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In reply to the discussion: My Niece was 14 years old [View all]hfojvt
(37,573 posts)26. consent to have sex, not consent to marry
and it may not have been illegal, but that does NOT prove that it was happening all the time, or even fairly common. It may even have been legal for a 13 year old to get married, but show me that it actually happened in more than 3 out of 100,000 marriages and I would be shocked.
And that still would not have made it "normal". You'd need more like 20,000 out of 100,000 marriages to make it normal, and that just ain't gonna happen anywhere I have seen records, and I have over 300,000 records from Germany to Switzerland to all over the northern and western USA. Most girls were not getting married before age 14 in the 1800s or the 1700s in those locations.
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'Age of consent' laws in the USA were set at between 10-12 by 1880. By 1920, most states upped
Purveyor
Apr 2013
#24
As a medievalist, very uncommon pre-1600 as well except in unusual circumstances
anneboleyn
Apr 2013
#76
and the wives were considered men's property, just asking- do you have a point to make?
bettyellen
Apr 2013
#13
That is crazy. It doesn't matter what a 12 year old thinks, according to statutory rape laws.
pnwmom
Apr 2013
#73
I recommend you use this awesome "ignore" feature when people call you a liar.
IdaBriggs
Apr 2013
#62
I'm "gunna" be as amazed as you are, "weather" or not you want me to be! "For real!" nt
MADem
Apr 2013
#53
I don't know the story, but the first thing I would think about was termination if my 12 year old
NotThisTime
Apr 2013
#45
You don't know the story? You posted IN THE THREAD a day before you made this post!
MADem
Apr 2013
#59
My sister was just barely 14 when she got pregnant and ended up married. He was 17.
hobbit709
Apr 2013
#12
I was sixteen when I had my first child. I grew up fast as she was severely disabled. Married the
jwirr
Apr 2013
#23
You are correct and today is very different than then. Many of us were getting married very young
jwirr
Apr 2013
#66
Every area in the state has a community mental health service. Everyone of those has
cali
Apr 2013
#54
I have a 900.00 bill from one of these centers, they assessed my drug addicted kid and talked to
NotThisTime
Apr 2013
#55