Nothing new here really... just another symptom of Singapore's coming-of-age as a developed country.

Due to the fact that our gini coefficient is particularly high, our income inequality (as well as media portrayals of the "good life") allows local women to have much higher expectations of the earning power and social status of their life partners since the perceived chances of finding a wealthy partner increases. As marrying up is a more commonly accepted practice for women, local women of lower social status are more likely to compete together with local women from more affluent backgrounds for the same pool of successful local men .

The less successful / less attractive local men will find themselves with a shrinking pool of local women to choose from, as the lower-income local girls are also less likely to choose them as mates.

Depending on how you look at it, the development of foreign bride agencies can be seen as either a negative externality resulting from high income inequality or a natural social safety valve that meets the otherwise unfulfilled needs of a segment of the population that may otherwise unleash testosterone-fueled costs on the rest of society (haha).

Because Singaporean women know their worth. They are intelligent, educated and self reliant and see no reason to put up with men who believe they still live in the 1700s.

And thus they will not put themselves through the indignity of being bought for S$10,000 or subject themselves to virginity tests.

Unfortunately, some Singaporean men are unable to move forward with the times. They expect women to be virginal slaves and willing to do everything their husband fancies. And since no Singaporean women needs to or would do all that, the men find themselves having to downgrade to women who have to.

I guess it's simple. Men who can't score a Singaporean woman because of their own inadequacies have to resort to other means.

And, of course, the scores of Singaporean men who do go for these brides for purchase, would no doubt respond with floods of comments about how Singaporean women are demanding and unwomanly.

I guess it's but a case of sour grapes. Either that, or it's a case of a mentality that belongs in the trashcan.

women like to think they know everything. very typical.

having said that... GTFO PUSSY.

You prove my point. Enough said.

because they are losers, if its true love and you really find someone whom you think you can spend your life with, no problems there, except for the specific mentioned in the link, about how they are taken to a clinic and whatsonot, WTF.

http://www.asiaone.com/Just%2BWoman/Motherhood/Stories/Story/A1Story20080715-76840.html

SG men sometimes complain so much, like this dude over here, he talks so much about how SG women find this and that to criticise and shun him but at the end of the day it boils down to pragmatism, women tend to think for the future and the having kids and all, look at how this fellow here had a kid and shipped his baby back to vietnam to be taken care of by his wife's mother because childcare in Singapore is too expensive.

Many (not saying all) Sg men are:
1) INSECURE
2) Too close to their moms/smothered by moms/Spolit (many asian moms think of sons/males as the superior gender)
3) Have unrealistic ideals of a 'perfect wife'
4) TOO EGOISTICAL
5) NOT independent

This is also true of Singaporean women. It's just that Singaporean men are too horny to care.

Sigh... Yet another male vs female fight... So much for positive discussion :p

I posted the first comment on the Gini coefficient. My take on foreign bride agencies is this: who are we really to judge whether the love between such couples is true or not? Consider the following facts:

1. During our parents' and grandparents' generation, arranged marriages were far more common and yet divorce rates were far lower.

2. Individuals have far greater choice in today's globalised day and age in terms of life partners, not only because their parents allow them more choice but also because the internet and international travel are allowing individuals to network in a far more boundary-less way than before. Yet divorce rates are rising.

3. Let's not just confine "true love" to love between just one man and one woman. What about truly loving families? Even among married couples, there is a rising trend, not just among lower income, but even affluent families, of juvenile delinquencies and teen crime. Does "happily ever after" with kids necessarily apply even a successful guy ties the knot with an attractive girl in a non-arranged marriage?

The reality of the situation is that we are increasingly seeing a generation of single Singaporeans in their mid-20s to mid-30s (both male and female) who are less psychologically resilient than the baby-boomer generation, yet simultaneously facing greater demands for mental and emotional maturity in an increasingly complex globalised world, with economic uncertainties that our parents never had to face. In short, we are required to be more mature than our parents despite the fact that we have been nurtured in a way that makes us less than ready for that (through no fault of our parents, who sincerely did not want us to suffer hardships like they did).

In the new flat world, the family unit is under strain like never before (too much info to to elaborate on in one post), yet many of today's singles (in the developed world worldwide, not just in Singapore) will find themselves ill-equipped to handle the new challenges of starting a family or even maintaining a relationship. The only real solution is either to find a partner from a less developed country with a higher adversity quotient (hence a foreign bride) or to marry much later (local guy to local girl) when both the guy and girl are more established not only in their careers, but also more tempered by their life experiences (MCYS will be disappointed to know that this will decrease our birth rates though). The role of religious groups will become increasingly important as a stabilizing factor in tempering the expectations of singles in society.

Aiya! There's always fwapping.

fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping fwapping

You know how much lube $10,000 buys?

Wow, quite jute leh. Definitely more feminine than local girls.

Both SG men and women are the blame. Some SG men have too traditional ideas about their partners while some SG women feel that they have the right to set the bar high.

About the independent thing, it don't think it is really possible. The nature of our society simply does not favor or encourage independent living as a single.

My thinking is this is very bad thing to do. I mean when we talking about marriage it should has nothing to do with buying or selling. How firm will be this king of family?

To the anonymous writer who wrote: "It's too bad that none of you lefties really know anything". First of all... why is your thinking belief in evolution is a leftist idea. This makes no sense to me at all. How on Earth can you politicize belief in God?

I linked to your myspace page indicates you are an atheist. First of all, someone should explain to you what an atheist is. It won't be me. There are plenty of reputable books you can read about that at the library.

To the person that said the God argument is getting old, i applaud you. It is such a tired argument. And to the person that said we would need to be "old as matter" to know if evolution existed for sure, that would never happen. That is such a convenient argument to hide behind. No one can be that old, "so let's give up and just decide there is no way to know for sure". If we thought that way about our health most of the people posting on this site would likely be dead from a crappy infection that wasn't cured with medical research. Oh... and the web and computers wouldn't exist either. You stifle reason and curiosity with your dead end thinking. Sheesh. What a dope.