#end child marriages

[shirzan140102]

Child Bride Executed in Iran

I don't know if anyone talked about this when it happened, but friendly reminder that the Islamic Republic executed a child bride by hanging not too long ago. Samira Sabzian was married at age 15 and subjected to domestic abuse; she was arrested at age 19 for allegedly murdering her husband. She's left behind two small children, one of whom was an infant when she was arrested.

Some distressing stats about child marriage in Iran:

At least 27,448 girls under the age of 15 in Iran married in 2022 alone - you know, the same year when Mahsa Amini was killed.

In recent years, targeted efforts have been made to reduce the age of marriage for girls and encourage families to facilitate the marriage of their daughters.

One in five marriages involves minors, girls allowed to marry as young as 13. 

As usual, though, the world will be silent about this tragedy.

SOURCES

[jujusjunk]

[hangonsnoopy19]

Checkmate

[sukibenders]

Bridgerton states from season one, through Simon and Lady Danbury, to season two, with the Sharmas, to Queen Charlotte, from the beginning episode to the end spelled out clear as day, that racism exists in this world and many of the characters of colors have been impacted by it in some way. And, supposedly, I'm supposed to believe that Marina, that Kate and Edwina, that they all had more privilege and power than Penelope? No, I don't think so, a lot of things aren't right with that statement.

[al3zthecat-blog]

I've read fics about SQH worrying about becoming second husband/wife, about MBJ proposing and SQH not realizing and thinking he is going to marry someone else, about MBJ promoting him without telling him until MBJ gives him the ultimate promotion and declares SQH his "queen" (also without telling SQH 😂) and I also saw one fic (although only read the first chapter) in which MBJ is looking for a spouse (not SQH) after they tried and failed at being together and many at Court are upset is not SQH(?). The point is I've seen many marriage fics, and while on them it takes a while for them to get married because of misunderstandings/miscommunication, usually SQH is on board once the misunderstanding/miscommunication is cleared. I don't think I've seen one where instead of SQH worrying about whether MBJ will propose and being envious of SQQ/LBH, SQH is instead dismissive of marriage and not wanting to ever get married himself if asked about.

I've seen post making fun of MBJ being courting SQH by beating him three times a day and how actually in the demon realm his romance is THE Romance ™ and not LBH's, because from an outsider demonic perspective it seemed that SQH kept playing hard to get and MBJ was willing to keep in trying. But, what if the misunderstandings/miscommunication were cleared and SQH is NOT on board. Like, even if you write him as already aware that he is in love with MBJ (and I like it more if he either doesn't see MBJ in that light yet or he isn't aware his feelings have turned romantic) and being on board on becoming lovers, I would love for him to just for him to hem and haw and distracting MBJ or avoiding the subject, because he doesn't want to get married. Because marriage kills romance. Marriage is the death of love, AND THEY JUST FOUND OUT THEY ARE IN REQUITED LOVE, WHY RUINED BY GETTING MARRIED!? And him trying to convince MBJ that it is better that way, he already promised to follow MBJ for all his life, why do they need to get married?

And now MBJ actually has to try and convince SQH that marriage is good. Until either one of the is convinced they are fine with or without being married.

Or you know, maybe there is no marriage proposal and MBJ's council or CQM are the ones telling Moshang they should get married, because of politics, and both MBJ amd SQH don't have a good opinion of marriage.

[marzipanandminutiae]

“This 98-year-old woman has had a total of 622 ‘descendants’…because at age 16 she married a 50-year-old widower with 10 children, SOME OF WHOM WERE OLDER THAN HER AND HAD THEIR OWN KIDS ALREADY, and then had 13 more children by him, but news outlets report on it like a cute human interest story”

sounds like an SNL skit where the “straight man” character gets increasingly disturbed while everyone else acts happy and charmed

And. Fucking. Yet.

[mylittleredgirl]

i'm so charmed by the letter trapper gets back from his wife in "kim"

louise mcintyre is hilarious actually

[wangxianficrecs]

marital customs by shijieswife

marital customs

by shijieswife

M, WIP, 2k, Wangxian

Summary: Cangse, with the growing up on a mountain under the hand of an immortal cultivator who had not descended in several hundred years, often has not a clue, about a single one of the customs down the mountain. She has very little idea of customs, or respect for them, despite her decades living down from the mountain. And this, unlike other things, is something Changze has no experience in either - the art of dealing with suitors for your first born child’s hand. Kay's comments: Ah, I am so in love with stories where Wei Wuxian's parents live!! And get to see him grow up!! And get to see him fall in love and tease him about it!! And also get to look out for him that he's getting treated right by his Lan boyfriend he has!! A very cute and very funny story and I can't wait to see Lan Wangji actually meeting the parents. Excerpt: So, of course, when their sweet little boy comes to them, all blushing and sappy smiles, she tells him “Ah, A-Ying, you know we don’t need to deal with all those formalities.” “Mama, it’s Lan Zhan,” A-Ying says. “I told him we should just elope - we’re not even doing a proper wedding, anyways! Lan Qiren’s made a rule on that big rock, about that, you know - but, Lan Zhan said I deserve all the respect he can give, and apparently that includes asking my family for their permission.” Another thing Cangse has never understood - the tabooness of inter class marriage. Arbitrary divisions - her, considered high class, just because some immortal taught her a few kicks and talismans, even though she knew she had been found discarded, an offering to any beasts roaming the forest. Had she grown up here, she would have been considered the lowest of the low, not even worthy of talking to a servant of Changze’s standing - who, as things stood now, had risen above his station by marrying and having a child with her. So what, if Gusu Lan’s precious jade was getting married to a son of a servant?

pov cangse sanren, canon divergence, cangse sanren and wei changze live, no sunshot campaign, meeting the parents, fluff and humor, protective parents, parent-child relationship, happy ending, marriage, implied sexual content

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[shirzan140102]

More than 20,000 Iranian Girls under 15 Got Married over Nine-Months

Statistics from Iran show that over 20,000 girls under the age of 15 were married off from the period of (about?) April/May-ish 2022 to January 2023. Aside from the obviously disturbing fact that this is in effect legalized rape of children, I have to wonder how many of these poor young girls will be subjected to a suffocating environment where they will suffer from all kinds of abuse.

In this post, I discussed the tragic story of Mona Heydari, who is an example of a child bride being married off to an abusive husband. Mona was married at 12 and became a mother at 14. She ran away from her abusive husband a few years later and ultimately was brought back to Iran... only to be beheaded at the age of 17 by her husband (presumably as punishment?). The kicker is that the perpetrators of these "honor killings" often do not receive the severe sentence they deserve (i.e., sentences that are typically handed down to murderers). In fact, in Mona's case, her parents, who had signed HER death sentence at age 12, apparently pardoned her husband and, thus, the already short sentence was further reduced to a mere 8 year prison term.

And you know, I cannot help but worry about how many of these 20,000+ new child brides will meet Mona's tragic fate several years down the line. (I obviously hope this isn't the case.) But then again, this is to be expected of a regime that sexualizes girls before they even reach puberty and clearly regards them as objects.

SOURCE

[jokerislandgirl32]

I’ll Forever Love You: A Wild Violet One Shot

@acatinlove Asked this question in response to this post. It’s been a while, but I finally managed to write the piece!

This piece is also a continuation of a question asked by @octoqueen10 a while back regarding Zach and Violet’s wedding proposal. I initially answered the ask with information on their first proposal, the answered ask can be found here.

I’ve had this one shot cooking for quite some time, and I decided to use this as the way to describe their second proposal! I was hoping to get this out on the 10 year anniversary of the proposal, which was September 4th, but I needed some more time with it!

So without further ado…Here is the completed one shot: I’ll Forever Love You: A Wild Violet One Shot!

Summary

“I'll love you until the day I die and even after that...Never, ever, and forever...I'll forever love you, and I can't spend my life without you...”

Zach Varmitech and his wife Violet Virginia Varmitech née Tyler reconnect after a traumatic loss, a month apart, and a near divorce. Leading to a beautiful moment between them, and an important step forward in their relationship.

Warnings

For this one shot a few warnings apply: ANGST, there is a lot of angst in this one y’all! There are mentions of divorce, stillbirth, loss of child, past character death, and hints of pregnancy that all relate back to angst, so please be prepared to jump aboard the angst train. There are also descriptions of depression, anxiety, and general feelings of hopelessness. 

One mild curse word is included. There are references to past alcoholism and mentions of smoking/cigarettes. One kissing scene is described, and the end of the story may be interpreted as suggestive, but there is no explicit or mature sexual references included in this work. Italics are used in a few lines to describe past scenes/memories.

Links

Inspiration Song

The one shot is also heavily inspired by this song, the title comes from this song and this is a line that Zach uses/references in his proposal 🥰.

Feel free to leave feedback! Selfship Taglist under cut!

@sound-traveller

@oh-yeah-salty-goodness

@loganspuppyboy

@bitchywitchheart

@3qu1us-main

@acatinlove

@alastorswifee

@skyliv

@creativegenius22

@genderqueer-bithing

@repony1234

@mailiow

@celestetheseaunicorn

@barnesncavill

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@octoqueen10

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Please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!

[rarepears]

Lex "Let's grow a clone child to defeat the world's strongest hero Superman" Luthor is giving me the same energy as Endeavor aka "My greatest masterpiece will defeat No. 1 hero All Might".

[maegalkarven]

This thing with the suggestion of Ulder being just fine with Durge and Wyll dating still nags at me.

Like, they are the Bhaalspawn. For every Abdel Adrian there are ten Orins. They are by default bad news.

Jaheira was Abdel's close friend and companion and her reaction to finding Durge is a Bhaalspawn is to guard them with blades. THIS is the sane reaction.

I rather believe Ulder Ravengard is a sane person.

You can not convince me Ulder Ravengard, a man who worked alongside a good man and saw even the BEST of Bhaalspawns struggle with his parentage, saw Durge and Wyll together and was like "fine by me."

It's unclear if Abdel died fighting Viekang OR turned into Slayer.

The possibility is here, for they do not know the truth.

Look me in the eyes and tell me Ulder Ravengard, the man who knew Abdel better than many, did not lie in his bed with no sleep at vicinity wondering what was Abdel's end - his brother's blade or the blades of the very men he lead.

Tell me Ulder was not confronted by the fact what his FRIEND might have succumbed to his unholy nature at last.

On good days he strongly believed Abdel stayed true to himself. But on bad days? Doubts had to creep in.

And then his son comes back. As a devil. And introduces another bhaalspawn, someone who should not even exist, but somehow does.

And this Bhaalspawn is...was involved in the things currently destroying his beloved city.

And said Bhaalspawn killed innocent girl and tried to murder his son. They tried to murder his only son, someone Ulder thought of every day ever since fate strayed his hand and he had to exile Wyll for the wellbeing of the people.

A Bhaalspawn actively haunted by their father.

A Bhaalspawn who was working together with Enver fucking Gortash.

Does memory loss excuse anything? Does it change the horrors this spawn brought? I sure don't think so.

And I don't think anyone knows better what a tickling bomb Bhaalspawn is than someone who knew a Bhaalspawn closely. There is no "safe" Bhaalspawn.

And I believe Ulder would want his son to be safe and not dealing with a murderous amnesiac Wyll decided he is in love with.

[crimescrimson]

Chloe Price in Life Is Strange (2015)

[coochiequeens]

Good news for women and girls!

By Josephine Kamara Friday 5 July 2024

Marrying young girls may now be illegal, but lawmakers seem reluctant to put a stop to genital cutting, and the two go hand in hand

This week, Sierra Leone made history when the president signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024. For a country with one of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world, it is a crucial step forward, and a hard-won achievement for campaigners in west Africa.

Sierra Leone has 800,000 child brides – and of those more than half were married before the age of 15, so there is no question that this is groundbreaking legislation. It repeals previous ambiguous laws to explicitly name child marriage as illegal and underscores a clear commitment to girls’ rights. The legislation also establishes mechanisms for enforcement, ensuring that perpetrators – including the husband and those who enable the marriage such as parents and the person officiating – are held accountable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment, with survivors now able to seek justice and compensation.

Yet, despite these advances, the law falls short by missing the vital component in enacting the urgent reform needed to eradicate FGM, viewed by many as a precursor to marriage, regardless of age. Child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are deeply interwoven, yet an amended Child Rights Act of 2024, laid out to protect girls from all forms of violence, including FGM, is still awaiting parliamentary approval. Girls’ rights campaigners and feminist activists are concerned about the move to separate these fundamental human rights issues from each other.

Like child marriage, FGM is bound up with, and is inseparable from, patriarchal oppression

The more the child rights bill is stalled, the more it reveals itself as a dilution tactic of pushing against ending FGM – and the more sinister the interplay becomes between girls’ and young women’s rights and the anti-rights agenda. The rhetoric of those who refuse to criminalise FGM simply continues to harden conservative patriarchal norms and underpin far-right ideologies, wrapped in the cloak of tradition. With FGM seen as the precursor to marriage, the threat of child marriage will continue, despite the new law.

The devastating impact of FGM on girls’ and women’s psychological and physical health has been long identified internationally as a human rights violation. In April, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls named it as “one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed”, and yet current estimates show at least 230 million women and girls alive today have been subjected to FGM, and in Sierra Leone, it affects 83% of girls and women. Despite decades of campaigning by anti-FGM activists, it remains prevalent – shielded in the belief that to become a woman and be fit for marriage, girls must be cut, must be subordinate, their bodies violated and conditioned that this is the norm.

A UN special rapporteur named FGM as ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence’, and it affects 83% of females in Sierra Leone. Photograph: Ton Koene/Alamy

The handful of high-profile cases in Sierra Leone, including the most recent concerning the death of three girls, investigated by police in January, would have been ignored were it not for campaigners agitating and pushing it into international focus and advocating, “yes to culture, no to the harmful practice of cutting”. A Bloodless Rite, a film made by Purposeful and activists, powerfully illustrates feminist solidarity and possibility of sacred female spaces.

Like child marriage, FGM is bound up with, and inseparable from, patriarchal oppression. It is merely one manifestation of sexual violence against girls, and it exists within a broader context of cultural, structural, social, political and economic violence against women and girls. At its heart, the violence of FGM is born out of the same profound patriarchy that justifies the marriage of children.

A unified legal stance should be an imperative. Yet within this new law, that sits alongside celebrated policy milestones such as the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2023, and progressive education policies, the violence of FGM remains entrenched, normalised, and seemingly protected in the highest corridors of power.

It is clear, FGM is ingrained in vote canvassing and streaked through our politics. Further stalling will surely point to the global trend of rolling back progress on gender equality, such as the attempts to reverse hard-won gains in the repeal of the FGM law in the Gambia, and the ripple effect of the rightwing “family values” agenda across the continent.

Feminist movement partners, such as Purposeful, Not In My Name, and the Forum Against Harmful Practices, will continue to advocate and agitate in close dialogue with parliamentarians, to bring strategic litigation into the international spotlight, to pressure the government to support the strategy on the reduction of FGM, and to pass the all-encompassing Child Rights Act, pending since 2016. Only then, will we see transformative reform where girls’ bodies can fully be their own.

Josephine Kamara is advocacy director of Purposeful, which funds girls’ rights activists in Sierra Leone and around the world

In the UK, advice and support for those who fear they are at risk of FGM and for survivors can be found by emailing Forward, or calling 0208 960 4000, or contacting the NSPCC on 0800 028 3550, the Dahlia Project on 0207 281 9478 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, Sahiyo and the Asian Women’s Shelter have a support line for those who fear they are at risk of FGM and survivors. Call 1 877 751 0880, operating Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

[dontheckinswear]

in my ideal mdzs modern au, meng yao dated qin su for maybe 6-8 months before taking a genetics test and finding out they have the same sperm donor. they immediately break it off and meng yao, terrified of how much his dad got around, decides that from here on out he is going to exclusively date men.

at least if he somehow ends up dating a male relative without his knowledge, there’s no chance of an incest pregnancy scare

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

I don't think I've ever really cared about shipping in my life. I'm generally just cool to go with the flow. If something is written well or drawn well then I'm for it.

But I will say. The DC writers trying to push Jon/Irey and Damian/Irey tire me. I am not impressed with the dynamics going on there and the idea of Irey being in the middle of a love triangle is contrived and upsetting.

I felt safe before because Irey is 9, Jon is an adult with a boyfriend and Damian is a teenager. DC wouldn't let that happen. I knew the shipping going on behind the scenes but everything was fine. It couldn't happen.

But then we got alt universe Supersons. The same age as Irey. And Irey blushing at them.

Suddenly everything was very much not okay.

Again, I'm generally cool with whatever but I'm putting my fucking foot down at this one.

No.

I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD.

NO.