The Passport Bros Phenomenon Proves What MRAs Have Been Saying All Along

Western men are tired of Western women. Starting in July 2022, #passportbros began circulating on TikTok and Twitter, a calling card for men who were done dating American and European women and had decided to travel to find their partners, usually to South American, Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. In just a little over a year, the hashtag has received 696 million views on TikTok alone.

The conclusion is obvious. Western men no longer want to marry Western women, and from an economically minded point of view, this can only be if they feel like the risks and downsides of marriage outweigh the benefits. Yet at the same time, they must believe the opposite for relationships with foreign women. But why?

@anonymousally198 With men fighting in family court and becoming bankrupt weekend visitors to their kids and increasing risks of unaliving, depression and hopelessness, men are taking to other countries to seek out woman with traditional values in record numbers. I did a female version of this video as well. #passportbros #passportbrothas #passportbros🛂🛂 #passportboys #mensrights #fathersrights #familycourt #misandry ♬ original sound – AnonymousAlly198

What Was the Traditional Marrital Exchange?

Marriage is a ubiquitous institution that not only has been present in every human civilization, but predates civilization itself, with most hunter-gatherer societies practicing some form of marriage. This universality suggests that it provides—or at least provided—extensive benefits across cultures, eras and environments.

Basically, these benefits revolve around exchange. Men and women are sexually specialized, and each gender is better at doing certain things. By cooperating, a couple can combine their efforts for greater productivity and well-being than if they acted alone, and this provides better outcomes for each of them as well as their children. Lets look at what all three parties got out of traditional marriage.

Recognizing these tradeoffs also explains a lot of societal paradoxes that exist if you believe in the silly idea of “patriarchy.” For example, if men have controlled society, why would prostitution be so generally frowned upon? The real reason is that it decreases the motivation for men to get married because it removes one of their benefits, regular sexual relations.

Similarly, it’s usually been men who have been penalized for not marrying. While unmarried women have usually faced a certain amount of stigma as hags or witches, only men have faced legal penalties such as bachelor taxes, immigration bans and denial of social services.

Men No Longer Receive the Benefits

Looking at the list of benefits, it’s easy to see that men no longer receive them in modern marriage.

There is nothing preventing a modern woman from leaving her husband and taking the kids. It would take extensive legal action to gain even visitation, and dual custody is basically impossible. Women win custody in 90 percent of cases.

Clearly men no longer receive domestic labor. Feminists have construed domestic labor as oppressive, and men who don’t do half of the household chores are “misogynists,” even if these men, as most men do, spend far more hours at work than their wives in additon to doing all the dangerous and strenuous jobs at home. Plus, nearly half of women in the US these days (more in Europe) would rather devote time to their “career,” even if that means sending their infant children off with strangers while doing menial labor in a corporate office.

And finally, Western sexual liberation, led not least of all by feminists, means marriage and sex have little to with each other. According to the Institute for Family Studies, married men have less sex than men who are simply cohabiting, and only a few percentage points more than single men. Meanwhile, married or not, men have to face the risks of false allegations.

What About Women?

Feminists are quick to point out that women don’t get anything in return from men either. The immediate question would be why they feel the need to complain about the Passport Bros movement at all, then, but in reality, I would say they’re right, but for completely separate reasons. In direct contradiction of their stated beliefs in gender equality, feminism has institutionalized the male gender role.

In his book, The Myth of Male Power, Dr. Warren Farrell calls this “Government as Substitute Husband.” In other words, all the benefits a woman used to get from marriage, she can now get from the government.

Women are highly subsidized in most Western societies and generally considered “tax-negative.” That is, they get more in government benefits than they pay in taxes. Furthermore, feminists have long demanded that the government compensate women for the physical reasons that women are typically less productive: menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. Feminists have demanded menstruation leave, pregnancy leave, maternity leave longer than paternity leave, as well as mandated equal health insurance policies for men and women. All these require subsidization from men.

Additionally, they demand that insurance policies pay for free birth control, a way for them to eliminate these physical barriers and reach male levels of productivity. In other words, men must provide for women through the tax code and welfare programs. The provider has always been the male gender role, so we see the truth that feminists merely want gender roles for men, but not for women.

We also see this with protection, which women also receive through the government via male-only conscription. Feminists have generally opposed any efforts to include women in consciption.

An Unequal Exchange

So now we can see the dynamic. Between a Western man and woman, the woman no longer needs anything from the man in marriage while it’s only become harder for the man to get what he needs. This allows women to be more entitled and demanding from their partners and increasingly unwilling to give much in return.

This has led to disturbing online trends like the “ick” where women post their turnoffs, which include things like getting cold and being happy.

@drew.stu tryna not give her the ick🥶 #ick #icks #newickunlocked #london #uk #girl #girls #love #new #men #boys #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #relationship #relationshipgoals #happy #couple #car #food #chicken #chickennuggets #lol #football #cat #dog #opinion #instagram #drive ♬ original sound – Stu☪️

Feminism: All the Benefits, None of the Costs

The Passport Bros phenomenon proves what MRAs have been saying all along: feminism is not about gender equality. It’s about providing women with all the benefits of being women but with none of the downsides. It’s about liberation from gender roles, but only for women. It’s about reinforcement of gender roles for men, and forcing men to continue providing benefits for women like support and protection but receiving nothing in return.

With this arrangement, who wouldn’t grab their passport and look elsewhere for companionship?

My Prediction: Watch for feminists to call Passport Bros “misognynists” and “exploitative.” Expect them to demand bans on international dating and marriage.