Do you think a 15 year-old girl should be able to get married?

Curious. You think a married woman loses all their 'dreams and aspirations' upon getting married? That is a low opinion of women, IMO.

 

Subjective question. I'd generally say no- but maybe it's a 15-year old boy that wants to marry a 15-year old girl?
Even then I'd normally say no as I get a strong impression that people are growing up mentally slower each generation- I generally have no confidence in their responsibility which is a requirement for any form of collective bonding. Especially looking back to footage from the 1930's or 40's with the "young lads" walking around in their suits and top hats and working at like age 13. Days long gone.

That being said, if you asked this question back then (or in a parallel world where the kids acted adult very quickly) I'd have no real objection to responsible teenagers being married to each other. They'd better leave having kids a good 5+ years though at the bare minimum.

Lowering ages for marriage for teens of 1-2 years age difference who can prove they are self-sufficient would be a good conservative strategy for raising birth rates, actually. Given a few years of saving up money, they could be very successful families by their 20's.

 

A 15-year-old girl? Most definitely. A 15-year-old is not yet a WOMAN. She is a little girl. BTW, I am a woman and want to protect other women from oppression which is what child/teen marriage is.

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Oh, and BTW, it's not just ME that thinks that way. The WHO and human rights organizations also feel that way, so now what are you going to say to defend child marriage?

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Age of consent should be set at 18 years old, and that is on the low end still. Eighteen is NOT an arbitrary number, as some of you have claimed, either. It is the age when a person has had a chance to complete a primary education and get some life experience under his/her belt.

Note, that people under 18 are NOT allowed to sign legally binding contracts. Well, marriage IS a legally binding contract. Why are they not allowed to sign legally binding contracts? Because they are most often irresponsible and too ignorant to know any better as well as easy to take advantage of due to their ignorance. Children (16 years - 20 years) are the LEADING cause of car accidents on the road. Only 10-12% of them drive, but that 10-12% are responsible for almost HALF of all car accidents.

 

First of all, what 15-year-old boy wants to be married? Secondly, you would be doing both of them a HUGE disservice. What good could come of such a union? The reason why it is ILLEGAL to kick your 15-year-old CHILD out of the home is because they cannot yet fend for themselves. The ones that run away, most often, tend to turn to a life of drugs and prostitution.

 

BTW, did you watch the video posted of the little girl and what she thinks of child marriage? Perhaps you should educate yourself. Eleven, 12, and even 15-year-olds are not clamoring to get married, are they? You don't hear of them petitioning the government for the right to marry an adult do you? Most children who are still in their developing teen years are disgusted by older men. Face facts, they don't want you.

 

I'm of the opinion that those who voted yes, or those who would even ask such a question, are dirty old men who lust after young (very young) girls. They are amongst some of the most despicable of despicable people.

 

Not 100% of 15 yr olds are little girls or children for that matter. There have been 15 yr olds that have graduated college.
There are 50 yr olds that never have the mental capacity to graduate high school.

18 yrs is set, IMO, as you stated, most will have had the chance to graduate high school.
And in the OP, it was with the father's and judges consent, making it a legally binding contract.

And the OP said nothing about making it a defacto standard. So there is a possibility of a 15 yr old being extremely mature and more than capable of handling their lives.

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Why are you jumping to the conclusion the OP was referring to old men wanting to marry the 15 yr old. Why not another extremely mature 15 yr old boy or 17?
Why are you assuming it is an old man?

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You're jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Why?
It was a simple straight forward question, with the father's and judges consent.
No, I did not watch the video.

 

Mental capacity and emotional/mental maturity, and life experience are two different things entirely. Just because a person is intelligent does not mean they are emotionally or mentally mature enough to handle a committed adult intimate relationship. Get that?

No, any parent who would allow their 15-year-old child to be married, regardless of their perceived maturity level is rotten to the core.

It should be ILLEGAL for anyone under the age of 18 to be married . . . a lot of parents are abusive and screwed up too, you know!!!

An "extremely mature" 15-year-old, huh? Ridiculous!

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Watch the video. This little girl obviously is more intelligent than the posters who voted "yes." She still doesn't think she should be married, however. She knows that she is still a CHILD.

Are you under the impression that we should abandon the rules that protect children from abusive relationships because of the exception where ONE or TWO might be exceptionally intelligent and perhaps even more mature than their peers? How stupid!!! Generally, even those "exceptionally mature" children are still not equipped to handle an adult intimate relationship and still have very little experience in life and dealing with others. Adults, to children this age, are the role models and authoritarian figures.

 

I am old enough to remember when 21 was the magic age not only for marriage, but to buy beer, vote and many other things. 16 too was a milestone, drivers license and to be able to work full time without anyone's consent and able to drop out of school. Lot's of farm kids did that at the age of 16 to work full time on their farm.

As for the 15 year old getting married. I would say it depended on the girl and maturity. Gaining the fathers consent along with a judge seems reasonable in determining the girls maturity. In a country where most of us expect kids this age to have sex with no repercussions, why not allow her to marry?

 

What if the girl is pregnant? If she's mature enough to raise a kid - should we still ban her from marrying the father of that kid?

 

Nope, maturity is not something that can be measured. Because we cannot abandon the laws that protect children from abuse, that's why. It should still be illegal, even with consent of the parents because, as we all know, not all parents have their children's best interest at heart.

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Yes, why double screw up her life?

 

And why are we saying "father's consent?"

Why not "parent's consent?"

Are we all just fragments of our patriarchal society upbringing?

 

Yes, that is the reason why adult men would even WANT to marry a 15-year-old child, control.

 

How will that screw up her life? It can't be easy for a 15 year old mother to care for herself and her baby. Why not allow her to marry the father and have him bear half of that burden?

Why so interested in controlling what she does (marriage-wise) if she's going to be a mom?

 

Wow. You know the details of every 15 yr old in the world. You are some special person.
You think you have the right, over parents, to dictate how all 15 yr olds must live.

Again, the OP said the father and a judge would be in favor of it.
Not sure why he/she left out the mother.
But I will side with the father and judge over your weird need to dictate the lives of every 15 yr old in the world.

 

Most of the time, it's a teen boy. I don't think teen girls are too interested in adult men.

 

The OP said nothing about abandoning any laws? You seem to be reacting very emotional to a very specific question.

 

Because most of the time, those types of relationships do not work, that's why. Then you have two kids stuck in some crappy marriage. Besides, just because a guy impregnates a girl, in most cases, he is not interested in "marrying" her. How many 15-year-olds are petitioning the government to get married?

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How so? I'm just telling you all the facts of life, which you don't seem to have a very good grasp on. Anyone who is FOR 15-year-old kids being married has a screw loose.

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And most 15-year-old, 16-year-old, and even 17-year-old boys are certainly not interested in being married and tied down to the same woman (girl) for the rest of their lives. They are still children!!

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Children need protection against predator adults.

 

Some parents beat, molest, sell, and even murder their OWN children . . . .

 

I'm just not into controlling anyone else's relationships. My daughter was close friends with a girl who was very open about having sex with her boyfriend. She was 13, he was 14. Her parents tried to stop the relationship but the kids snuck around and saw each other. In high school, they started openly dating, when the parents gave up trying to keep them apart. Today, they are married, in their early 30s and have three little girls. They did not marry until their mid 20s, and they both have college degrees and good jobs now. Same college - of course - but neither one of them ever dated anyone else. They were an exception, obviously, but kids do sometimes know what they want. Not always, but sometimes.

I say if a girl is pregnant, she's already made an adult decision and she should be free to marry if that is what she wants.

 

They may be children but they're also PARENTS.

I'm not in favor of saddling the young girl with the child while the boy goes on to college on a basketball scholarship.

Let him step up.

If they divorce down the road - so be it.

 

Seriously? No, getting pregnant is NOT an adult decision. Most of the time, teen pregnancies are due to ignorance and immaturity.

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He does step up, as soon as he is old enough to work and pay child support.

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Nope, in no way would I ever agree to 15-year-olds being married. That is just sheer stupidity.

 

You are not telling me the facts of life. You're spouting you very own personal opinion. You can't possibly know the lives of every 15 yr old in the entire world. Unless you are God.

Again, all emotional responses from you.
We are NOT talking about generalities in the OP, it was very very specific.

And I'd say it was you own personal and perhaps wrong opinion that teens marrying don't last.
I personally know a great deal of people that dated in high school, got married upon graduation and are still married 30 yrs or until death later.

No one is talking predator adults but you. Read the damn OP again.

 

WTF does that have to do with the very specific question in the OP?
Nothing, that's what.

 

You don't HAVE to know every 15-year-old in the world to know that generally, they are quite immature. If you lower the marital age of consent, you are opening children up for abuse. If anything, our age of consent laws should be raised, not ever LOWERED.

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It has everything to do with it. Parental permission and all that. Are you thick?

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Let me guess, you are one of the adult men who voted "yes". Correct?

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We don't make laws on the basis of the exceptions to the rule. Duh. Are children generally matured by age 15? Uh, no. There is the answer to your dilemma.