Unequal marriage in Asian style

In backward Asian countries, even today, 40-70% of girls get married before the age of 18, 5-20% before the age of 12 (the maximum is in Yemen and Afghanistan). Usually, marriage with them is a trade deal: the girl is bought by her husband, who is 3-5 times older than her, and she has no right to terminate the "contract". For disobedience — terrible injuries and even the death of a girl.

The Interpreter's blog continues to talk about various types of" Asian spirituality", which has recently been contrasted with the"decaying West". Children's weddings in India, the marriage of girls aged 5-12 years to 40-70-year-old men, the terrible punishments of children who disobeyed their husband — all these are the spiritual bonds that permeate backward societies in Asia. There are also innovations: "tradition", "grandfathers did this", etc. are also supported by eugenic "research" — "southern girls mature early", "giving birth at 14 is useful for the body", etc.

True, the adherents of the primitive new age do not say anything about the subjectivity of the child. Whether it is an American, Russian, German, Arab or Pashtun, he is up to a certain age (usually 14-18 years old) it is considered fully or partially incapacitated. Violation of the sexual inviolability of a minor is called pedophilia and is strictly punished in the "spiritless West". This is one of the main rules for humanity, called civilized. And persons claiming sexual possession of a child are recognized as mentally ill according to the 10th revision of the international classification of diseases.

In defense of their rightness, the traditionalists invoke religion and cite a hadith (a saying of the Prophet Muhammad), which reads: happy is the father who married his daughter before she had her first menstruation. They insist that husbands who have married little girls should take care of them as their own children, until they reach puberty. Allegedly, this is the only opportunity for poor families to save their girls from poverty or the widespread practice of bride kidnapping here (you can no longer sell a kidnapped girl).

According to the laws of most Western countries, tens of millions of men in Africa and Asia would go to prison for a long time for pedophilia. But in their homeland, they are given every right to this perversion.

The West prefers not to pay attention to the fact that in the countries of the South, primarily its allies (Saudi Arabia or Pakistan), millions of their citizens are brutally violating human rights. Reports of marriages with children usually go in the background to some "funny news".

Here in Saudi Arabia, a 90-year-old husband filed a lawsuit against the parents of his 15-year-old wife, who did not let him into the bedroom on their wedding night, and then simply ran away. The newlywed indicated in the lawsuit that he paid the girl's parents kalym 17.5 thousand dollars. In his statement, he demanded to return his money or his wife.

Or another news that amused the Western world and was described by Time magazine. A girl from Yemen named Nuzhud, who is only 10 years old, managed to be married and divorced, a correspondent of Time magazine was surprised. She became the youngest divorced wife in the world. The world press became interested in the history of Nuzhud. The New York magazine Glamour awarded her the title of "Woman of the Year", and then she came to Paris for the presentation of her autobiography, written from her words by the journalist Delphine Minou.

Both photos show Nuzhud, a liberated woman of the East.

Following the 10-year-old Nujud, inspired by her example, her compatriot, 9 — year‑old Arva Abdu, filed for divorce. Soon, another girl, the 8 — year‑old wife of an adult man, got a divorce in neighboring Saudi Arabia. After them, 11-12-year-old wives began to file a lawsuit.

But not everyone is as lucky as the Yemeni Nuzhud. In a backward world, married girls are lost, brutally beaten and killed for the slightest offense. Often they themselves, unable to withstand the tortures, decide to commit suicide, usually choosing for this such a method as self-immolation. In recent years, the Western media have bypassed many photos of girls from Afghanistan who decided to burn themselves, but miraculously survived. These pictures appeared thanks to the American occupiers, who are putting at least some order in this country, including suppressing absolutely egregious cases of human rights violations.

Here are some of these pictures of girls who survived after self-immolation:

And the editors of the American magazine Time even decided to place on the cover of the issue a picture of an Afghan girl whose face was disfigured by a Taliban militant because she tried to escape from her family because of bullying by her husband's relatives.

Below are photos of marriage unions, where girls are rarely more than 14-15 years old — from countries with strong spiritual bonds.

Afghanistan. 55-year-old Saeed Mohammed and 8-year-old Roshan Kasem on the day of their engagement in the village of Chavosh. The 60-year-old father of the bride, Abdul Qasem, said that he feels unhappy, giving his daughter to someone else's house at such an early age, but extreme need left him no choice

Afghanistan. Police officer Malalai Karar arrests 35-year-old Janan after he tried to kill his 15-year-old wife Jamila. Jamila ran away to her mother after several years of bullying by her husband and mother-in-law. Janan pursued his wife, intending to kill her, but he ended up inflicting numerous stab wounds on her grandmother, who was trying to protect her granddaughter. Jamila was engaged when she was only 1 year old, and at the age of 10 she got married.

Afghanistan. 40-year-old Faiz Mohammed and 11-year-old Ghulam Khider at her parents ' house on the eve of the wedding in the village of Damarda.

Afghanistan. Majabbin Mohammed (left), 13, next to his husband and his first wife.

Yemen. Tahani (in pink) was only 6 years old when she married Majed, 25 years old (standing next to her). Another girl in the photo-got married when she was 8 years old.

Yemen. Young brides on the day before the wedding.

Yemen. Asia, a 14-year-old mother, washes her second daughter. She gave birth to the first one when she was 12 years old.

India. A 5-year-old girl is carried by her father to her wedding ceremony with a 14-year-old guy.

India. The ceremony of this wedding.

India, the state of Assam. Hasina is standing with her husband Ali. She got married at the age of 13, at the time of photographing she is 14.5 years old and she is five months pregnant.

India, Bhapai. The groom is 14 years old, the bride is 12 years old.

India, Bhapai. The bride and groom are 7 years old.

Yemen. 14-year-old Debritu ran away from her husband, she is being held in the Red Cross center — a center for helping refugee wives.

Palestine, the Gaza Strip. A mass wedding with the participation of young brides.