[Handsome Creepy Eel]

No, I haven't turned feminist or white knight. I just read an interesting article and something struck me. First, the article:

Daily Mail Wrote:

An eight-year-old child bride has died in Yemen of internal bleeding sustained during her wedding night after being forced to marry a man five times her age, activists have claimed.
The girl, identified only as Rawan, died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Activists are now calling for the groom, who is believed to be around 40 years old, and her family to be arrested so they can face justice in the courts.
Angry Man, a blogger, posted that the man was 'an animal who deserved to be punished severely for his crime'.
'All those who supported such a crime should also be punished,' he added.
Another blogger, called Omar, wrote: 'Rawan’s family members are not humans. They do not deserve to have children.'
But another blogger, called 'Sad', appeared more sympathetic to the custom. He wrote: 'Her family and her groom could have waited for some time before having this marriage,' Sad said.
'It was not fair at all and the marriage should not have happened even if some tribes believe that it is a good custom.'

Despite numerous campaigns from many of the world's largest charities and NGOs, the issue of child brides remains a global concern.
There are currently some 57.5 million child brides across the world, 40 per cent of which married in India.
Forty-six per cent of women in India were married before the age of 18, according to the National Family Health Survey-3.
Meanwhile, in Africa, 42 per cent of girls were married before turning 18 compared to 29 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.
But the number of child brides is estimated to rise to 140 million by 2020 if current trends continue, 18.5 million of which will be under 15 years old, analysts warn.
Statistics show that girls living in poor households are almost twice as likely to marry before 18 than girls in higher income households.
And girls younger than 15 are also five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has attracted the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.
Yemen's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to 'bride-prices' that can be hundreds of dollars for their daughters.
More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report in 2010 by the Social Affairs Ministry.
Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.
In September 2010, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organisation said.
Yemen once set 15 as the minimum age for marriage, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter marries.

I don't know why the article mentions India's "under 18" custom in such a negative context, as I haven't heard of pre-teen children marrying there like in Yemen. Still, assuming that this 'activist report' is true, this is obviously an appalling issue that should be solved somehow. And again, it has only been recorded in the few extremely patriarchal societies in the world (unlike ours, which hasn't been a patriarchy for at least 100 years, and it was quite moderate even before that so feminists have no reason for drawing any parallels).

What I wanted to ask is: how do customs like this mesh with evolution? For example, from an evolutionary and biological point of view, it is obvious why men want to marry virgins. But why would men want to marry 8 year olds? That seems entirely self-defeating. Moral issues aside, a man who does that will not be able to have children for at least 5 more years (and probably more), and runs a high risk of just killing or maiming the poor girl and thus having wasted the resources he paid as a bride price. A man who married a virgin at 15 or 18 would be far more successful in reproduction.

How come evolutionary pressures have not weeded out these self-defeating customs? Even if I were some kind of uber-powerful patriarch, I can't see how marrying pre-teens could ever seem beneficial to me.

[Samseau]

Quote:

What I wanted to ask is: how do customs like this mesh with evolution? For example, from an evolutionary and biological point of view, it is obvious why men want to marry virgins. But why would men want to marry 8 year olds? That seems entirely self-defeating. Moral issues aside, a man who does that will not be able to have children for at least 5 more years (and probably more), and runs a high risk of just killing or maiming the poor girl and thus having wasted the resources he paid as a bride price. A man who married a virgin at 15 or 18 would be far more successful in reproduction.

The answer to your question is contained in the article:

Quote:

Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.

This tribal custom is the result of a long tradition. The only reason the custom remains is because it must work. Thus it is almost certainly true that sexing a girl from the age of 10-11 will probably make her into a loyal and obedient wife who will not stray. It is a very young age and will have major psychological impact.