Paris, the universal capital of love and romance, created a manual on forced marriages this week to help officials spot and prevent cases of young women being forced into matrimony.
An estimated 70,000 young women in France are victims (or potential victims) of forced marriages, according to a government study. City officials who conduct weddings often don't know how to deal with their suspicion — clearly they haven't spent time in Vegas! — so the city created some guidelines.
What are telltale signs? The 32-page book lists clues like when "middlemen fill in the required documents ahead of the wedding, when the woman does not appear at the city hall at any point before the wedding day, or when there is a big age difference between the man and the woman". It also notes signs like bridal distress or submission to relatives, brides that can't answer questions clearly and brides that don't know their fiancé's personal history.
I can think of few worse things than being forced to marry (and have perpetual sex with)
someone you don't like, are not attracted to and don't love (and there's a big chance of that happening under these circumstances).
TS
Interesting...I've never really heard of this within this kind of context. I wonder what the rate is in other industrialized countries of forced marriage and what the reasons are.
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