An 8 year old girl in Yemen was granted a divorce this week from her 30 year old husband. The news on the internet is that her father forced her to marry this older man and then she had to go and live with him. The girl claims that he beat her and forced her to have sex with him. Now, let's think about this for a minute. She is 8 YEARS OLD! I have a very hard time understanding a culture where it is okay to marry off your 8 year old child. I also have a hard time understanding a man who would accept this child bride into his home and then defile her by beating her and making her have sex with him. Aren't we supposed to be living in the 21st century here? It just blows my mind that people can live like this and think that it is okay to treat women and children however they please.
According to CNN, the girl actually went to a judge on her own and asked if she could file for divorce. Apparently, in Yemen, the law is that a family can actually pledge their child in marriage even if they are younger than 15 years old, but the husband is not supposed to have sex with the bride until she reaches puberty. That sounds a bit disgusting to me, honestly. I mean, some girls here in America start their periods and begin getting breasts when they are as young as 9 or 10 years old. Does this make them ready for a sexual relationship and the responsibilities of a home and a husband? Of course, here in America, if anyone has sex with a girl (or boy for that matter) who is under the age of 17 or 18, they can be put in jail for child molestation and will probably suffer severe consequences. Having sex with a 15 year old is bad enough if you're 30, but an 8 year old! You've got to be kidding me!
The judge in Yemen granted the child bride a divorce on the grounds that she had not yet reached puberty. However, for some unknown reason, the girls' family had to pay her ex-husband $250 as "compensation". In what fucked up world does that make sense? He is actually getting paid for basically raping and molesting a child. Where is this country that lives like this and allows such things to happen?? I had to honestly look it up, because I had no idea where Yemen was. According to www.pray4yemen.com :
Yemen is located on the southern tip of the Arabian Pennisula between Oman and Saudia Arabia. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. Yemen's terrain varies from a narrow coastal plain to flat-topped hills to rugged mountains. The upland desert plains in the center slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Penninsula.
Why doesn't it surprise me that this is a Middle Eastern country? I am not going to say that I completely agree with the war in Iraq and how our country has handled it, but damn. Something has to be done about the way women and children are treated in these Middle Eastern countries! I realize that there are cultural differences that I cannot understand and which should be respected. We can't take our American beliefs and culture all over the world and force everyone to be just like us. However, I don't think it is ever right to force your 8 year old into marrying a 30 year old and then sit back and do nothing when she tells you that he is abusing her. I also don't think it is ever okay for a 30 year old man to force a child into sex, legally married or not. And the fact that he got paid to do it as an "I'm sorry" from the family makes me sick to my stomach.
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