I've seen this argument before - that anti-polygamy laws are meant to protect young girls from being forced into marriage with older men. But I've seen young girls forced into marriages with older men in the south. How does an anti-polygamy law stop that? If that is what we really want to do, why don't we agitate for the minimum marriage age to be raised to something more reasonable than it is in some places (as young as 12 for girls in Massachusetts and Kansas, NO age limit with parental consent in Mississippi, and 14 in Utah - http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Marriage.htm#c). Ugh. Yuck. I knew a 13 year old girl in Louisiana when I was the same age who got pregnant and her parents pulled her out of school and forced her to get married. A similar thing happened to the 14 year old my uncle got pregnant in the late 60's (he was 19.) Anti-polygamy laws didn't stop this. The type of Mormons who believe they can and should do this and who are supported by the girl's parents usually have "common-law" marriages and do it anyway. Since statutory rape complaints are almost always introduced by a girl's parents, if the parents are willing, the man stands little chance of getting in trouble. I fail to see how denying adults the right to marry more than one other adult protects girls.
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Date: 2004-08-03 09:12 am (UTC)But I've seen young girls forced into marriages with older men in the south. How does an anti-polygamy law stop that? If that is what we really want to do, why don't we agitate for the minimum marriage age to be raised to something more reasonable than it is in some places (as young as 12 for girls in Massachusetts and Kansas, NO age limit with parental consent in Mississippi, and 14 in Utah - http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Marriage.htm#c). Ugh. Yuck. I knew a 13 year old girl in Louisiana when I was the same age who got pregnant and her parents pulled her out of school and forced her to get married. A similar thing happened to the 14 year old my uncle got pregnant in the late 60's (he was 19.) Anti-polygamy laws didn't stop this.
The type of Mormons who believe they can and should do this and who are supported by the girl's parents usually have "common-law" marriages and do it anyway. Since statutory rape complaints are almost always introduced by a girl's parents, if the parents are willing, the man stands little chance of getting in trouble.
I fail to see how denying adults the right to marry more than one other adult protects girls.