Social realities
The age of consent to sexual intercourse in India is 18, which means sex with anyone below that age is rape–the exception is if the woman is above 15 and married.
On August 29, 2016, the union home ministry told the Delhi High Court that the law would stand because these were India’s “social realities”, but the age of 15, as this 2014 paper pointed out, was written into law 67 years ago, imperilling millions of girls forced into matrimony.
The fact that girls are forced into marriage at horrifyingly young ages is the social reality that needs to be changed. It’s no good saying “it’s India’s social realities” as a reason not to change it when that’s the very problem at issue. If your roof is leaking you don’t say there’s no need to patch or replace it because the leaks are the house’s physical reality.
More than 7.8 million girls below age 10 are married, among nearly 12 million children forced into matrimony–84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim–IndiaSpendreported in June 2016, quoting recent census data.
Jayzus that’s a lot of little girls.
H/t Kausik.
Huh. At first I wanted to say, yes, it’s horrifying to marry off girls under 10, but if she’s 15 and actually wants to marry, that’s another matter… but then I thought, no, no one stays the person they are at 15, and their educational opportunities get cut off before they have anything like a realistic view of the world. Make it all be 18.
And seriously, *no one* should ever be married against their will. That’s not marriage, it’s trafficking.
‘Social realities’ = ‘peculiar institution.’
Diversity or multi-culturalism should not be expected to stretch THAT far.