The "political" answer is that they are completely separate. Unfortunately for the brides, the reality is usually, I say _usually_ very different.
I don't like the cultures (India, for instance) where kids are married to each other at an early age, but I can see that my dislike is mostly cultural. But cultures where young girls are married off to old men, as a way to pay off debt, is nothing more than child sexual slavery as practiced in those areas. So, while there are cultures where families marry off their daughters at an early age, yet continue to protect and nurture those children, there are also cultures where women are literally owned, and the life of a "young bride" is brutal and wrong. No different than the freak in Los Angeles last month who sold his daughter for cash and meat, then complained to the cops because he never got the meat. On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 11:05 AM, Vivec <[email protected]> wrote: > > Molested? > Are you equating 'marriage' to sex? > > Is it one and the same in these cultures or are they two separate > things whereby marriage > is a ritual and exchange of holdings, deeds, dowries,merging of > families, business arrangements etc. ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:295260 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
