broodings

cuddly toys and wedding dresses

this is a really bad rant/prose-y thing about a very important issue.

once, my mum asked me why i cared that girls younger than me are being forced into marriages with men triple my age. why i should care, for these girls are five thousand miles away from me and them being forced into marriage doesn't affect me. why i should care that in india, girls are expected to bleed on their wedding night, and if there's no blood on the sheets in the morning, the trembling brides are punished. the trembling brides are so scared that they'll cut themselves so there'll be blood just in case they're not a virgin just in case they don't bleed (not everyone does! didn't you learn anything in that lesson on sex ed (the one they didn't get)?) why i should care that these girls are younger than me, and they're wives, and they're made to bear children (blood stained births and screams because they're too young, too small, and their body can't bear this) and that when i was their age the only pain i was in was when i scraped my knee from falling off my bike and the only marriages i was in were the play pretends with my friends.

why should i care?