to marry next year.
John, a 43-year-old Briton who got married to a Thai woman four years ago via an Internet bride agency, also has grievances about western women.
"English women are very demanding and they expect you to be good-looking and have plenty of money and give them lots of attention. They drink a lot and they smoke a lot and they eat a lot," says John, who declined to give his last name.
"I am not very good at getting women anyway. I'm not the best-looking guy in the world. I'm quite short and it's very hard for me to find an English woman who is shorter than me," he says on the telephone from London.
Before marrying his Thai bride, John dated six British women, but his relationships with them were anything but happy.
"I'm just fed up with British women. They are not so loyal," he says.
When he met six Thai ladies in Bangkok via the Internet, including a 32-year-old business woman who later became his wife, John says he was struck by their kindness and family-centered values.
"I think Thai women are more loyal to their husbands. They are not just 'take, take take.' Also they have old-fashioned family values, which we used to have in this country," he says. John and his wife now have two young boys.
John and Marc declined to say how much they paid to get their Thai wives. Sweet Singles says it can charge a foreign man up to 1,700 dollars for a three-year membership to meet Thai ladies.
Some 10,000 foreign men have signed up with Sweet Singles over the last decade, and nearly half of them were previously divorced, says Bee, the company's customer service manager.
Some 80 percent of them get married to Thai women through the agency.
Americans account for 60 percent of the company's male clients, with the rest mostly from Australia, Britain, Germany and Scandinavian countries. Their average age ranges from 55 to 60.
Some 20,000 Thai women have also joined Sweet Singles, with their ages ranging from 20 to 40. The company charges a Thai woman 700 baht (20 dollars) for membership.
Bee, a petite 40-something, says Thai woman often have a favorable impression of foreigners.
"Many Thai girls were disappointed by Thai men who are famous for womanizing, drinking and gambling. Thai woman believe Caucasian men are more responsible and sincere and not playing around with other women," she says.
Thanitchaya Buaban, a striking 26-year-old beauty from Thailand's northern tourist spot of Chiang Mai, says she used to have a Thai boyfriend but he cheated on her many times.
"I was heart-broken. After I joined Sweet Singles, I started meeting foreigners and they were very kind and polite," she says at the firm's office.
Thanitchaya says she now has many American suitors who are trying to win her love with diamond rings and necklaces.
"I'm going to choose the best one," she says with a big smile.
For Sullivan's fiancee Yoshita, her experiences with Thai men were more traumatic.
"I was planning to marry my first Thai boyfriend, but he did not show up on our wedding day. He embarrassed me and my family," Yoshita says. "My second boyfriend cheated on me and impregnated another woman."
But Yoshita, who wears a golden heart necklace, says she is looking forward to living in Florida with the man of her dreams -- even if she still refers to him by his last name.
"I believe Mr Sullivan is a gift from God. He is really a good man and respects me. Every day I pray and thank Buddha for giving me Mr Sullivan," she says.
Sullivan nodded and held her hand.
"I have to step outside my own culture to find someone with whom I am compatible. I am not narrow-minded in that regard," he smiles.
I didn't say that, but since you want to spar over it:
"Young, beautiful and compliant women" should always be prefaced with:
"as compared to the usual screeching, bitchy, harpy of a female wannabe attorney or therapist you typically run into in a canvas of American females."
There's what the rest of the world considers 'independent', then there is the european and american 'independent' which means--hates men, comfortable shoes, long pants and short hair (wink, wink)....
Green?
Men marry women hoping they won't change.
Women marry men hoping they will change.
Both are usually disappointed.
As you say...
"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies."
Proverbs 31:10
Gospel truth. Women in the USA are purt near ruint. Hard to see it unless you spend time around women in other countries who aren't yet contaminated by the "liberations" of Western feminism.
Here is the definition (which I got from clicking through on the definiton you sighted)
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication.
In biblical times the great wrong was tricking a man into raising a child that was not his. A married man boffing a bimbo does not run this risk. It is still wrong (fornication), but it's not adultery, per this definition.
I agree that modern usage seems to have lost track of this, but like much of modern usage, is simply incorrect. As are you.
See my post #567.
Then you wouldn't be reduced to ridiculous quibbling and niggling and legalizing over who carries more guilt from infidelity, the wife or her cheap paramour.
A man sniffing after another man's wife is attacking a marriage and a family. And in biblical times, he would be hauled out and stoned with the errant woman. In dar-al-Islam, he still would be.
This is like the attitude that priests can't marry but needn't be chaste.
Do you always attack people personally when they point out small errors you have made?
Baloney! I'm not going to argue language with someone like you any longer. The definition of adultery is clear and unambiguous and applies to everyone who participates regardless of their individual marital status or gender. You can make up any definition you want if it helps you live with yourself, but your Clinton-esqe word weaseling certainly doesn't make it right.
Women who become strippers are largely already damaged goods; past abuse or neglect has made them cynical about and mistrustful of men. They are lesbians waiting to happen. Stripping just provides a perfect environment for their man issues to come to full fruition. Female homosexuality is largely a rejection of femininity as weakness. Male homosexuality is more a striving to attain unrealized confident masculinity. As with the women, the damage can be caused by abuse or neglect; but the damage and dynamics are not the same for each gender homosexuals.
That's a good Willie Nelson CD.
I got it for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's one of my favorites.
My absolute favorite is Teatro.
Sorry but BS. I want an equal, a partner. Reading some of these posts on this thread, I assume most 'men' represented on this thread want someone to pick up their dirty laundry, cook, and have sex. I've dated women who 'knew their role'. And it got boring rather quickly. I want someone I can carry on discussions with it be it philosophy, theology, or history (I'll talk politics with her if she absolutely insists although I find it insipid for the most part). But someone that can hop on the back of my ride and feel welcome down at the local biker bar. She better be as smart to carry on a conversation. She better be as strong to be able to deal with things on her own if necessary. She should be able to dress up to go out on the town but then slap on a pair of jeans and t-shirt to hang out or go on a ride.
And here's a shocker for you. Housework would be split equally (well except certain laundry, I am a guy and don't know delicates from non-whites.)
Why? What is the point? Is it a fashion thing among these guys? From your description I'm imagining you as a pirate. I just cannot see why a self-confident man would need to get attention by wearing earrings. Maybe it's a counter-cultural statement? I admit it's almost an irrational prejudice on my part, it's become not uncommon. But the one thing for certain I can say, no matter what other things I might overlook (tattos, overweight, bald, short, dorky, etc) to date someone, I would never go out with any man wearing an earring. Obviously the biker guys are tough, but I can't help thinking there is an unattractive conformity to them all wearing earrings, and I equate masculinity more with rugged individualism. Just a quirk I have I guess.
Oh, yes I do forget. Barefoot, pregnant, and cleaning the house all day right? Why should she not be working?
Biker bar Chicks? Oh now theirs femininity and grace at it's Zenith. Romance between a beer a belch and laughing so loud the people across the street can hear just before passing gas.. lol Just add in a few swear words and call her "Mommy"
Ah I so love stereotypes. All women in a biker bar like that huh? You've been in the wrong bars. They don't live there.
Do tell me what was "Wonder Womens" take on the Theological Declaration of Baramen
Eh, we tend to discuss Chesterton more than anything else. And Scripture.
and it's implications with regards to the current War On Terrorism..
As I said, I don't bother with politics. As stated, I know two or three women like this. Sorry you don't. Most fun, intelligent, and friendly sort you could ever meet.
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