QUESTION Banning child marriage in America: An uphill fight against evangelical pressure
Almost every state sets the age of consent to marry at 18 but most of them also have an exception where a younger child can marry if her parents and/or a judge agrees to it. In 25 states, there is no minimum age to marry if the conditions for an exception are met.
None of these exceptions provide enough protections for underage girls. The pregnancy exception is the most troubling. All too often, these girls are being married to their rapists because they are pregnant. It’s a sickening loophole in the law in many states; the age of consent to marry is lower (or does not exist) in several states if the girl is pregnant. So, instead of prosecuting her abuser, a victim is forced to marry him, despite the evidence that the man has, at the very least, committed statutory rape. And once married, the abuser is immune from any future statutory rape charges. To make matters worse, the teenaged bride often has to wait until she is 18 to legally get a divorce.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Sherry Johnson is one of my heroines. [independent.co.uk]
ailurophile
Level 7
Mar 25, 2018
2
banning intelligent progress -- an easy task. poor america [ soon to be brazil]
markdevenish
Level 7
Mar 20, 2018
2
What is the age of consent for sexual intercourse in the states?
Here in the UK it's 16 for male and female children. Marriage at 18 without parental consen and 16 with.
Uncorrugated
Level 7
Mar 20, 2018
3
@Uncorrugated It varies by state. Generally between 16 and 18. Here in New York the minimum age of consent is 13 so long as the partner is not more than 4 years older. Minnesota is similar, 48 months or less age difference. That special case is intended to decriminalize sexual relationships between teens, although I'd argue that age range is too broad at the low end of the range. I would not have wanted my 13 year old daughter dating a 17 year old boy.
However, some states allow a child of ANY age to be married if the parents give permission. In theory, an 8 year old could be legally married off to a 28 year old in that scenario. In practice, it is more like the Roy Moore accusations in Alabama last year, some 30 year old man checking out 16 year old girls (with parent's blessing of course, as if that makes it okay).
Thanks for that. I had read that it was generally 16, but struggled to understand that parents/courts could change that if they married off the child.
It just seems so wrong on all levels.
Yeah this is an actual thing, particularly in the South. The north central / midwestern mileiu I grew up in never did this, but it happens. And not just in some quasi-cultish edge case like renegade polygamous Mormons either. This is under-the-radar standard-issue nudge-wink stuff in otherwise prudish country churches.
It came out into the open a bit with the Roy Moore campain for Alabama Senate last year. A number of expose's were run that pointed out that, actually, it's not as weird as you'd imagine down that way for a 30 year old professional to be checking out 18 year old girls. Some people want their young daughters married off to an already demonstrably successful and established older man, so they can bypass higher education and thus avoid putting fool ideas into their heads about careers and such. From the man's point of view they make compliant, dutiful wives, easily controlled because they never developed a sense of self.
Yeah, it's disgusting.
mordant
Level 8
Mar 20, 2018
7
I grew up in that deep south, and witnessed much of what you speak. Families that blame the kids for the deeds of their rapist & married them off to spare the family the shame of an unwed mother & the such. I quit the churches, when a pastor stood up & told the young women of the congregation that if they were dating, they were cheating on their prospective husbands. Maybe it's me, but the thought of mommy & daddy choosing the person I am to spend the rest of my life with, id disturbing. Would love to hear any input opposing or not.
girls who are compliant and dutiful. Hmmmm this i gotta see !
@markdevenish I'm sure it's a leaky abstraction even for fundamentalists. However, don't underestimate how compliant and "submissive" they are acculturated to be. Combine that with youth and inexperience and yes I think they will be "dutiful and compliant" at least at first.
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