Via Jonathan Turley, I learned that in Morocco, the penal code exempts a man from punishment for rape if he agrees to marry the victim!
As if that was not bad enough for the woman, one 16-year old who underwent such a marriage committed suicide because of the subsequent abuse she suffered at the hands of her rapist husband.
It is incredible that such practices still exist.
Over here, we have Rick Santorum arguing that women who become pregnant as a result of rape should be forced to have the baby because it is still a “gift from God”.
The sheer callousness towards women of religion and its adherents never ceases to amaze me.
Well said
If I were one of these raped women forced to marry her rapist, he’d better sleep with one eye open, and put locks on the kitchen drawers holding the carving knives.
Hell, even the cutlery drawer would need a lock. Even a butter knife or a fork can do a significant amount of damage.
Thumbrule: when it comes to sex the three Abrahamist religions suck major balls. It all can be traced back to here:
” If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.”
Deu 22:28-29.
We must all keep in mind that when Deuteronomy was written they had almost no notion of a person’s consent being the defining characteristic of rape. Rape was a property crime against a woman’s “owner” usually her father. This is clear from the fact that Lot could offer his daughters to the mob and still be worthy of being saved from the destruction of Sodom.
Many sexual acts that Deuteronomy would classify as rapes are acts that we would classify as consensual encounters. But even when consensual, the value of the daughter to the father has been diminished. Thus he should be compensated and not have to concern himself himself with supporting her in the future. It’s kinda like the shotgun wedding.
Of course this is still horrible, possibly more horrible. And still includes marrying women to what are by today’s standards genuine rapists.
But why were women so valueless in that culture? The Iliad isn’t like that. Female POW’s were highly valued, and not just for the few whe taken for sexual purposes. Agamemnon didn’t taunt Chryses that his daughter was not a virgin, he boasted that she would make him rich by working at his looms into old age. Were women not valued for their skill and labor in ancient Israel?
This is a really interesting question. We take it for granted that the Bible is misogynistic and that this was due to the time when it was written but rarely examine closely how that came about..
Sometimes it is hard to believe that this is the 21st century.
This also seems like it would encourage rape -- if a man sees a woman he desires but could otherwise never ‘have’ then all he has to do is rape her.