Attitudes Toward Mixed Marriages in Bahrain: The Eroticization of Class

Drawn from two years of ethnographic research amongst foreign residents in Bahrain this paper discusses marriages between Bahraini men and non-Arab women.1 The first half of the paper outlines the entry of non-Arab women into the migrant workforce in Bahrain and the obstacles to marriage between these women and Bahraini men. The second half of the paper discusses the cultural attitudes toward mixed marriages and compares Bahraini-European marriages to Bahraini-Filipina marriages in order to explore the intersections of race and class in shaping attitudes towards mixed marriages. Bahraini-Filipina marriages meet with greater criticism and resistance from the extended family of the groom and the participants are subject to greater stigmatization than are Bahraini-European marriages. This paper illustrates how the current economic and social hierarchies shaping migration to the Arab Gulf influence attitudes of race, class and sexual attractiveness.