You’re missing the fact that the mothers are also alleged to have assisted in the abuse.
Likely another reason is that it makes them feel young again themselves.
Scary thing is that I bet if the concept of child brides was a central tenet of Christ’s teachings there’d likely be no laws against it in this country save for something to the effect of some kind of ‘must be menstrating’ clause which can occur in very young girls.
Besides, it’s all cultural. You believe what you’ve been brought up to believe. And it’s natural to look at the opposing viewpoint as alien and weird from whatever narrow perspective you happen to hold.
There’s a line in one of the Law & Order episodes: “He wanted to relive his youth by sleeping with one.”
Now, see, that would just make me feel old. I still don’t get it.
Define physically mature. At fifteen I was 7" shorter, had only begun to get my period six months earlier, and was 2 cup sizes smaller than now. Does that fit your definition of physically mature?
Granted, I was a late bloomer, but so are a lot of girls. **If ** either of the often suggested dietary reasons for early puberty (either hormones in food, or a tendency for girls to be heavier younger due to sedentary lifestyles) are correct, it’s likely that more of their girls are later to mature than is typical too since they raise their own food and work hard.
If this thread is going to distinguish correctly between pedophilia and statutory rape, we should also distinguish between polygamy ( many men and many women) and polygyny (one man many women)
This selt practices is polygyny
Oh, I agree with you 100% there. That was incredibly disturbing. Scary, even.
It seems they were taught that the outside world is Hell, and yet, they were almost all on welfare. IIRC, weren’t many of them married to uncles and cousins?
You are assuming an awful lot. For the vast majority of human history, females got pregnant in their early teens. Until very recently, it was common for females to get married after they reached puberty. It is only a “sick, fucked-up system” because of assumptions we make in modern Western society.
We have outlawed natural sexuality.
I don’t know about that. The “disciple Jesus’ loved” was about 15, wasn’t he?
Maybe, but I would argue our attitudes toward sexuality are better than “natural”. We emphasize individual choice. The “natural” way is sexual slavery. We may be apelike, but we’re not apes. We’re post-enlightenment humans.
Still, though, I believe consenting adults should be able to choose whatever sexual relationship they want. The problem is that these kids can’t give meaningful consent.
How do you define better? Is it a moral definition?
No. Grey matter + evolution.
I used to be a professional genealogist, and dealt all the time with marriage records from the U.S. and Britain going back to the early 19th century. And I can say: the incidence of teen marriages in the 19th and early 20th century has been greatly exaggerated in modern belief. It was very rare that I found a girl marrying before 16, and uncommon before the age of 18.
Please narrow down “vast majority of human history”.
I read an article about a 1962 publication by a J.M. Tanner:
The article gave the following for reference:
Tanner, J.M. Growth at adolescence, with a general consideration of the effects of hereditary and environmental factors upon growth and maturation from birth to maturity. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1962.
What percentage of human history is represented by the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries? The Homo genius has been around about 2.5 million years - Homo sapiens about 200,000 years. The entirety of post-agriculture society is only a small part of human history.
So, supposing Mr. Tanner was correct, then that age was 17 years in 1830. So wouldn’t it have been at least that before post-agricultural?
I fucked that up.
The entirety of human history after the development of agriculture is only a small part of the total of human history.
There wouldn’t be any abuse to assist in if the men were gone.
I doubt that the women think they are assisting at abuse, anyway. They’re doing what they are made to do. The men might say the same thing, of course. But somehow, I don’t grant much slack to a 50 year-old man who “marries” a 14 year-old girl. Or an 18 year-old, for that matter.
The whole thing stinks from the getgo. But taking the kids from their homes and placing them with strangers isn’t going to do much good. I think their mums could look after them just fine, if the abusive men weren’t there.
Set up re-education camps. Make them read something uplifting. Have some shiny new Burdizzos on the warden’s desk just in case the re-education doesn’t take.
I think I understood you correctly both times. You point was that the post-agrarian culture is small compared with the entirety of human experience, yes?
My point was that the ‘age of onset of menarche’ was at least 17 years before then, according to some people. So they couldn’t have been ‘pregnant in their early teens’.
I’ll give the op question a shot. Take someone who is deeply religious and also likes little girls. If the 2 are in conflict than just reinvent the religion. Problem solved.
Looking at 19th century communes I am reminded of the Oneida Commune where they had free love and the adults (both men and women) taught their younger generation how to have sex (age 14). They used post-menopausal women to screw the boys so they wouldn’t get pregnant in the process. The boys were taught not to ejaculate which was part of their belief system (no it didn’t stop children from popping up).