70% of Afghan women are raped via forced marriages

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

like i am real worried about whether a fascist extremist cares about anything other than the afterlife, bitch

well you do obviously. thats why you spent your whole life here talking trash begging for attention from people you despise.

[faye]

you young folk are very confused if you equate online activity, as 'life'. for you 'life' might mean 'online' on forums, as it seems many of you don't do much else.

life is what i live as a multidmensional experience. online is an activity that i have done as a very small part of that multidimensional, adventurous and interesting life.

are you trying to be a psychic and think you know who i despise? you don't even know IF i despise.
don't leave your day job, sugarpot, you are a failure, even at mind reading.

[Dota]

You guys aren't getting it. Rape is a situational crime. Forced marriages do not necessarily constitute rape because the former doesn't always lead to the latter. You're using weak inductive reasoning. I understand that you feel passionately about this issue, and I commend you guys for it, however lets not give into rhetoric.

[RevolutionThroughReason]

No rape is any sort of coercive sexual act. When you're coerced to have sex, for whatever reason, you are raped. It's not merely some creepy attacker sneaking up behind a woman in a parking garage. That's one instance of rape. Please actually look up the proper semantical usage of rape; There's no inductive reasoning here, we're not abstracting a concept outside of its meaning. This IS its meaning.

[RevolutionThroughReason]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rape?s=t

rape1    [reyp] Show IPA noun, verb, raped, rap·ing.
noun
1.
the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.
2.
any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.
3.
statutory rape.
4.
an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

[faye]

i think it is classified as rape, to have sex with a female under a crertain age, in some western countries.
a woman being forced into marriage would have very little choice to say no, if a man thinks she is his possession and must obey him.
i am not saying all men in this kind of marriage would abuse their wives.

[khushal]

First of all forced marriages does not guarantee that the female is the victim. Some forced marriages are against the will of the male. In pashtunwali once the marriage is arranged, the two most likely have to go through with marrriage or run away and leave the family and life forever. Easier for the male than the female obviosely.

These marriages are usually arranged by the parents or guardian who make their decisions on the behalf of thier son's/daughter's best interest. While the practice is immorral when the son's/daughter's consent is not considered but calling it rape on every such marriage is proposterous.

Looking at some people I know that have been in arranged marriages situations( I wont call it forced marriage because I do not really know the personal situation if they consented or not because they usually keep that personal), some couples do not get along, and others are the happiest couples that one can meet. Same as my American friends, some are unhappy, others are really happy. This practice is common in India and Southeast asia as well, the Europeans practiced it in the past.

But the marriage situation is different in the West vs Middle East. In the West one is always looking for something better even when married, there is much temptation all around, children are a burden mentality so why have them. In the Middle East the "ignorance is bliss" comes in to play. People accept what they get and try to live their lives to the fullest as they can.

[RevolutionThroughReason]

non-consentual sex= rape
these women aren't consenting to be in these marriages; and thus they're being raped.

[khushal]

arrests, rescuing women in such situations, giving them state support and sheltering them, educating them etc. etc.

Its easier said than done. There are Women shelters in Kabul created for such purpose but there are reports that those shelters have been used as brothels and the women have been abused and raped.

If you look at the wests model because they also practiced this in the past. Real change only came when women were given economic independence and sexual independence. Even with this independence, women are still abused and used as commodity.

[faye]

Looking at some people I know that have been in arranged marriages situations( I wont But the marriage situation is different in the West vs Middle East. In the West one is always looking for something better even when married, there is much temptation all around, children are a burden mentality so why have them. In the Middle East the "ignorance is bliss" comes in to play. People accept what they get and try to live their lives to the fullest as they can.

khushal you were doing really well, but then you go into a complete generalisation about the west. and then the east.

[khushal]

non-consentual sex= rape
these women aren't consenting to be in these marriages; and thus they're being raped.

Im not disputing that, what you are sayin is correct. Where I do dispute is that you cant automatically assume that in every forced marriage, rape is the end result. Each situation is different. just like you cant assume that in every consentual marriage, rape does not occur.

[khushal]

khushal you were doing really well, but then you go into a complete generalisation about the west. and then the east.

Its two different environments so I have to comment. you can obvousily see when people from the "east" grow up in the western environment, they do not follow what is the norm in the "east". most follow what is the norm in the west. I know people that have moved here from the "east" and they get divorced, families split up, everybody is independent. The "ignorance is bliss" no longer applies in the "west". I am not putting the west down, but it is my observation.

[faye]

Its easier said than done. There are Women shelters in Kabul created for such purpose but there are reports that those shelters have been used as brothels and the women have been abused and raped.

i saw an article, maybe on RAWA, that this was propaganda, so the government can get control of these shelters. this will apparently make women less likely to go to them.

[khushal]

i think it is classified as rape, to have sex with a female under a crertain age, in some western countries.
a woman being forced into marriage would have very little choice to say no, if a man thinks she is his possession and must obey him.
i am not saying all men in this kind of marriage would abuse their wives.

the difference between the "west" and "east" in this regard is that it is easier for the woman to leave such a situation because institutions have been built to give them independence and take care of themselves, they dont really need a man to take care of them. This does not exist in third world countries. So it is not a muslim thing, it is more an economic thing.

[faye]

it is not just economic. honour, view that woman is a possession of a man, nowhere else for a woman to move to where it is acceptable for her to be living without a man, not enough education or capacity to work.
belief in the ownership of women, by men, is strong in most societies.
i never said it is just islamic countries.
i've seen the good and the unsuccessful marriages in east and west.