The age of no consent

When are you old enough to have control over your own life? Obviously, if you're female and 23 years old that's not old enough and you can never be completely free, as indicated by this article in today's Arab Times.

Missing girl held: Police have 'arrested' a 23-year-old bedoun girl, on whom a missing persons report had been filed by her brother, reports Al-Watan daily. At the time of the arrest the girl was in the company of another bedoun girl and three youths at a camp in Julaia. During interrogation, the girl said one of the youths helped her to escape from her home and had sex with her several times. The 'lovers' have been referred to the Public Prosecution.

I'm not condoning what she did, ie. sex out of wedlock, etc., and obviosuly there is more to the story, but the facts here are that in the Gulf, if you're an unmarried woman, forget any notion of having control over your own life - if you bring shame on your family then they can always resort to getting you punished one way or another. Basic human rights issue here: if you are a 23-year old female in Kuwait, you don't have any freedom or the right to make your own mistakes.

That's a real mindset change from where, and when, I grew up... I left school and was pretty much independent at 16, even if I did choose to board at home for a few years to save money, to then leave home proper and attend University in another city. At 16, my wife (to be) spent a year away from her home as an exchange student... a different world.