As I understand it in India the parents are very involved in who are the individuals involved in the marriage. The minors are not the ones seeking out their suitors.
Today? It’s 50:50, and even then, arranged marriages aren’t usually anything similar to the popular misconception that the bride and groom see each other for the first time when they’re underneath the pavilion. It’s far closer to dating, but with parents assisting in the search for acceptable suitors, the kids still have a say and (usually) a veto. Think of having your friends setup a date for you with someone else they know is looking, but soliciting a larger section of the social web.
Before the 70s, it was much more dictatorial of course.
For statutory rape purposes the consent of the minor carriers little weight. Thus there is increased responcibility on the behalf of the teachers to keep things proper. Such an exploitation without the target feeling exploited doesn’t make it okay.
I don’t agree with the is-ought implication you’re presumably making here.
A large degree of the harm of “exploitation” is the perception of said exploitation. If you’re working a summer job and see the owner’s kid making double per hour for the same work, you can feel unfairly treated, compared to an alternate universe where you didn’t, and as long as you’re making a living wage either way, I would contend that there’s no actual exploitation involved unless you were deprived of some right you ought to have had.
A 16 year old can have shitty relationships with a 17 year old, and that’s generally acceptable for all the harm it might otherwise cause. But say they have a relationship with a 25 year old, people will still make a fuss regardless of whether any harm is committed. It’s clearly not that the harm itself is what scandalizes them.
And there’s the aspect where the general stigmatization of the age gaps that were once unremarkable means that the adults who still seek out such relationships are more likely to be bad people, further poisoning the well.
As you can see, I’m not a fan of victimless crimes, and I disagree with the presumption that such a statutory violation is necessarily bad or should be treated that way.
I would imagine a 12 year old going into marriage would not be doing so at their own initiative. In a western setting the assumption would be that the other party to the marriage would be pushing for it. In an Indian setting its more plausible that a mature person that genuinely has the interest of the younger party at heart is meddling with the situation (parent marrying off child for the benefit of the child).
Say that the owner’s kid is doing x2 and then 10 other randos are doing x1.5 with not even an attempt at justification why. There is some degree of exploitation which can not be made away by making it not percieved as exploitation. One of the patterns of work exploitation is to arrange for people from poorer countries to come work in a rich country where they are happy to work below minimum wage. In their home country it would be par for the course—from a subjective viewpoint they are not likely to complain especially if they get a little bit more money than they would in their previous country. The fact that they would be entitled to a minimum wage makes it illegal. Whether it is in the legal or illegal zone seeking out parties which will settle for bad terms is predatory. And being aggressed on in this manner does not require for the target to be unhappy.
If two equally strong people are fighting people might or might not get hurt. But if a body builder karate master “fights” an anoreksic civilian the issue is not so much how much damage is sustained but what could possibly create a ground for the karate master to geniunely need to defend themself. With enough power difference if there is possiblity of a conflict of interest a relationship can’t be a cooperation but will be dictated by one side. Your mileage may wary how much power difference the developmental gap between 17 year old and 25 year old confers, but if the circumstances place the parties in way different leagues then individual variation and detail will get less and less able to make it okay.
Today? It’s 50:50, and even then, arranged marriages aren’t usually anything similar to the popular misconception that the bride and groom see each other for the first time when they’re underneath the pavilion. It’s far closer to dating, but with parents assisting in the search for acceptable suitors, the kids still have a say and (usually) a veto. Think of having your friends setup a date for you with someone else they know is looking, but soliciting a larger section of the social web.
Before the 70s, it was much more dictatorial of course.
I don’t agree with the is-ought implication you’re presumably making here.
A large degree of the harm of “exploitation” is the perception of said exploitation. If you’re working a summer job and see the owner’s kid making double per hour for the same work, you can feel unfairly treated, compared to an alternate universe where you didn’t, and as long as you’re making a living wage either way, I would contend that there’s no actual exploitation involved unless you were deprived of some right you ought to have had.
A 16 year old can have shitty relationships with a 17 year old, and that’s generally acceptable for all the harm it might otherwise cause. But say they have a relationship with a 25 year old, people will still make a fuss regardless of whether any harm is committed. It’s clearly not that the harm itself is what scandalizes them.
And there’s the aspect where the general stigmatization of the age gaps that were once unremarkable means that the adults who still seek out such relationships are more likely to be bad people, further poisoning the well.
As you can see, I’m not a fan of victimless crimes, and I disagree with the presumption that such a statutory violation is necessarily bad or should be treated that way.
I would imagine a 12 year old going into marriage would not be doing so at their own initiative. In a western setting the assumption would be that the other party to the marriage would be pushing for it. In an Indian setting its more plausible that a mature person that genuinely has the interest of the younger party at heart is meddling with the situation (parent marrying off child for the benefit of the child).
Say that the owner’s kid is doing x2 and then 10 other randos are doing x1.5 with not even an attempt at justification why. There is some degree of exploitation which can not be made away by making it not percieved as exploitation. One of the patterns of work exploitation is to arrange for people from poorer countries to come work in a rich country where they are happy to work below minimum wage. In their home country it would be par for the course—from a subjective viewpoint they are not likely to complain especially if they get a little bit more money than they would in their previous country. The fact that they would be entitled to a minimum wage makes it illegal. Whether it is in the legal or illegal zone seeking out parties which will settle for bad terms is predatory. And being aggressed on in this manner does not require for the target to be unhappy.
If two equally strong people are fighting people might or might not get hurt. But if a body builder karate master “fights” an anoreksic civilian the issue is not so much how much damage is sustained but what could possibly create a ground for the karate master to geniunely need to defend themself. With enough power difference if there is possiblity of a conflict of interest a relationship can’t be a cooperation but will be dictated by one side. Your mileage may wary how much power difference the developmental gap between 17 year old and 25 year old confers, but if the circumstances place the parties in way different leagues then individual variation and detail will get less and less able to make it okay.