Worse than Weinstein — exploitation of our girls

The flood of disclosures by victims of sexual harassment sparked by the Harvey Weinstein case shows that even the most successful, wealthy and revered women in the United States struggle to speak up about harassment and exploitation.

There is a lesson in this for Florida. Systematic abuse and exploitation is happening here and the victims are young girls, without the wealth, power and platforms of Hollywood stars to speak up.

Via a legal loophole, thousands of young girls are being married off in this state, in many cases to their rapists.

Florida marriage registry data collected by Unchained at Last shows that 16,400 children, some as young as 13, have been married since 2000. This is the second highest incidence of child marriage in the country after Texas. Hundreds of those child marriages began with statutory rape. The data show that often a girl age 15 or younger, who cannot legally consent to sex in Florida, was pregnant or had a baby and then married an adult man. In each of these instances the girls’ rapists were handed a marriage license rather than a prison sentence.

In most cases, this exploitative practice takes place inside families and hidden from public view. The few brave young women who have spoken out about being pushed into marriage as children have shared horror stories. Notably, Sherry Johnson from Tampa tells of being pushed to marry her rapist by her parents when she was only 11 years old and then being trapped in an abusive marriage for many years.

Sherry’s story is not unique. United States and international research shows that underage girls who marry are more likely to be victims of domestic violence and have higher rates of mental illness and poverty than those who marry later.

One of the many worrying aspects of child marriage is that children of any age are immediately “emancipated” from their parents once they are married in Florida. This means that even a 12 or 13-year-old is considered an adult under the law, no longer protected by parents or the Department of Children and Families.

Emancipated or not, these vulnerable girls lose out. In many other U.S. states, a minor can be legally married but is considered too young to be eligible for divorce. This restrictive approach gives new meaning to the idea of “wedlock.” Those children are indeed locked into marriage with no escape. Their divorce rates down the track tell a story of years of misery with 80 percent of teenage marriages ending in divorce.

This week Florida legislators are being asked to consider a series of bills to end child marriage. The crux of their legislative decision is whether it’s acceptable, on any grounds, to permit a child to be placed into wedlock and raped. The answer should be obvious. But, without clear laws making all marriages of people under 18 illegal, this shady and exploitative practice will continue.

As a nation, we’re outraged by the exploitation of women by powerful men. And, as a state we have an opportunity to stand up to those who are as bad, if not worse, than Weinstein. Just because they are not celebrities in Hollywood, we should not ignore those girls here in our own neighborhoods that face exploitation via child marriage.

Our state representatives must close the loopholes which have cemented in legislation the second-class status of girls in our community.