Quote:
Originally Posted by Lampman
Slightly off thread,but yes I feel uneasy about forced marriages,indeed I find the arranged marriage a bit hard to stomach.I know we are of different cultures,but when in Rome.......
I think the problem is that the whole ethnic marriage idea is an antiquated system that we abandoned over a hundred years ago.
Mind you the only emigrating/immigrating in those days available was a one way trip to Aussie land.
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I think it helps to understand exactly what an arranged marriage is though and then it doesn't sound quite so awful. An arranged marriage is when the parents look for suitable partners for their offspring. They then make the introductions. If the offspring do not like what they see on initial meetings (and they can meet as often as they want in safe company) they can say so - the woman has just the same right as the man to say no. If both parties say yes, then the parents take over arranging the marriage itself. Really, it's like a parent run dating agency.
Forced marriage is a totally different thing. Forced marriage is when one of the parties has not got a say in matters, they could have been promised from childhood or there could be a business deal behind it.
Forced marriage is not accepted by any world religion.
This was one of the subjects at the conference that I was at yesterday and it was fascinating.