Arranged Marriages

[AnimatedEvey12]

I don't know, after some of the arguments here I'm a little torn between what I thought before and what I think now. If both couples are OK with the marriage then there's no problem but in some cultures, mainly Muslim cultures (and I'm not trying to generalize here) the women are generally unhappy and are often beaten or in some cases killed for defying their parents wishes of an arranged marriage.

I agree, after reading some responses, I see that if the couple are in agreement and are not forced then its ok. What you just mentioned about the beatings, I think in some cases that's called an honor killing. Sometimes, in those cultures, if women are acussed of having pre-marital sex they can get killed.

[NameGoesHere]

If the two people involved in the arrangement agree to it, then that's not quite so bad, but I still wouldn't call it great, either.

You have to think about why they are agreeing to it. Cultural influence can make people think a lot of things are okay. They may agree because it will keep their family happy, or they may agree to avoid being ostracized by the community. If they are never given the chance to decide for themselves, they can't know what they're loosing.

The culture of arranged marriage leaves no room for the diversity of human sexuality, either. Gay boys have to marry women, gay girls have to marry men, and asexuals have to enter relationships where they are expected to have sex.

Sure, in some places where arranged marriage is still popular, people can technically refuse an arrangement, but at what cost? Do you really think the families will smile and say, "that's okay dear, we don't mind that you want to refuse the life we worked so hard to build for you! =D"

Possible, sure, but not freakin' likely.

You can complain about the western divorce rate, but how high do you think it would be in those other parts of the world if it weren't such a taboo? Divorce rates merely reflect the fact that when you shove two crazy-ass humans together, there is a 50/50 chance the whole chemistry set will explode. It's not a sign that western society is going to hell (there are plenty of other signs for that), it's a sign that people are all different, and two different things don't always work well with one another.

But anyway, my point is that any lifelong relationship should be the decision of the people directly involved, and no one else. If it works, or it doesn't, that is the chance individuals take as free-thinking human beings.

[Passions55]

I've been avoiding this thread about arranged marriages. I'm of the belief that the only person that should have a say in who they marry are the man and the woman involved and no other parties. If people are happy with arranged marriages than more power to them, but I think cultural influences do play a role. Like what exactly is the marriage dynamics between the husband and wife in these cultures in arranged marriages?

Also I'm also getting tired of this mind set (not necessarily by the posters in this thread) that things in the west and how we do things is fundamentally selfish and ass-backwards and groups from other cultural back grounds and their ways of doing things is so much more right or straight. Each side is entitled to their opinions but just because a person from the western culture might not agree with something from another culture and doesn't like it doesn't automatically mean they are close minded and ignorant, as long as they aren't bashing it and only disagreeing with it I don't think they should be seen as close minded. Sorry I went off a little from the original subject.