8 Year Old Girl in Yemen Granted Divorce After Forced Marriage

Am I the only one that shuddered at the phrasing of

“he acknowledged that the ‘marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her.’”

Well, you get a pat on the back for that little bit of self-restraint, buddy!

I know some people out there are all about not imposing our western sense of moralities on other cultures, but poor or not, there has to be some line drawn between decency and depravity. I guess the difference in molesting an 8 year old girl and beating her is where this guy’s line is drawn… ugh.

Grok,

What you said was innapropriate and ignorant. I really hope you don’t think the western culture is the most ethically superior culture. In fact, western culture has brought many countries into ruins because of their power hungry ways. You should be arguing on the basis of ethics alone. You just glomped my “non western” culture and probably a whole bunch of other cultures and labeled it as secondary to the oh great western civilization.

Use this format to make a comment:

Hi, my name is ____.

I disagree with the content of this article because of ____ and because I am of _____ descent – and my people are way better than Middle Easterners.

Please post more articles about how messed up Middle Easterners are – but don’t do the same for my people, the ______, because if people write articles about how my people do crazy fucked up things too – then I can’t feel superior to Middle Easterners anymore…

I honestly don’t see where Grok said anything arrogant. There is no single Western culture, nor is there a single Eastern culture. The issue at hand is state-sanctioned pedophilia, because the girl in question cannot possibly have reached puberty yet. In Many of the cultures traditionally categorized as Western, sexual contact with anyone who has not reached puberty is taboo and illegal. If any of you feel like being offended at someone who openly states that pedophilia is wrong, you need to own up to that.

Interesting how Grok was accused of labelling other cultures, but Grok’s accusers see nothing wrong with labelling “western culture” based on a deliberate misreading of Grok’s comments.

I don’t believe it’s unreasonable for us to object to legalized pedophilia. If this story is indeed true, it would be morally reprehensible for any government or religious body to allow this practice to continue.

Grok is my new hero.

Nothing wrong in what Grok said. He’s actually being more accomodating than I would have been. I will assert that on the basis of this case anyhow, Western Civilization *is* superior. You cannot defend government sanctioned paedophilia via moral relativism arguments. Bean is also dead on — an 8 year old is a child by any definition. If we were arguing about the appropriateness of marrying 15 year olds, there is more leeway for differing “societal norms” and ages of consent and the like, but a pre-pubescent girl is a child and by definition, that is paedophilia.

I’m just so glad she was able to have a divorce.
The consummation thing hit nastily with me, but lots of people have commented on that, so I’ll point out she said she wanted to have a divorce so she could “go back to school”.

Speaks volumes in itself. I feel pretty guilty now about how I “hated” school, when I could have been married off before becoming anything like an adult, and then denied education which will be her only way out, if she wants/needs one.

Sid Morrison:
Well put.

I suppose this kind of crap is one of the inevitable side effects of polygamous cultures. Too many men looking for somewhere to put their penis, and too few unmarried women to go around. Or maybe all the adult unmarried females in Yemen have been executed for “adultery” or “driving” or “unaccompanied walking” and other such high crimes.

I wonder if the divorce will damage her chances of marriage when she is of an age…

All right, someguy. But you must know that the age of puberty is decreasing. There have been cases of children under 8 going through puberty… and having babies. Does that make it okay? If the age of puberty one day goes down to 5, will that make child marriage more acceptable?

I hope not.

It doesn’t matter how old she was, if she didn’t give her free consent it was wrong.

The problem in Texas is that many of these children gave their consent, but they have been so conditioned (brainwashed) since birth that obediance is all, that they cannot truly give their free consent.

If the child is of an age to still be in school (K – 12th grade), then the child is too young to be making life decisions, including getting married.

Persephone’s point about “free consent” is very important since ‘Faez Ali Thameur, said he married the child “with her consent and that of her parents”‘.
And the part that made me shudder most was that he said the marriage was consumated but he did not beat her. The first part horrifies me, the second even more so, because, what? Is that supposed to make him look better in the eyes of the world? He had sex with a child. But don’t forget he didn’t smack her! She’s not hurt!
People (no matter where they are from) never cease to disgust me.
And I too agree with Grock and empty-minded.

This really disgusts me. There are girls that young going through puberty but that in no way should make it ok for a man to marry her. What kind of man would marry an eight year old? A pedophile. Men in that kind of country regularly beat their women into submission and its perfectly fine and legal. And apparently legal to marry them at any age they please. Its really sick.

Oh and BTW.. grok-U-rock
hehe.

UGH…. how any man could look at an 8yr old girl sexually is beyond disgusting in ANY culture.
That is just WRONG. There is no telling what kind of damage he could’ve done to her physically and mentally.

I don’t think cultural standards should be used as an excuse to child abuse. Ethics and morals are not bendable reeds that can be made to twine into any shape you choose. We should all live by the same oath that doctors take — first, do no harm. No matter what culture. As for defining harm, if it hurts a child, it’s harm.

I am a military mom and my son told me that training included the facts and statistics regarding female abuse in the Middle East to help the men realize their mission to overthrow an evil government. This is just one very sad example. For us to just sit her and chat about how sad it is for the innocent female child to suffer under the evil governments leaves guilt on our hands. AS far as I am concerned, Yemen government should watch out. There is righteous people around the world that will turn against it and overthrow it if they do not repent, that is change their ways of treating children and women. And those people who know this is wrong should get off their materialistics heads in the sands of entertainment and sports and look at what really matters. We are like one world now, we hear the cries of the innocent. What can we do about it!