Tuesday, July 17, 2007

It Takes a Child to Raise a Village

These Bangladeshi children are serious ballers:
Classmates of a 13-year-old Bangladeshi school girl due to enter a forced marriage have united to stop the ceremony going ahead, police say.

Around 50 pupils in the town of Satkhira took to the streets to demand that Habiba Sultana's wedding be called off, they say.

Pupils even submitted a petition to police urging them to take action.
[...]
Police say that she was too frightened to protest.

When she told her friends about the impending wedding, they rallied round and urged her not to go ahead.

Parents of her friends contacted Habiba's father and tried to stop him from going ahead with the wedding.

Initially he ignored their protests, but changed his mind after the police were alerted and small protests were held outside the school.

Correspondents say that the stand of the schoolgirls has created a stir in the town.

You go, girls.

(Thanks to my pal J-Rod for the tip)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally blogged this story before you or Feministing.

But I also stole it from J-Rod. So that limits my brag.

Also, you're too white to say baller.

Jill Rodde said...

I stole it from BBC.

Also, "ballers" was an interesting choice, seeing considering the gender of the children. Are you masculinizing power, or neutralizing language? Hmm...

David Schraub said...

"Ballers" is a reference to basketball, not testicles, J-Rod. I was once referred to as an "iced-out money baller" on a debate ballot (which is why--unbelievable Whiteness notwithstanding--I'm allowed to use the term). What would be an interesting choice would be if I said the girls had "juevos grandes."