11 year old gives birth. Bride's husband charged.

[CATTYBIRD]

The whole thing bothers me, but what really bothers me is she says she has a new "toy" to play with. Since when is a baby a toy?

[Grogs]

Originally Posted by CATTYBIRD

The whole thing bothers me, but what really bothers me is she says she has a new "toy" to play with. Since when is a baby a toy?

Yeah, I noticed that too. It sounds just like what a little girl would say. She likes playing with her dolls and wants a bigger, better doll, not realizing the amount of hard work an actual baby entails.

It used to be a pretty normal thing for girls to get married as early as menarche (if not even earlier) and start having children. I think changing that is one of the best things society has done for women. Not only does it give them more time to mature and have more of a say in who they marry, but it's also healthier. Giving birth in the early teens is more dangerous because in a lot of cases the girl's birth canal isn't wide enough to birth a full-term baby. That makes the pregnancy difficult, or even fatal to the mother.

[Natalie_ca]

Originally Posted by CATTYBIRD

The whole thing bothers me, but what really bothers me is she says she has a new "toy" to play with. Since when is a baby a toy?

Yeah. I caught that too! I just took that statement with a grain of salt. She's 11 years old and has mentally not matured and is still in the "doll playing" stage of her life.

Bet she won't think it so cute the first night the baby keeps her up all night screaming and crying and she hasn't a clue what to do to stop it.

[otto]

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

This makes absolutely no sense!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20091103/...n-41f21e0.html

The girl is 11 years old. She went into labour on her wedding day. Her husband, the baby's father is 19 years old. Apparently he is now charged with having sex with a minor.

They can marry, but it's illegal to have sex?!


.
.

Well obviously they had sex BEFORE they were married so in many places yes this would be illegal.

I don't know enough about the laws in Bulgaria to comment otherwise. Perhaps once they are married a wife is considered property, so it would be legal once they were legally married.

Just speculation on my part.

The bottom line is media loves a sensation and any story has the potential to make world headlines given the 'right' kind of coverage.

These are my opinions, not stated as fact.

[carolinalima]

Originally Posted by otto

Well obviously they had sex BEFORE they were married so in many places yes this would be illegal.

I don't know enough about the laws in Bulgaria to comment otherwise. Perhaps once they are married a wife is considered property, so it would be legal once they were legally married.

Just speculation on my part.

The bottom line is media loves a sensation and any story has the potential to make world headlines given the 'right' kind of coverage.

These are my opinions, not stated as fact.

Not about being property - in many countries, once you get married you are emancipated, you become an adult, and can do as you wish. Obviously she had sex before that date though...

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Not about being property - in many countries, once you get married you are emancipated, you become an adult, and can do as you wish. Obviously she had sex before that date though...

but it wasn't a legal marriage, that's the part that is confusing in the article- they made it seem like it was...but it was just a marriage ceremony with no papers or a marriage license.
According to marriage law in Bulgaria, you have to be 18 to get married legally ..I just looked that up.

http://data.un.org/DocumentData.aspx?id=150

Interesting how scanning through all that data, most of the world has 18 or above legal marriage age, 18 being for women and then as high as 21 for men in some places...

[carolinalima]

Originally Posted by ut0pia

It is ridiculous that they ignore all kinds of laws and have a wedding that is completely illegitimate and the sad part is- I am sure the entire community participated in that wedding and they were toasting to the groom and bride without even stopping to think how wrong this is. And I think the whole issue about the roma (gypsy) minority in Bulgaria is ridiculous and sad. I don't know what it is about the roma culture- but I have seen girls aged 12 or 13 pregnant it happens so often. It is so sad because they live in communities separate from the rest of society that are so poor, their houses barely standing on the ground, they go to separate schools that only serve their districts, and to me they are victims and not really at fault, because there is no one to educate them to be any different and they are ostracized and discriminated against so much, even though on paper of course discrimination is illegal. But, it can't disappear into thin air, the government has to do something to aid them economically. I was surprised to see this story, I don't know why someone took and interest and wrote a story about this girl. Maybe because there are charges against the father.

Well, IMHO, if they are victims, and perhaps at no fault of their own, as you are saying they might be, that is when it stops being ridiculous. Again, this is cultural... These are not regular (as in western "regular") people with a "normal" background who just decided to do that for the heck of it and throw a party to celebrate.
That is my point of really not understanding the word "ridiculous" on your post...
BTY, child marriage IS part of their culture and beliefs. We can think it is right, or wrong, or whatever, but it is part of their culture. The young bride joins the family of the husband, and life goes on from there. This is also the This is a very very very old culture (there are controversies if 1,000 or over 2,000 yr old. there are records of the latter), full of history and also persecution... as you probably know that already... In some places they were enslaved for over 500 years straight... During the holocaust, it is estimated that up to a million and a half of them were exterminated in concentration camps.

Contemporary issues

Main article: Modern Antiziganism
Amnesty International reports continued instances of Antizigan discrimination during the 2000s, particularly in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia,[64] Hungary,[65] Slovenia,[66] and Kosovo.[67] Romani are often confined to low-class ghettos, are subject to discrimination in jobs and schools, and are often subject to police brutality.
In 2008, the Italian government declared that Italy's Romani population represented a national security risk and that swift action was required to address the emergenza nomadi (gypsy emergency)[68] Specifically officials in the Italian government accused the Romanies of being responsible for rising crime rates in urban areas. Mario Marazziti, spokesperson of the Community of Sant'Egidio human rights organization said "There is no national emergency ... What is an emergency is that in the 21st century the life expectancy of a gypsy living in Italy is under 60 years of age."[69]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people

To answer the last part of your question, the reason why this specific story got covered, is that this girl just became the youngest mother in history.

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

BTY, child marriage IS part of their culture and beliefs. We can think it is right, or wrong, or whatever, but it is part of their culture. The young bride joins the family of the husband, and life goes on from there. This is also the This is a very very very old culture (there are controversies if 1,000 or over 2,000 yr old. there are records of the latter), full of history and also persecution... as you probably know that already... In some places they were enslaved for over 500 years straight... During the holocaust, it is estimated that up to a million and a half of them were exterminated in concentration camps.

Well I find it very sad that they are keeping such a tradition alive in the 21st century. I know it used to be a tradition of my ancestors to make human sacrifices but that doesn't mean anyone still does that. I say they aren't at fault and what I mean is, their state of poverty and lack of education isn't their fault, and maybe their tendency to marry as children depends on education..But it's criminal, and the fact that it's criminal makes it so shocking and wrong for me, not that it's just a weird cultural belief.

[Rosiemac]

Good grief, she's just a child herself!. I have to say though, she looked a lot older, but then she does have makeup on.

[Nekomania]

Originally Posted by missymotus

But how do they know what is smart or right?

Because I am quite sure that at one point or another someone has informed them of at least some of the horrible things that can go wrong when you get pregnant that young. Not to mention they have surely seen at least once in their life something about the mental health effects of introducing a child's mind to sexual stimuli.

Just like doctors and volunteers try to educate the people of africa to stop the spread of HIV. That is how they know what is smart or right, yet still make poor decisions based on a dying culture.

[Nekomania]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Who am I to judge them, and why is my culture better than theirs?

Why is their culture better than mine? It is human nature to judge others.

Originally Posted by carolinalima

THEIR beliefs - their lives... IMO need to be respected. It is their culture, and it is not affecting my life or the way I live. That is my opinion.

Just because it's not right out your back door or happening within your culture or family doesn't make it any better that there are people who still believe that molesting children is okay.

Originally Posted by carolinalima

IMHO it is quite hard to judge cultures and religions, especially when you know nothing about them and their situation.

The story gives me enough reason to feel the way I do, at least towards him. I think I'm allowed to have an opinion on the subject, even if this is the first time I've ever heard of it. I'm sure now I'll be much more interested in looking up exactly what sort of culture these people have.

Originally Posted by carolinalima

you did not quote on your post, or place a moot point, so it did give an impression that the subject was ridiculous or funny for you, since that is what the thread is discussing, and you have the hysterical face first thing on your post.... I might be misreading it, but I am reading what was written.

My apologies that you misread my post, I'll state again that I never have nor will think that it is funny to get a little girl pregnant.

[Nekomania]

To answer the last part of your question, the reason why this specific story got covered, is that this girl just became the youngest mother in history.

The youngest mother in the world was actually a 5 year old Peruvian girl named Lina Medina.

Source:

http://scienceroll.com/2006/12/09/th...t-mother-ever/

http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/medina.asp