It's amazing what precocious eight year old girls can do

[eumelia]

When they've been forced into marriage.

Sometimes I fail to understand the logic of the world that I live in.

You know, the kind of bravery it takes for a little girl to run away from a house where she has was forced to "consummate the marriage" by her twenty-something "husband" is extraordinary.
The girl is eight.
EIGHT!
The whole idea of child brides, never mind teen brides, but Child Brides is beyond me. Isn't that institutionalized pedophilia?

The good news is the marriage was annulled, and the girl has gone to live with her family and will be returning to primary school.

Child brides make as much sense to me as "honour killings" - it's a "cultural thing" so it's okay. That's the way "they" treat women and children.
Who are we in the "West" to judge?

But see it's not the way "they" treat women and children. Women and children, in every culture, whether it's in this monolith we call the West or in "Ethnic" (I hate this word) cultures, will suffer for being women and children - especially female children.
I'll tell you how I feel the West has changed, instead of "honour killings" we have women and girls who are raped and murdered by their boyfriends, husbands or colleagues.
The majority of women who have been murdered, were murdered by their exes.
Instead of child brides we have child prostitutes.
The trafficking of women and children into sexual slavery is a pan-global phenomena.

So in the "West" there women can work, own property, choose to not marry, choose not to have children, wear pants and sneakers, not wear make-up etc.
In the "West" women can love who they want, speak out against gender based crimes, they can be doctors, lawyers, engineers, factory workers, writers, editors, actors, performers, leaders... they can go into any profession if they so choose.
I get to have more choices.
Which is a great consolation prize no doubt - this is said seriously.

My point is Relativism, as my Ethics professor said in the first lecture is "Moral Bankruptcy". If you're (editorial you) going to say "well, it's their culture, who are we to judge" - please make sure you understand the what makes a "culture", a culture and how it relates to the culture you're living in.

Here is the text to the article about the amazing little girl who got me ranting about the stupidness of moral and cultural Relativism:

Yemeni child bride gets divorce
By Rachid Sekkai
BBC Arabic.com

A Yemeni court has annulled an eight-year-old girl's marriage to a man in his 20s, after she filed for divorce.

The girl, Nojoud Mohammed Ali, took a taxi to a judge’s office on her own, after running away from her husband.

Lawyer Shatha Nasser told the BBC she heard about Nojoud by chance and instantly decided to represent her.

"Child brides are common in parts of Yemen, but this case received wider attention because it reached court," she said.

Yemen is one of the world's poorest countries.

Although it has no legal minimum age for marriage, the wife is only allowed to live with her husband once she has reached puberty.

Nojoud's unemployed father and husband were also present at the hearing.

The courtroom was packed with members of the press and human rights activists, who are using the case to highlight the need for more child protection in Yemen.

Nojoud told the court she had signed the marriage contract two-and-a-half months ago on the understanding she would stay in her parents' house until she was 18.

"But a week after signing, my mother and father forced me to go and live with him."

Marriage consummated

Her former husband, Faez Ali Thameur, told the court the marriage was consummated, but he denied Nojoud's claims that he beat her.

It is understood that one person attending the hearing has decided to repay Faez the dowry he gave the Nojoud's father before marriage.

Her father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.

He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor.

Shatha Nasser says the judge annulled the marriage instead of granting a divorce, to stop the husband trying to reinstate the wedlock.

"We are grateful to the judge" she explains. "Had it been someone with strong traditional views, Nojoud could have been sent back home."

Instead, Nojoud is now living with her maternal uncle, Shu'ee Salem Attabi'ee.

Shu’ee told the BBC that his brother-in-law had had no control over the events.

"He is too frail to defend himself or his family" he explained.

"Nojoud is living happily with me and my eight other children. She is looking forward to going back to primary school as soon as possible."

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It's beyond elitism, it's blatant racism in my opinion.
I mean in New York FGM and Child Brides would be investigated as child abuse, but in Somalia, or Yemen it's okay, in fact it's an inherent part of the culture. Give me a break, it's okay for "those people", they have "their own ways".
Sheesh.

So yeah I'm in agreement with you.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

True that.

Also, it's not like the West can force anyone to do anything with regards to a cultural practice. People living within these societies are the ones to enact change - all outsiders can do is voice their opinion and possibly offer support. I read a great story (months back, I wish I'd kept the article, because I can't even remember which country it was) about a group of old men somewhere in Africa who kept support up for genital mutilation because that's the way it's always been. Then an old woman who'd turned activist showed them a video of the practice, and they were so horrified that they agreed to stop it. Made me smile.