> In 1995, Fraidy Reiss was forced into a marriage by her Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. Reiss was just 19 at the time.
The essay includes exactly one anecdote of child marriage ... which isn't child marriage by its own definition. If age 18 isn't old enough for consent, what is? Forced marriage isn't legal anywhere in the US.
It isn't obvious to me that the age of consent should be identical in all contexts, so this doesn't seem alarming on its face. It depends on the particulars. That's where a good anecdote can help, but this one doesn't. I don't need to be convinced that consent is always necessary for a valid marriage.
No doubt! The rest of the article provides other statistics and apparently there's a report they're getting this from. Sibling comments have also already begun to provide more context. The internet is truly an amazing place, but especially HN here. I appreciate the effort that goes into everyone's commentary!
Edit: The comment this is responding to has been edited so context has been lost, but I'm letting this one stand as is.
There's more detail and multiple anecdotes elsewhere, eg:
It’s estimated that, each year, 12 million girls around the world are married before they turn 18. The perception that child marriage is something that happens to other kids in other places – not the United States – is a false one.
Between 2000 and 2021, nearly 315,000 children were legally entered into marriage across the U.S. The vast majority were girls wed to adult men.
Mandy’s mother encouraged her to become affectionate with the man from their church in Arizona who was showing an interest in Mandy.
He was aged 18. Mandy was 12.
His grooming and abuse continued for years, fully sanctioned by Mandy’s mother, who spoke of God’s plan. He proposed to her four years later, and she tried to say no. After exhausting every possible way to escape what her parents were forcing her to do, she ran away, but as a minor, she had no power. Her parents were able to force her back home and into marriage.
Mandy was married a week after her 17th birthday to her 23-year-old longtime rapist and abuser.
She was trapped in a marriage marked by relentless emotional, physical, verbal and financial abuse.
When Mandy finally escaped as an adult, at age 20, she was excommunicated from her church. She lost all her family and friends. She was left to rebuild her life on her own.
Church groups and family pressuring marriages arranged from a very young age are pretty much the norm for "forced marriages", more common than actual trafficing by strangers.
I've known other 17 year olds who were ready to start a family, and for whom waiting a year would mean bringing one less cherished person into the world. Which scenario is more common? Where should we draw the line? This is almost entirely subjective, and it's hard to fault a jurisdiction for inconsistency.
Let's err on the side that doesn't result in children being forced to marry pedophiles. Yes, the line can be subjective, but the vast majority of cases of child marriage are underage women being forced to marry men over the age of majority.
People not being able to marry at 17 doesn't stop them from waiting a year to be married. That isn't going to stop them from being patient, and won't stop them from having a child.
The existance of women who willingly marry early and have not been groomed since the age of twelve in no way negates the existance of women who have been groomed from a young age into marriages they don't want and rush to leave.
> When challenged by Rep. Peter Merideth in April 2023 on arguments related to transgender youth, Moon defended his 2018 stance on child marriage in which he opposed legislation that raised the marriage age from 15 to 16, and requires parental consent for older teenagers to marry.
> After his comments went viral, Moon claimed he did not have enough time to explain his vote and that he does not support adults marrying children. Moon's argument in defense of child marriage in both 2018 and 2023 are an anecdote about a couple he met in college who married at age 12 as a result of pregnancy and are "still married."
> In April 2024 and again in March 2025, Moon cast the sole senate vote against legislation intended to completely ban child marriage in Missouri.
Oh, well if a single instance of someone getting married as a child didn't end in divorce, then it must be a great practice. Because we all know that no abusive relationship has ever persisted because divorce was taboo. By all means, let's keep letting little kids get married before their minds are fully developed and let's keep letting creepy adults have a severe power imbalance over them.
Oddly enough, its also an issue in California, which is one of four states with no minimum age for marriage (despite an 18 year minimum age for divorce.)
And, even more bizarrely, when there was a recent push to abolish it, it was resisted by, among others, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood branches on California (despite the same organizations national and relevant state organizations not opposing moves to ban child marriage in other states.)
>with no minimum age for marriage (despite an 18 year minimum age for divorce.)
Man, that's gotta lead to some occasional legal spaghetti code crap getting dragged through probate court, bankruptcy court, and all the other subjects that is marriage relevant.
IIRC, most child (under 18, at least; 18-21 is a problem with the trusted to drink standard) marriage laws in the US agree that the child can’t be trusted on this, so they trust the child’s parents.
(This is very much not an endorsement of those laws or that approach.)
It's just as gross and wrong that we allow parents to marry off their children to an adult as it is that we allow the marriage to take place at all. It's effectively the same as selling children into sexual slavery.
oof, talk about not reading the room. In the current day, political attention on this topic would likely result in making such marriages easier to coerce, lowering the age of consent, adding exceptions to statutory rape for religious leaders or when the president says it's okay just don't tell your parents, etc. Vice signalling is in.
> In 1995, Fraidy Reiss was forced into a marriage by her Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. Reiss was just 19 at the time.
The essay includes exactly one anecdote of child marriage ... which isn't child marriage by its own definition. If age 18 isn't old enough for consent, what is? Forced marriage isn't legal anywhere in the US.
That's an account of the background of the founder of the organization the piece is about.
Instead of anecdote, they provide statistics about child marriage, one line earlier:
“At least 60,000 marriages since 2000 have occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have constituted statutory rape under the law.”
It isn't obvious to me that the age of consent should be identical in all contexts, so this doesn't seem alarming on its face. It depends on the particulars. That's where a good anecdote can help, but this one doesn't. I don't need to be convinced that consent is always necessary for a valid marriage.
No doubt! The rest of the article provides other statistics and apparently there's a report they're getting this from. Sibling comments have also already begun to provide more context. The internet is truly an amazing place, but especially HN here. I appreciate the effort that goes into everyone's commentary!
Edit: The comment this is responding to has been edited so context has been lost, but I'm letting this one stand as is.
There's more detail and multiple anecdotes elsewhere, eg:
~ https://www.unchainedatlast.org/united-states-child-marriage... Church groups and family pressuring marriages arranged from a very young age are pretty much the norm for "forced marriages", more common than actual trafficing by strangers.I've known other 17 year olds who were ready to start a family, and for whom waiting a year would mean bringing one less cherished person into the world. Which scenario is more common? Where should we draw the line? This is almost entirely subjective, and it's hard to fault a jurisdiction for inconsistency.
Let's err on the side that doesn't result in children being forced to marry pedophiles. Yes, the line can be subjective, but the vast majority of cases of child marriage are underage women being forced to marry men over the age of majority.
People not being able to marry at 17 doesn't stop them from waiting a year to be married. That isn't going to stop them from being patient, and won't stop them from having a child.
> but the vast majority of cases of child marriage are underage women being forced to marry men over the age of majority.
Do you have a citation for this?
The existance of women who willingly marry early and have not been groomed since the age of twelve in no way negates the existance of women who have been groomed from a young age into marriages they don't want and rush to leave.
> When challenged by Rep. Peter Merideth in April 2023 on arguments related to transgender youth, Moon defended his 2018 stance on child marriage in which he opposed legislation that raised the marriage age from 15 to 16, and requires parental consent for older teenagers to marry.
> After his comments went viral, Moon claimed he did not have enough time to explain his vote and that he does not support adults marrying children. Moon's argument in defense of child marriage in both 2018 and 2023 are an anecdote about a couple he met in college who married at age 12 as a result of pregnancy and are "still married."
> In April 2024 and again in March 2025, Moon cast the sole senate vote against legislation intended to completely ban child marriage in Missouri.
Oh, well if a single instance of someone getting married as a child didn't end in divorce, then it must be a great practice. Because we all know that no abusive relationship has ever persisted because divorce was taboo. By all means, let's keep letting little kids get married before their minds are fully developed and let's keep letting creepy adults have a severe power imbalance over them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Moon_(politician)#Child_m...
Report:
https://equalitynow.org/resource/reports/legal-gaps-and-endu...
Related:
https://www.unchainedatlast.org/child-marriage-in-the-u-s/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_S...
The attacks on that religious group do not end...
big issue in appalachia / red states were republican lawmakers have tried to thwart laws restricting the practice
Oddly enough, its also an issue in California, which is one of four states with no minimum age for marriage (despite an 18 year minimum age for divorce.)
And, even more bizarrely, when there was a recent push to abolish it, it was resisted by, among others, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood branches on California (despite the same organizations national and relevant state organizations not opposing moves to ban child marriage in other states.)
>with no minimum age for marriage (despite an 18 year minimum age for divorce.)
Man, that's gotta lead to some occasional legal spaghetti code crap getting dragged through probate court, bankruptcy court, and all the other subjects that is marriage relevant.
If you’re not trusted to drink you shouldn’t be trusted to get married.
IIRC, most child (under 18, at least; 18-21 is a problem with the trusted to drink standard) marriage laws in the US agree that the child can’t be trusted on this, so they trust the child’s parents.
(This is very much not an endorsement of those laws or that approach.)
It's just as gross and wrong that we allow parents to marry off their children to an adult as it is that we allow the marriage to take place at all. It's effectively the same as selling children into sexual slavery.
Or vote.
Wait we haven’t yet ended child marriage in the US? What year is this?
oof, talk about not reading the room. In the current day, political attention on this topic would likely result in making such marriages easier to coerce, lowering the age of consent, adding exceptions to statutory rape for religious leaders or when the president says it's okay just don't tell your parents, etc. Vice signalling is in.