[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It is awful, and I do think though that it's also worth remembering that it's not just the girls who are forced into these things. Many of the young men are pressured into it by their parents / expected to do it and will be thrown out on the streets if they don't comply, often in places where there's no support for people who are cast out by their family, or they're just "shamed" for it.

I mean it's not really that foreign a concept here in Britain, is it? Obviously she wasn't a child bride (though she was much younger than him...) - but Charles was essentially forced to marry Diana. He didn't want to, he loved someone else, but he was "paired off" with someone who the Royals at the time believed better fit the image. It is exactly the same thing as any other "arranged" religious marriage. Though again obviously different in that she wasn't a child.

But yes it is time for the entire practice to stop. It's also just worth recognising that it hasn't always been specific to "certain cultures" and has been commonplace in pretty much every country throughout history, with teenage girl brides married off to men in their 30's right here in the UK as recently as the late Victorian era.

Regarding last paragraph - we can’t change the past and can only change what is happening now. It is a vile practice and many people practising it today don’t have the excuse of ignorance.