11.Junbag a wife, literally
I saw that More4 was showing their documentary “Bride Kidnapping” again, so I decided to catch it but what I couldn’t really bear to see it through to the end.
I’m not as wide-read as I thought because until I moved to England, I never knew some cultures condone kidnapping women and marrying them off to complete strangers. Arranged marriage is already ‘far out’ for me, but this is truly baffling.
Even when Russia controlled Krygyztan, this practise was never fully-scrapped. It was made illegal but meek women don’t speak up, they marry the kidnapper, have kids & become “happy & content”. Apparently some of those who do walk away, ends up dead anyway. They commit suicide because of the social stigma that comes with being abducted & raped.
Now that Krygyztan is free of the State, some people even claim that bringing bride kidnapping “back” (as though it went away) is a declaration of their cultural identity.
I am an openminded person & I normally don’t frown upon other culture’s norms. But deliberately curtailing someone’s human rights & stepping on their dignity cannot be seen as decent nor acceptable in any modern society.
The documentary filmed a victim being forced by the man’s female relatives to wear their headdress. There were a lot of thinly-veiled threats like she’s not being hurt yet but the old woman might become rough if the teener continues being “stubborn”. Within the family, another girl coercing the teener claimed she was kidnapped, too, but she’s happy & she also wants the teener to sit down & eat.
I switched off after that. To me, this practise is as abhorrent as the female circumsion in Africa. It certainly makes you wonder why Krygyztan still have women.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 2:24 pm and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Haven’t seen the program but I can only imagine… must be a hard stuff to watch. The female circumcision in Africa is awful…but then again it’s their culture
I have read somewhere about 11 year old children being married off to very,very old men in Afghanistan. Sheesh. That’s my DD1’s age!
hi pining… I couldn’t take it & changed channels. It was watching someone else’ misery real time.
hi julie… that’s paedophilia surely.
hi Auee, i read an article about the female circumcision done in some tribes here in africa. grabeh noh? but what i have come across is folks here with long horizontal scars (from one to 3 long scar marks on the cheeks). some said it’s the tribalmark. the others, to help them heal when they were sick as kids. they destroy the perfection of the face.
regarding your post, OMG! I can’t imagine being in their shoes. I don’t want to even think about it. It’s something to abhor, not to be proud about.
hi sheilamarie… Marami ding africans dito ang may mark ang mukha. Most of them were born in Africa & came to live here. A nigerian friend did say that it’s just tribal practise but some claim it’s a symbol for “royalty”. Some look nice actually, but most of them look quite scary with it. Perhaps that’s the purpose?
We’re not too far behind considering that under Philippine law, marriage erases the criminal liability of a rapist.
Well, I’m glad it’s not being shown here. I don’t think I can stand it either. A person only lives once and to make that life a living hell by someone…ugh!
hi Connie… talaga?! I didn’t know that. God I can’t imagine how it would feel to be raped then be married to the culprit.
hi tito rolly… unbelievable no?
This is a very interesting post. I haven’t seen this documentary but I agree that bride kidnapping deliberately steps on a person’s human rights. It’s sad to think of any woman subjected to this practice.
I’ve watched a segment about female circumcision on Oprah and I was horrified by such tradition. Oprah interviewed a woman who have gone through such painful tradition. She said that her own mom was among the people who held her down against her will. I cried upon hearing her sad story. She said she doesn’t want her own daughters to go through it.
hi rachel… I’ve read so many articles about the female circumcision. The worst thing about it is that most are botched jobs, some women end up with ruined genitals.