This is unbelievable, in this day and age.

People assume this just happens in Muslim countries, but forced marriage happens in the US too, in many places, because patriarchy. Daniele Selby suffered a lot but became an activist to prevent this happening to other girls. "I survived being raped at age 8 by the church bishop and then by my mom’s husband. When I was 9, I was raped again, this time by the deacon of the church. I got pregnant. mother of the groom and bride evening wears

"At 10, I laid in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where my mother had sent me and I gave birth to my daughter — alone. Giving birth is a hard thing to do as an adult, so imagine being just 10 years old. I didn’t even understand the process of what was happening with my own body. It was devastating.

"And then when authorities started investigating the situation, I was forced to marry my rapist to cover up my own rape. The age of marriage in Florida is 18, but if you’re pregnant or have a child, you can be married at any age to a man of any age. So, instead of handcuffing him for what he did, they handcuffed me by putting me, an 11-year-old, in a wedding dress.

"I had six children with him before I finally got a divorce at age 17. And each time I got pregnant, I was taken out of school, starting with being kicked out of school when I was 10 and pregnant. That really sums up my childhood."

https://www.globalcitizen.org/…/child-marriage-bride-surv…/…

This Is What It’s Like to Be a Mom at 10 and Married at 11 in Florida Johnson was forced to marry her rapist to help him evade punishment.globalcitizen.org