ABSTRACT
Cross-border romantic relationships between people from the Global North and the Global South tend to be problematised as suspect, particularly between white women and racialised men. Especially when intersecting with other inequalities such as social class, racialised partners from the Global South are often accused of being in a relationship solely for money or residence permits. In these accusations, true love and material gain are framed as being mutually exclusive. Widespread stories of false love, love fraud, or bezness have not only informed migration policies, thus contributing to the regulation of these interracialised intimacies, but they can also lead to suspicion and distrust within relationships. This chapter focuses on narratives of bezness or ‘false love’ in mixed relationships between Dutch women and men from countries in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA). Using a variety of sources including interviews, media reports, and ‘true story books’, it shows how bezness narratives are used to claim a position of victimhood, give meaning to experiences of loss and disappointment, and to warn European women away from such relationships.
