Love conquers all ?
Excerpts from a powerful article by Ashley Judd calling for an end to child ‘marriages’ everywhere.
Ashley Judd is a humanitarian, writer and actor. This article was written with the support of the United Nations Population Fund
As a girl in school, I loved Valentine’s Day. I’d make a card, with a boy, my best friend, my mum, or my grandparents in mind, and pop the question: “Will you be my valentine?”
As an adult, Valentine’s Day is a popular and romantic moment to ask an even bigger question, one with implications and consequences meant to last a lifetime: “My valentine, will you marry me?”
At any age, what these sweet rituals share is the freedom to think of one’s beloved, and the autonomy to choose them.
But on 14 February, about 37,000 girls will have their bodily integrity and sexual autonomy shattered.
They won’t be valentines. They will be child brides.
They won’t have sweethearts. Many will have adult rapists.
They won’t have girlish dreams of romance; they will have perpetual hellish trauma. Their risk won’t be that the one on whom they have a crush chooses another; their lives will be overshadowed by risks like obstetric fistula, leaving them incontinent, among the other perils of teen pregnancy and sexual violence.
Child marriage is a mass abuse of human rights. It undercuts global development.
Being a child bride dramatically increases her risk of facing death or injury. In fact, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19.
Let’s share our outrage. Let’s make sure we see that girl, listen closely for her voiceless voice, picture her life of domestic slavery, her traumatic separation from her family and friends, and the dangers that dog her daily life. She will probably be routinely beaten, raped and demeaned, neither able to access healthcare or education nor attain any economic, political, and social status. And it’s called marriage.
Not very romantic, is it?
As we think about our valentine – a sweetheart, your own children, a secret crush – let’s think about the thousands of girls on this day, and every other day, who chose neither sweetheart nor spouse, for whom their place of rest is instead a torture chamber.
Let’s make our love letter this year a cri de coeur that demands social justice, bodily integrity and sexual autonomy for girls, so they may become empowered adults who chose when, and whom, to marry.
