Source: Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides. National Geographic (2011)
There is an alarming trend of missing children and sexual molestation in the U.S. Other parts of the world are participating in child brides. As one, who was in a forced arranged marriage, for close to 17 years (see The Script in My Box: A Journal of Forgiveness, S. Stevens, 2012), I have empathy for the young females as well as their families.
Facts of Child Brides
There is an alarming trend of missing children and sexual molestation in the U.S. Other parts of the world are participating in child brides. As one, who was in a forced arranged marriage, for close to 17 years (see The Script in My Box: A Journal of Forgiveness, S. Stevens, 2012), I have empathy for the young females as well as their families.
Facts of Child Brides
- Children as young as 5 are forced to marry actual men.
- Child brides wear makeup for the first time on their wedding day.
- Most often such marriages are considered a business transaction.
- Such marriages tend to be relational such as an uncle-in-law's male family member (e.g., cousin, brother, father).
- The mother of the bride gets to live in the village or community of her new son-in-law. In India, such activity is named guana or paraya dhan: Young brides are chosen and marry typically after puberty. The groom waits...
- Most marriages take place in the evening or at midnight to avoid police. It is a crime in India to marry a child bride. If a criminal arrest is made it brings "lingering" shame to the groom's family.
- All brides are veiled when meeting their husbands. A wedding party is also held by the female's relatives.
"Some of these child brides see marriage as saving themselves from the control of their families."