Thursday, April 30, 2009

Soapbox Rant

Ok. I know I haven't written in awhile. Life has been very chaotic for me. I feel the need to get something off of my chest that I just read about. Hence the title of the blog.
I admit that at times I am naive as to the goings on in the world. I am aware of how women are treated and viewed in the Middle East. However, I was not aware how far they took things until recently. As I was perusing the tag lines on Yahoo I stumbled upon one that piqued my interest. It said "50 year old man to divorce child bride?" Now I have heard that term used when the wife mentioned is much younger than the man but imagine my surprise to discover that the female in question was only 9 years old and actually a child. It seems that it is a common practice in Saudi Arabia for fathers to arrange a marriage contract for their daughters and have them enter into it at very young ages. They feel it is ok for them to marry that young but the marriage can not be consummated until they hit puberty. The girls also will remain with their family until puberty. The husband is allowed to visit for short periods of time but cannot spend the night. There's just something wrong with that. I am glad someone has brought attention to it and is trying to do something about it. To me that is child abuse.

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