My case for arranged marriage

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I would bet there are many of these sorts of situations.

I had a fiancee who had a sister who lived with a 30-year-old man when she was 13. She was very precocious.

Actually, as a south asian person myself, I would say the real reason those other ones didn't get divorced has nothing to do with the actual quality of the relationship, but more to do with their 'traditional values'. Chances are if they are going for an arranged marriage they are more likely to see divorce as taboo compared to the 'for love' guy, so even if the marriage is terrible, or they don't have feelings for each other and are more like housemates, they're still not going to get divorced.

My great grandmother got in an arranged marriage to her husband when she was 16 and he was in her 30s, and they had essentially never met. He beat his children horribly. She would never have divorced him - that would have been one of the very worst possible sins. Similarly, my uncle married his wife, whom he had barely met either, because my great grandfather essentially forced him to hurry up and get married. She was married off because she was terribly mentally ill/schizophrenic, and her family just wanted to get rid of her and figured she'd be ok if she got married.

They have been separated for years because the poor guy just isn't capable of being a one-man carer for a severely ill person. They don't love each other. But he still balks at the idea of actually getting a divorce.

Even now, my mother beats my father (who is not south asian but has similar religious values), but the idea of even separating from each other is, in both their minds, a sin they would go to hell for.

I don't believe in arranged marriages at all, it's the 21st century, no one should be forced into marriage, especially not to someone they don't love at all. The fact that that kind of thing still exists makes my blood boil.

Marrying women against their will, what's next, not allowing us to vote?

I feel that I must apologize for posting this. None of the people I know who are in arranged marriages were forced into their marriage AFAIK, none seem to be suffering, and typically both have jobs that pay well. In my personal life I wouldn't have occasion to become closely acquainted with someone who was forced to marry their father's friend at the age of 13. Of course I respect the suffering of anyone who has experienced that.

^It was pretty sad. I believe it did harm to her. Many years later, she took her own life.

This was back in the early 70s. I didn't know my ex-fiancee yet. By the time I met my ex-fiancee, the sister was in her 20s.

Unfortunately, if I had reported this to the police in 1979, I would have been laughed to my face. That's the way it was in those days.

Uhhhh .... I was close to 13 in 1979 and I can guarantee it wasn't legal for me to live with a 30-year-old man.

Nor would the police have ignored a report of child sexual abuse.

That's not the way it was in those days.