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Originally Posted by _Q_
Yes, it's creepy, but not as bad as you would think.
I knew a guy in Qatar when I was 12 years old. He was "married" to some girl a few years younger than him that was a family friend(maybe she was 10 or 9 years old... who knows). They weren't however allowed to really be alone together until they both were living together, so when he was old enough to get a real job and support a family. So I assumed that was until he was in his 20s and she was in at least her late teens (18/19).
It's essentially a legal arranged marriage. Their parents are basically holding on to the right to marry their kids off to each other before the children become adults.
Is it contrary to Western beliefs and values? Yes. Is it "weird"? Yes. Is it paedophilia? I don't think so.
Again, I assume some of those 850,000 girls are being married off to 45 year old dudes, but I have a feeling a good amount of them are in the same situation as my friend in Qatar.
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Thanks for your clarification. I re-read you post, and you said
i take that to mean it was not an actual union, you also said
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essentially a legal arranged marriage
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. These are different than what is being talked about in the article. In the article they are talking about real legal binding marriage. You have, IMO, described something different.