Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Building a farm system, Saudi style
The Telegraph is reporting that "Saudi Arabia is planning to review its law surrounding the marriage of young girls after a court refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old to a man 50 years her senior."
The small silver lining in this story is that there is no, um, consummation until the girl reaches puberty, whatever the definition of that is in Saudi Arabia.
I feel that I must air and voice my cultural prejudice: Ick.
4 Comments:
By 
Foxfier, at
Tue Apr 14, 07:09:00 PM:
... So, the nice way to say "I sold my daughter" is "financial considerations cause..."?
(word verification: "sablerat." Fits the whole plague imagery...)
By 
, at
Tue Apr 14, 10:14:00 PM:
No "cultural prejudice" involved. Its abuse. Puberty is usually defined in that part of the world as the onset of menses.
Unfortunately a lot of this is outlined in rules for making decisions in the Koran. Every detail of personal lives are proscribed such as what to do if someone has sex with a sheep, what sexually is and is not allowed with babies, etc.
Some Islamic laws are just archaic and treated as such by Muslim moderates. Muslim literalists are just plain scary. Witness the Taliban.
a moderate Republican
By Mystery Meat, at
Wed Apr 15, 12:10:00 AM:
The life of the Prophet Muhammad is considered by devout Muslims to be the model of behavior for all. He married Aisha when she was six years old.
According to Wikipedia:
"According to the traditional sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad. American historian Denise Spellberg states that "these specific references to the bride's age reinforce Aisha's pre-menarcheal status and, implicitly, her virginity." She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine, when the marriage was consummated."
Therefore the correct age to have sex with a child is nine. When the Ayatollah came to power in Iran, one of the first acts of the new government was to lower the age of consent to nine.
By Dawnfire82, at
Wed Apr 15, 07:59:00 AM:
"Consent." Hah!
Being of a libertarian persuasion when it comes to civil matters, I'm all in favor of a low age of consent. The fact that in some states (*sough*California*cough*) it is a felony for an 18 year old and a 17 year old to have sex is just assinine.
But recognize that there is little, if any, 'consent' on the part of the girl here.
