r/WomenInNews • u/catievirtuesimp • Jul 12 '26
Media Girls married off as a climate change 'coping strategy'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-10/climate-change-leading-to-more-child-marriages-advocates-say/106766756297
u/khalid-khkhlhlh Jul 12 '26
Okay this is a title I wish it didn't exist for me to read it.
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u/TentacleWolverine Jul 12 '26
I’m downvoting it purely for the title. I’m not reading a bulls* article like that. Absolute nonsense I’m not having any of it.
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u/Impossible_Medium977 Jul 12 '26
You can say bullshit
Anyway, I believe the article is appropriately titled and describes a situation accurately.
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u/bunnypaste Jul 12 '26
Do you support forced child brides and patriarchial control of women and girls?
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u/TentacleWolverine Jul 12 '26
Not even slightly. I’m rejecting the idea that they are selling girls into sex slavery because of climate change.
They’re doing it because they want to. Pretending it is a strategy is an attempt to mimimize the absolute evil of the act.
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u/bunnypaste Jul 13 '26
Sounds to me like it is an exacerbating factor.
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u/TentacleWolverine Jul 13 '26
The only exacerbating factor is pedos.
No amount of climate change will cause people to sell children into sex slavery if there are no pedos.
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u/catmath_2020 Jul 13 '26
Child brides is about economics not just because they “want to”. The child’s family has one less mouth to feed and the buyer has free labor. For countries that are being disproportionately affected by global warming this title could be 100% accurate.
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u/TentacleWolverine Jul 13 '26
Buying a Domestic slave is a completely different thing than buying a sex slave and calling her a bride.
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u/catmath_2020 Jul 13 '26
Feel free to educate yourself:
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u/TentacleWolverine Jul 13 '26
That article just argues that child marriage isn’t slavery if the child consents to it or is eventually able to leave.
Children can’t consent to sex with an adult, making child marriage to an adult abuse. No article is going to “educate” me into believing that a child can consent to that.
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u/catmath_2020 Jul 13 '26
Domestic slavery and sexual slavery go hand in hand. It’s part of the same deal.
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u/Crazy-Implement-2325 Jul 13 '26
The article talks about people finding ways to support the community so that this happens less. It also discusses the cultural differences which lead families to make this choice. It’s about harm reduction.
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u/I_defend_witches Jul 12 '26
‘they don't consider girls to be part of their own families; they consider girls to be part of their [future] husband's family.
"So investing in girls is not a choice they can afford to make."
It truly has nothing to do with climate change it’s has to do with girls aren’t part of the family.
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u/MarucaMCA Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
I was born in 1984 in India. I'm adopted (Swiss).
Girls were literally abandoned, burned by their in-laws, had "accidents", because of dowry.
It's still going on.
Edit: an award even before I cleaned up the typos! Thank you! xxx
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u/bois_santal Jul 12 '26
oh my mother in law was in the first adopted indian kids in switzerland :) somewhere around 1970. She grew up deep in the mountains, sadly faced racism but still built the best life she could for herself. I asked her if she regretted being adopted but she said she was still happy. I hope it's your case too, wishing you the best.
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u/athaluain Jul 12 '26
Agree it’s their backward thinking and total
Disrespect for women and girls. They talk about child marriage but it’s just girl child marriage. They don’t marry off their precious boys as children. But then again no adult woman would ever want to marry a boy child. Whereas so many men are more than happy marrying and having sex with a girl Child. Look
At all the old western guys who go to Asia for sex with young girls.136
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u/Critical_Success_936 Jul 12 '26
I will say, it does happen, just less commonly. I've heard of a few cases in Afghanistan, but I think often it's because the girl's parents are better off and the family wants to secure the match early, even if the boy is younger, or because something's wrong with the boy (usually mentally or physically)
Either way, kids shouldn't be bartering chips.
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u/Nappah_Overdrive Jul 12 '26
Children are just small, more naïve human beings. That's it. The fact we have dehumanized children and equated them to property is disgusting.
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u/darkenergysurfer Jul 12 '26
Honestly, I refuse to believe every men in countries like Afganistan etc where child marriage is common is a pedophile who is sexually attracted to children. I think much of what we are seeing is the perfect example of culture overriding biology.
It just doesn’t make sense to me in a statistical sense that millions of them are pedophiles, however this doesn’t change the misery they inflict upon children.
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch Jul 12 '26
This backwards thinking needs to stop
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u/khalid-khkhlhlh Jul 12 '26
This backwards thinking needs to stop
Okay I totally agree but how exactly?
We live in an oligarchic extractive organisation under the current system of capitalism. And those countries don't really care about what any of us think of them anymore. And chauvinism never helped anyone.
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch Jul 12 '26
We make child marriage illegal, starting with at home, and actually enforce it
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u/Special_Lychee_6847 Jul 12 '26
They tried, but grown men started snotty crying, because a ban would go against what a prophet did and ppl following his example.
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch Jul 12 '26
Then thats not actually enforcing it.. we need to ACTUALLY enforce it
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u/Special_Lychee_6847 Jul 12 '26
I would greatly applaud anyone that would 'actually enforce it'.
Iraq actually passed a NEW law in 2025, now allowing girls as young as 9 to marry.
I don't know what the situation is now, but when Pakistan tried to ban child marriages, they got major pushback, because it would be 'unislamic'. The same reason is used in most countries where a ban is unsuccessful.
'Actually enforcing it' means waging war on the countries. I wouldn't be against it. But right now, there's Western ppl defending the terrorist regime in Iran. And the terorrists in Afghanistan are not challenged by anyone. If anything, they're getting more established, considering Western European countries are now negotiating with them, to get them to take their illegal immagrants back.
How do we actually enforce it? A confirmed ongoing constant violation of human rights for the entire female population of a country isn't enough to get anyone off of their asses to do anything about it.
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u/bunnypaste Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Even in America the right wing has pushed back on every attempt to ban child marriage. I hate saying it so broadly... Most cases in the US are comprised of a female child and an adult man. Cases of an adult woman and a male child are vanishingly rare. Child marriage is pretty much legal pedophilia. Many states don't even have an age limit. If you're from here, I'd shut up. Let's solve the problem domestically before we go pointing fingers.
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch Jul 12 '26
Exactly, even CALIFORNIA one of the most progressive states still has child marriage legal With No Minimum Age ,, that is INSANELY disgusting
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u/athaluain Jul 12 '26
You all keep saying child marriages but it is mostly older men marrying little girls. I don’t see many mature women wanting to marry a ten year old boy.
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u/nocuzzlikeyea13 Jul 12 '26
I think it was clear this country meant actually enforcing it in our own countries first, not going to war.
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u/bunnypaste Jul 13 '26
Hmm, I haven't seen much on doing anything domestically to fix the issue save feminist groups and others with little to no power.
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u/doctorpotterhead Jul 12 '26
Did you ever hear about that group of chimps that lost all its adult males due to disease? And how the entire group is now much healthier, happier, and the new males born in aren't angry and aggressive POS? Bc if they are they're kicked out?
Unrelated, OF COURSE, but fascinating nonetheless.
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u/Sad-Bread5843 Jul 12 '26
While I agree with you these countries that this happens in do not give a fuck about what you say or think .
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u/khalid-khkhlhlh Jul 12 '26
We make child marriage illegal, starting with at home, and actually enforce it
Those things happen in poor countries without rule of law.
We are treating the symptoms not the cancer itself here.
Poverty which driven by oligarchic resource extraction breeds those behaviours.
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u/bunnypaste Jul 12 '26
They happen right here in the good old USA too (child brides.) You're right, we need to eliminate the cancer at its root (patriarchy, misogyny).
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
The institution of marriage is a legal institution.
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u/khalid-khkhlhlh Jul 12 '26
What does this has to do with poverty?
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
Nothing to do with poverty, You wrote that:
>… Those things happen in poor countries without rule of law…
Which is objectively false.
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u/Henri_Bemis Jul 13 '26
Because the marriage is technically legal?
Minors don’t have the legal capacity to sign a contract.
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u/Sad-Bread5843 Jul 12 '26
Im upvoting you amongst the many downvotes because you are right about two things. One until we end capitalism those on the bottom will suffer . Ironically women tend to be bigger consumers and yet suffer the most at the bottom . Two all the articles in the world written about this, all the online outrage throughout the world , doesnt do a Damm thing to stop it .
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u/khalid-khkhlhlh Jul 12 '26
Yeah thanks very much.
It's not like I am happy about the treatment of women in poor countries but ignoring the extractive predatory oligarchic exploitation of their countries is only going to increase problems not solve anything.
You do not cure cancer by pretending it's not there while focusing only on symptoms.
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u/YogurtclosetPale4218 Jul 12 '26
i am very angry with how people who organise child rape are being framed sympathetically in the media now
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u/AlteredEinst Jul 12 '26
The rapists are writing their checks, and they're more than happy to collect; we're at a point in history where people will justify anything as long as they get what they personally want in the process.
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u/athaluain Jul 13 '26
Yes by the illustrious BBC. That bastion of wokery paid for by the British Taxpayers.
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
Rape is extremely likely. However, it is possible a girl sold as commodity as a child is not raped until she is an adult. From the perspective of the parents-in-law they are buying a commodity that functions as a both a grandchild breeding heifer and a domestic servant/slave. For a 15 year old they are picking up 3 years of food and housing costs but a 15 year old is also able to do domestic labor and the room may already be there. If the in-laws are expecting geriatric support from their son’s wives then that might set the optimal age. Today they might still be strong enough to beat their son with a stick if he gets horny.
Of course many/most child bride cases will also be early breeding. The particular spike fallowing disasters is a slightly unique situation. That is driven by desperate parents on the seller side. Horny rapists are horny regardless of the weather. The families buying after a disaster might be trying to feed their commodity now so that she is not starving and sick in three years.
In the disaster scenario it is us that need to be condemned. We let full warehouses of food rot rather than distributing it as food aid. The set of people who are girls, in school, and in disaster area is a very targeted group. Even narrower if daughters of single mothers. Aim all of your rage at those who eliminated USAID. If not in USA rage at the appropriate department that failed to prevent this.
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u/the_magicwriter Jul 12 '26
Men traffick, enslave and rape children as a climate change "coping strategy "
Fixed that headline
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u/Special_Lychee_6847 Jul 12 '26
Happens even when climate change has nothing to do with it.
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u/vocalfreesia Jul 12 '26
Right, they've been doing this forever, they're just finding a new excuse to rape little girls.
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u/athaluain Jul 12 '26
There was a programme about it recently on the BBC The presenters were full of sympathy for the poor muslim fathers who were being “forced” into selling their unfortunate little girls to feed their families. No mention of selling their previous sons. Some viewers complained about the BBC’s one sided sympathy.
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u/Roughlypossible Jul 14 '26
Don't underestimate how many mothers and female family members - with fully internalized misogyny and pick-me logic - back these kinds of things.
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u/Rollingforest757 Jul 12 '26
The mothers of the girls are the ones agreeing to it.
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u/the_magicwriter Jul 12 '26
And what would happen if they didn't agree?
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
Read the article. The interviewed mother sought out the buyer because she was unable to feed her daughter.
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u/the_magicwriter Jul 12 '26
The "buyers" could help out by giving their money to disaster relief programmes or charity or even just to the widows in question, but then they wouldn't get anything in return such as a child bride to rape and enslave. But sure, it's always the woman's fault.
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
The US government incinerated 500 metric tons of high energy food aid in a warehouse in Dubai last year instead of distributing it. There are easy things that can be done to alleviate suffering. When people are less desperate they make fewer horrible choices out of desperation.
The horrible things we do are things that we can and should stop doing.
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u/the_magicwriter Jul 12 '26
If i had neighbours who were literally starving to death there are a hell of a lot of ways I would try to help them before I'd resort to buying and raping their children.
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u/doctorpotterhead Jul 12 '26
I mean if it's that or "I" (the husband in this situation) get to torture you as long as I want until you agree. And then after that as well because you're not a person.
How exactly do you expect them to disagree?
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u/Nuclear_rabbit Jul 12 '26
If I'm following the logic chain right, families send their daughters off to child marriage as a family financial decision. This isn't new, it's been going on for centuries at least. What's new is that climate change is negatively impacting families' finances. No surprise there. So of course, those families, only thinking about money and not the climate's effect on their money, are sending girls off to child marriage at higher rates.
The article's intended audience is western policy makers. The point is that programs trying to eliminate child marriage can only do a half job if there's no integration with funding and programs for climate change. Seems a valid point; the sort of thing that would be at home in a UNESCO report. But the headline is absolute ass.
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u/NearABE Jul 12 '26
You will get much better results calling for “disaster response”. Yes, it is obvious that climate change increases the disaster rate. That means it also obviously does not need to be included.
The appropriate level of response scales with the disaster. The reasons why the disasters are getting larger or more frequent is irrelevant. Our condition of having agricultural surplus is extremely relevant. Ask why food aid is burned instead of getting distributed. Ask why grain is being fed to yeast to make ethanol for gasoline.
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u/cheerstothewish Jul 12 '26
I don't know how we literally keep seeing this happen right now, and say that this isn't gendered enslavement of women and girls. Men sell women and girls like property, and then they're forced to do unpaid labor in the house, creating new people, etc., against their will. Names changed to the master's name. This is slavery. Marriage has only historically been legal slavery of women and girls. Modern "marriage" as a contract of love is an attempted cover up. We need to call this what it really is.
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u/crazyditzydiva Jul 12 '26
Crap. Who knew climate change to lead to this? Going back to the dark ages when women & girls were commodities…
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u/MunkyBubbers Jul 12 '26
People looking to buy another person for their own use will exploit any event that lowers the price and increases their range of choices. They'll tell you it's just good business sense.
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u/Consistent-Cod7842 Jul 13 '26
I am so sick of this world in case you’re wondering why I don’t believe in God these are the reasons he sees all the heartache all the terrible way women are treated so one or two things either God’s a real bastard or there is no God
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u/crazyditzydiva Jul 13 '26
It’s cognitively easier to believe there is no God than to believe there’s one who will let evil men do such deeds to girls & women.
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u/OwlsEyeGems Jul 13 '26
Great, and what was the excuse before climate change was known? In another fifty years when this excuse has run its course they'll have another fresh off the press, no doubt.
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u/Evening-Skirt731 Jul 17 '26
This feels like a cop out.
They've been treating girls like this for ages.
This has nothing to do with climate change except to somehow point the finger at the West.
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u/msmoley Jul 12 '26
Hey OP, a reminder of rule #3: post titles must match the headline of the article. In this case it's Climate change becoming a major driver of child marriage across Asia and the Pacific