lalalalydia

I'm not the author, but a big problem with child brides, and what happened to Alisha, is that they are forced or convinced to stop their education, and rarely work outside of the home. She found herself at 34 with no GED and little work experience.

Though they are allowed to marry, a child is not legally able to pursue divorce (they have to wait until 18), and typically can't get credit or their own apartment, or probably custody of their own children if they are say 17 and the other parent is 25, with a diploma, car, job, and work history. I believe 16-18 year olds are also not allowed at battered women's shelters so I'm not sure what would happen should they try to leave a marriage.

Child brides are much more likely to be abused, have less education and lower lifetime earners than non child brides. And let's not forget that childbirth is a leading cause of death for women under 20, worldwide.

It's messed up, right? Like the law favors predators. There are a number of laws that I'm super suspicious of that allow children to be hurt and trafficked and taken advantage of, like allowing kids to be unofficially rehomed, or statutory rape to be legal if the victim marries the rapist. AFAIK, kids can be married as young as 12 in some states in the US.

What happened to you is bad enough. It should not have happened. Your pain matters. Thank you for sharing.

I agree. It's important to date and have age-appropriate relationships so you can learn about yourself, things you like, deal-breakers, etc, where the stakes are fairly low. Kids aged 15, 16, 17 tend to break up a lot, and not date with the assumption that they're going to be forced into marriage.

Though Alisha says that Judah is a good man, we need to remember that he never asked her to marry him, just told her, and that her parents consented, but said they were "afraid" of Judah, Bear, and their community. The "consent" was basically coerced, from Alisha and her family. Lastly, a 22 year old does not pursue a 15 year old out of love. It's for control.