Do you think a 15 year-old girl should be able to get married?

What on earth makes you guys think that being married at 15 was EVER normal. It wasn't. The median age of marriage, according to census data, dating back to the late 1800s, says in the early 20s for women and men. If your granny was married at 15, that wasn't the norm. I think most girls weren't even allowed to date at that age back then.

 

No "many" did not. Boys may have begun working but they still wouldn't have been able to live on their own or raise a family.

We are much less ignorant than we were back then is all. Back then, children were thought of as "miniature" adults. Now we realize that they actually ARE children, and that their frontal lobes are not even fully functional until they are well into their 20s.

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What makes you think that adult men are even interested in "marrying" 15-year-old girls? Those perverts that go after these young girls are NOT interested in marrying them, that's for sure.

 

Easy solution - don't treat any 15 year olds as "legal adults", period.

 

The median. What do you think the deviation is on that? The current median age for marriage for men is 29, do you think it's now "not normal" and therefore unacceptable for men 24 and younger to get married, because they're five years below the median for men?

 

Median means that half are above and half are below.

 

In the old days it was common for most kids to be married right after they hit puberty, so the whole "wait till your married" thing wasn't that big of a deal or that hard too follow in fact until the late 1800's it was legal for 7 year olds to be married in the USA. I don't see anything wrong with arranged marriage before 13 (as long as they can get divorced) after all being married doesn't always mean sex either (for all of you pointing out child marriage in the bible, quran and in the 3rd world) many people would get married and wouldn't have sex until many years later.

Yet now in order too get married the teens are expected to graduate high school and college have purchased a home and have a great career, and have substantial savings, otherwise their not "being responsible". yet this takes until your late 20's early 30's atleast yet we still have this expectation to "wait until marriage." While in fact 75% of americans between 18 and 32 have never been married

While teen pregnancy was the norm just a few decades ago, now it somewhow signifies "societies ills" as if its the governments or even the churchs fault that they cant keep teenagers from having sex until they're in their thirties or that it's somehow right or perfectly natural to wait that long too have sex, longer than the natural human lifespan

 

What are you talking about? Where did I say that? Oh, that's right, nowhere did I say that.

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Wrong.

https://historymyths.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/myth-136-women-married-very-young-in-the-olden-days/

 

Sorry, but it was not that common for 15 year olds to be married unless they were nobility or royalty . . . or very, very rich. Those people had arranged marriages where they would "sell" their daughters off at very young ages. Other than that, the typical American farm family NEEDED those extra hands and those women stayed at home until they were in their 20s in most cases.

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Fifteen year olds should never be treated as adults because the simple fact of the matter is, they are not adults. They are still kids, regardless of whether or not they have "boobies."

 

Absolutely not. I remember very well being 15. Guys who want to hang around with and marry 15 year olds are either sickos or completely socially inept.

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I disagree. It is a type of pedophilia because 15 is still a child.

 

You know, just because some children were rushed into marriages (where they spent the rest of their sad lives, being stuck with the SAME person from 15 until death), doesn't mean that was the right thing to do. People also condoned slavery back in the old days. Basically, when you give your 15-year-old daughter away to some adult man, you would be oppressing her!!!

Every single country that allows child marriages is a 3rd world dirty poor country. A lot of these girls who were married at young ages were basically sold to the "highest dowry." It's a disgusting practice.

 

No, we expect that they are taught about safe sex practices AND abstinence too. Those who do decide to have sex will hopefully use protection.

No, anyone can have sex. It doesn't make you "mature" at all. In fact, the youngest recorded pregnancy is a 5-year-old Peruvian child. She obviously had sex . . . does that mean she was "mature enough" to be married too?

 

the average age for women has in increased by 10 years in the past 400 years alone, forget biblical and quranic times, and the very first sexual consent laws in the usa were in the 1800's they were at 7 years old

" New England, early 1600s; Women: Teens; Men: 26"

The average age of first marriage in the United States is 27 for women and 29 for men

 

No, it was never the "norm" in America to be married as a teenager. That is a myth that is totally exaggerated.

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Find me ONE 7-year-old who was married in the history of the United States.

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Also, I want a link to that 7-year-old consent to sex age too.

 

Also, if you noticed in my link, the men and women were close in age who were being married. Most 15-year-old girls would find a guy over 20 to be old and disgusting.

 

Teen and child marriages are a way to oppress women and that is all there is to it. There is absolutely no need to marry so young, and one would have to PROVE that such a relationship would benefit a child in any way whatsoever, as opposed to staying with her/his parents. I see it being a HUGE mistake for both parties, the 15-year-old and the person who chose to marry a 15-year-old. How stupid can a person be?

When I was around 15, if an adult man (say over 25) checked me out, my first thought was "gross!" The older the guy, the more disgusting it was. I guess there are dirty old men everywhere . . . It reminds me of that Jethro Tull song.

 

And another thing, anyone would even contemplate marrying a 7-year-old should probably be arrested. That is a sickness, a disease! And what kind of parent would ever agree to their 15-year-old being married, never mind their 7-year-old child!!!???

 

According to a 2010 report by National Center for Health Statistics, an agency of the government of United States, 2.1% of all girls in the 15-17 age group were in a child marriage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage#United_States



In the 12th century, Gratian, the influential founder of canon law in medieval Europe, accepted age of puberty for marriage to be between 12 and 14 but acknowledged consent to be meaningful if the children were older than 7. There were authorities that said that consent could take place earlier. Marriage would then be valid as long as neither of the two parties annulled the marital agreement before reaching puberty, or if they had already consummated the marriage. It should be noted that Judges honored marriages based on mutual consent at ages younger than 7, in spite of what Gratian had said; there are recorded marriages of 2 and 3 year olds.

The American colonies followed the English tradition, and the law was more of a guide. For example, Mary Hathaway (Virginia, 1689) was only 9 when she was married to William Williams. Sir Edward Coke (England, 17th century) "made it clear that the marriage of girls under 12 was normal, and the age at which a girl who was a wife was eligible for a dower from her husband's estate was 9 even though her husband be only four years old."

In the 16th century, a small number of Italian and German states set the minimum age for sexual intercourse for girls, setting it at 12 years. Towards the end of the 18th century, other European countries also began to enact similar laws. The first French Constitution of 1791 established the minimum age at 11 years. Portugal, Spain, Denmark and the Swiss cantons initially set the minimum age at 10–12 years.

Age of consent laws were, historically, difficult to follow and enforce: legal norms based on age were not, in general, common until the 19th century, because clear proof of exact age and precise date of birth were often unavailable.

In Christian societies, sex outside marriage was forbidden. However, older children were often punished themselves as being complicit in the sexual interaction with the adult. Until the late 18th century, there was little understanding of childhood as a concept, and children were often seen as "little adults". Indeed, prior to the 12th century, there was virtually no notion of 'childhood' at all. Christianity also deemed that children were born into the original sin, and, as such, were perceived as inherently immoral. Children had very few rights and were considered the chattel of the father. High rates of child mortality also meant that parents emotionally distanced themselves from their children, and little attention was given to children's wellbeing. From the late 18th century, and especially in the 19th century, attitudes started to change. By the mid-19th century there was increased concern over child sexual abuse.

A general great shift in social and legal attitudes toward issues of sex took place in the modern era and beliefs on the appropriate age below which girls should not be permitted to engage in sexual activity drifted toward adulthood. While ages from 10 to 13 were typically regarded as acceptable ages for sexual consent in Western countries during the mid-19th century, by the end of the 19th century changing attitudes towards sexuality and childhood resulted in the raising of the age of consent


In the United States, as late as the 1880s most States set the minimum age at 10–12, (in Delaware it was 7 in 1895). Inspired by the "Maiden Tribute" female reformers in the US initiated their own campaign which petitioned legislators to raise the legal minimum age to at least 16, with the ultimate goal to raise the age to 18. The campaign was successful, with almost all states raising the minimum age to 16–18 years by 1920

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent

 

And it was still rare here in the US and in other countries. And . . . just like I said, children were seen as "little adults" when nowadays, we know better.

Also, you haven't found any particular cases of children being married at 7 years old.

So, are you one of those who agrees that 15-year-old girls should be married and, if so, why?

 

I definitely have to ask too . . . what kind of man would look at a 12-year-old child and find her sexy??? That is just . . . disgusting. I was still playing with dolls at that age, secretively, but I still did play with toys. I had stuffed animals all over my room too. Good grief, what is wrong with some people?

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I find this topic to be very disturbing to the core of my being. Thankfully, most people voted NO on the poll. Too bad we couldn't see who exactly voted YES. Sickos.

 

You should have included THIS in your quotation . . .

Excerpt from your link . . .

Child marriage has lasting consequences on girls, which last well beyond adolescence.[15][157] Women married in their teens or earlier, struggle with the health effects of getting pregnant too young and too often. Early marriages followed by teen pregnancy also significantly increase birth complications and social isolation. In poor countries, early pregnancy limits or eliminates their education options. This affects their economic independence. Girls in child marriages are more likely to suffer from domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and marital rape.[15][158][159]

Health consequences[edit]
Child marriage threatens the health and life of girls.[160][161] Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the main cause of death among adolescent girls below age 19 in developing countries. Pregnant girls aged 15 to 20 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those in their 20s, and girls under the age of 15 are five times as likely to die. These consequences are due largely to girls' physical immaturity where the pelvis and birth canal are not fully developed. Teen pregnancy, particularly below age 15, increases risk of developing obstetric fistula, since their smaller pelvises make them prone to obstructed labor. Fistula leaves its victims with urine or fecal incontinence that causes lifelong complications with infection, pain, and smell.[162] Complications during pregnancy and birth are worsened in poor countries where child marriage is prevalent.[15]

Illiteracy and poverty[edit]
Child marriage often ends a girl's education, particularly in impoverished countries where child marriages are common.[163] Without education, girls and adult women have fewer opportunities to earn an income, financially provide for herself and her children. This makes girls more vulnerable to persistent poverty if their spouses die, abandon, or divorce them.[15]

Domestic violence[edit]
Married teenage girls with low levels of education suffer greater risk of social isolation, domestic violence and sexual violence from their spouses, than more educated women who marry as adults.[164] Domestic and sexual violence from their husbands has lifelong, devastating mental health consequences for young girls because they are at a formative stage of psychological development.[15] Child brides, particularly in situations such as vani, also face social isolation, emotional abuse and discrimination in the homes of their husbands and in-laws.

 

Just pointing out the flaw in your math.

 

No I am an atheist I don't believe in marriage as a concept at all. Child marriage is a huge problem worldwide even in places where it's outlawed it still goes on.

What I am saying is that if you believe in marriage then you should know it's organically pedophilic, and this weird 21st century version of marriage (like i said in my first post) is not healthy for a society and certainly not something we should be encouraging our kids to do.

and as you can see it still goes on all over the world including the USA



http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/child-marriage-map/387214/

like this video of a Yemeni 11 year old girl who was killed for trying run away from arranged marriage

[video=youtube;CY4gNBf2n3o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY4gNBf2n3o[/video]

 

+1.

Unfortunately Chris, it looks like you're dealing with a couple of baboons here.

 

That's horrible. Just another "honor" killing I suppose, for "embarrassing" the family because a little girl wanted to be a LITTLE girl and not the wife (or, more accurate, the PROPERTY) of some old man. I've read and heard about all kinds of atrocities committed against children (especially girls) by old men in their respective countries. That's what a society that discourages education produces, I suppose. These little girls and young women are not considered human beings to these kinds of people. They are a commodity.

 

I think there are more than just a couple of baboons. Lol! Twelve people have voted "yes" that 15-year-old girls should be able to be married!!! Unbelievable. I suppose some of these people could be from other countries where women and girls are considered "commodities" instead of human beings with dreams and aspirations. Those people are probably too cowardly to admit that they voted "yes" to such a horrible thing though. Cowards is what grown men are who want to marry children and young girls. Doesn't take much to impress a 15-year-old girl, after all.