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Comment by lowdose | Hacker News Reader

Could you point out a single example in the Western world where a twelve year old girl is married to a 30 year old man because she had her first period?

720 million women living today married as children, many of them have had several children themselves with an immature body before they became adults. None of these women live in Western societies!

https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/GN...

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Polygamists in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have done this in recent years, in Canada and the US. Can't remember dude's name who married his 12 year-old step daughter, but they're out there. Yes, in "western society".

Sure, but extremely few of them. And more importantly, it's generally not socially accepted at all, compared to countries like Yemen and Turkey, where this harmful practice is quite normal.

Even more importantly, that was a reply to a comment asking for "a single example in the Western world".

Maybe I should have asked for a single example in the West where sexual and mental child molesting is legal and/or is not actively criminally prosecuted.

But at least it is very clear that we could only find a rare example against systematic rape of under aged girls in other societies.

15 million girls a year marry before the age of 18.

In most European countries the marriage of minors (with a lower age limit of 16, 15 or undefined) is legal (regulated and unusual, but not necessarily against the law).

The average age of women at their first marriage in Europe is 33 years almost 3x older than the parts we are comparing against. None of them are traded in a transaction for a goat. These girls set them selves on fire because of the conditions they live in. Take a look at the photo on this page.

https://www.visapourlimage.com/en/festival/exhibitions/ces-p...

I cannot reply directly but I'm fairly certain you do not have daughters if you say the experiences are equal in those marriages we are comparing.

Let's agree to disagree.

Maybe you should stop asking for « a single example » of things if that’s not what you’re looking for?

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