Fortunately, this allowed the women to make a financial killing doing things like washing laundry and holding bake sales--but I think we'll all agree that the brothel system isn't necessarily good for society.
If you need further persuasion on this point, I suggest you read the trashy romance novel my roommate recently finished, Silver Lining, in which this tragic Western Frontier love triangle developed between a female goldminer, her arranged-marriage husband and his jilted lover, who went on to marry the first woman's husband's brother. The whole thing ended in attempted suicides and dead babies and God knows whatever mayhem. Proof is in the pudding.
Now, our generation has proven just as mobile and adventurous--heading off to all corners of the world to do Peace Corps, internships, development work--or maybe just to escape the economic woes of the US right now. Let me tell you, it is a good thing to be living in the Egyptian economy right now. 30 cents for a sandwich? $80 for a 3 day all-inclusive vacation into the western sahara? This is the good life, my friends.
But in a weird historical reversal, our migration abroad seems to be heavily female. Women are flooding study abroad programs and internships abroad. I'm not sure which is better-- colonies of men getting into bar fights over the one eligible bachelorette in town, or scores and scores of women watching "Pride and Prejudice" every night, waiting for an Egyptian Mr. Darcy to sweep them off their feet. Both are pretty painful phenomena to witness.
But thanks to the recent marvels of modern technology, our generation is in infinitely better shape than our goldmining lonely hearts club. I would like to propose that Cheesy Christian Press issue a new edition of "The Five Love Languages," updated for our times. The 6th love language? Email.
Yes, my friends--I've found that it is possible to develop a love language preference that desires to express itself in emoticons and late-night emails, facebook messages and twitter updates.
Already emotionally crippled by my Swedish genes, I find that words of endearment flow out easily when typed in Times New Roman font, that sighs of longing seem that much more palpable when represented with a little : ( face. Indeed, the very deepest of human sentiments seem to pour forth when prompted by google's targeted ads bordering my email screen--"Looking for love? Dr. Phil explains all"--as gmail's search algorithms correctly sense that a love letter is being typed across the screen. And who can deny the real relationship growth that comes from posting profile pictures posed with one's significant other, commenting on each other's facebook status--posting videos on each other's walls? It is the backbone of many a long-distance relationship. The 15 second delay while talking on Skype only increases the sense of mutual suffering for the sake of romance.
Someday, we will tell future generations how we used to spend hours waiting for an emailed photo to download, how Skype turned our sweetheart's voice into a nearly unrecognizable robot that took 10 seconds to transmit across the ether, how "new mail" notifications nearly made us swoon.
The downside of all of this is the way it has rendered some of us completely incompetent when we're actually given the opportunity to express our feelings with words. Like, real, spoken words.
I'm already imagining a rash of disappointing marriage proposals:
"Honey, I love you, will you marry me?"
"Ah... Um, ya..... Uh, honey, will you give me a second?" (Whip out blackberry)
Typed: "I love you! Yes, yes, yes!"
After marriage, of course, it only gets more complicated-- twitter'd pillow talk, loveydovey conversations by text message while sitting in the same room together, anniversaries commemorated by looking over old emails together. Don't pretend you haven't done that before.
No better, no worse--it's simply romance for the internet age.
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