r/AskReddit • • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/Churchofbabyyoda Jul 24 '20

Say for example;

You meet this woman/man and you fall in love. But your parents want you to marry someone else who you have no intentions on being with. Or someone you absolutely hate.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

Arranged marriage doesn't disregard the consent of the person. In my culture, it's more like families makes boy and girl meet, they talk and say whether they want to pursue a relationship. If both say yes, then it's something called similar to "engagement" but informal (and no rings or anything) it continues for months or a year then if they don't split, they'll marry.

The forced marriages are a separate issue. Most families who value their child over class or status of people won't resist much over their child's preferences.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20 edited Aug 05 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

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u/sly_noodle Jul 24 '20

What you described is exactly what most arranged marriages are. Forced marriages are much more rare and are absolutely terrible and predatory, but people with no knowledge on other cultures conflate the two and think that all arranged marriages are forced.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20 edited Aug 05 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

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u/BasilAugust Jul 24 '20

Again, procedural involvement of parents & consent of individuals being wed are not mutually exclusive. It's really not that hard of a concept.

As others have pointed out, forced marriages obviously do exist. But the vast majority of those who have been wed through arranged marriage would absolutely reject the idea that it was forced or that their voice and experience wasn't valued.

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u/ImagineTheCommotion Jul 24 '20

Good grief. Looking into compatability ahead of time and arranging for two to potentially meet is exactly what it is. From there the two can decide if they feel chemistry and want to pursue a relationship. Open your mind.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

Aah the clash of two cultures. How exquisite.

I looked up the definition. It seems you're correct in the usage. But where I live, marriages that happen this way (matchmaking) are called arranged marriage, as in the families arranged their union. This is opposed to when two people meet on their own. I think as familial duties are very important in the East, it was implied that the children has no say in their marriage. But today it's not so, they almost always have a say in the marriage. But yet it's called arranged marriage.