You should zip your mouth, because you obviously know nothing about those "cultures/religions". Have you ever been through an arranged marriage, or known someone who has? Are you from a culture/religion with arranged marriages? I have, and I am. Listen, idiot: the reason arranged marriages lead to low divorce rates is because THEY CAN'T LEAVE. Either the family prevents the wife (and it's usually the wife) from divorcing, or there are tremendous legal and social obstacles in societies with arranged marriages, or the culture heavily frowns upon divorce. I know, because my mom stayed with my dad for 25 loveless years despite constant beatings, a mistress that my dad had sex with every other day (which even I knew about, as a 11 year old), and absolutely no signs of romance from my dad. "There's always the option of divorce" is either extremely naive or a malicious lie. Before you start spouting nonsense about other "cultures/religions", make sure you know something about them first. As for letting people have their own beliefs/faiths, that's easy to say until there is clear and abundant evidence that those beliefs are harmful. What if I believe that you should be raped? What if I believe all Jews should be murdered? What if I believe vitamins cure cancer, and die a long and painful death because of it? If you had any sympathy at all for others, you would try to correct harmful and outdated beliefs, even if they are deeply held.

Are you telling me that I don't know my own culture? To answer your first question, I haven't been married yet and everyone in my family, close or extended,has been in a arrange marriage. Except 2 or 3 instances, no disrespect there. And all are happy bu the grace of God. And yes, being a Muslim I can say that I am from a culture in which arrange marriages take place. Look, whatever happened between your father and mother, I am really sorry. They/She always had the option of divorce, they divorced after 25 years, right? You can't just lest your frustration out on other people, and go questioning the sanctity of marriage? What your parents were forced into was FORCED marriage not ARRANGE marriage, pointing the difference between them was kinda main point in my original post. As as your last paragraph, I don't if I should laugh or cry. Harmful and outdated beliefs? Who are we to judge. But I would very much like to know about your ethnicity, If you wouldn't mind.

No one deserves that, what happened to you. I can't image what you and your mother are going through.

Lying about violent, outdated cult being peaceful does not make it peaceful. Anyone claiming islam is peaceful should be ashamed of themselves. It would be on the same level as still claiming that letting blood is a legitimate medical procedure. I don't care what cults people create/are in as long as they don't hurt others - which islam does. Doesn't matter how much you cover your eyes, ears and keep repeating the lie.

So your argument basically has nothing to do with arranged marriage. The same of your parents' situation, could be said of millions of "free will" marriages. Don't you think the situation is more ****** up when people CHOOSE to be with each other and end up in your situation? It happens in secular and religious marriages, arranged or not. Now I completely empathise with you, and even though I can't relate to your experience I can certainly imagine the emotional trauma you and your mother suffered at the hands of your father. I also agree that it is good that in a large portion of the world, marriage is not tied down to religion or state, but for you to brand arrange marriages barbaric is pure discrimination.

The point is, it WASN'T even forced; it was free-will plus societal pressure. It's obvious what even a relatively small amount of pressure can do; now imagine being disowned if you refuse a marriage, which often happens with arranged marriages. Yeah, there's a lot of freedom there! Obviously if a marriage is arranged but completely free, and nobody is under the slightest pressure, I can't object against it. But that's pure fiction, because in reality, even "free" arranged marriages come with enormous pressure to accept.

And no, few people end up in this situation when they choose to be with each other. I understand that in some cases, the husband prevents the wife from leaving. But that's not what happened here; both people had every reason to leave, and leaving would have benefited everyone, but they didn't divorce because of cultural norms.