VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1362694656|CONTENT|This was a load of sentimental tosh.  Why are the religious always so unhappy about letting people make up their own minds about their relationships, sexuality, future partners, contraception and clothing?  Why does Anne assume that parents will always be informed, intelligent and farsighted enough to pick the right partner for their children, even if they think they are acting in their best interests?  If parents choose the marriage partners of their grown-up children this suggests they think they are no more than extensions of themselves and not autonomous individuals.  Parents who really want the best for their children educate them to think for themselves and then give them the freedom to choose and learn by their own mistakes.

It is easy enough to romanticise the cultural practices of others when you are not obliged to take part in those practices yourself, but I wonder if Anne would be quite so indulgent about them if she had been required to have an arranged marriage with a much older man who beat and brutalised her.  This is a very common experience amongst women from ethnic minorities.  The reality is so often very different from what the apologists for arranged marriages would have us believe.
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