South Asian girls' secret weapon against forced marriages

Readers of WWW -- indeed anyone who lives on this planet -- will know that it is not uncommon for immigrants from south Asian countries like India and Pakistan to send their western-born daughters "back home" to marry "a suitable boy", usually against the will of the putative bride. It's a good deal for the girls' families and for the grooms. The families get rid of a daughter without having to pay a dowry, and the new husbands get a free pass to immigrate to the UK, USA or Canada.

Not such a prize for the wives though. The western-raised girls have some peculiar modern notions about love and marriage. They would like to have a say in choosing their husbands. And they would like to live in a modern, western-style "partnership", without having to worry that their "traditionally-minded" husbands will beat them... or worse... for being insufficiently servile, or in the name of "honour".

But how do you escape a forced marriage? What do you do when mummy and daddy tell you, "Get in the car. Ve are taking you to the airport. You vill go back home and marry the one ve have chosen for you"? How do you get away?

Enter Karma Nirvana, a UK-based charity dedicated to putting a stop to forced marriages. They've come up with a secret weapon to help girls being bundled off to the old country. More accurately, they've found a new and clever use for an old tool.

Yes, folks, it's a spoon! What the girl should do, they say, while the parents are backing her trousseau, is stick the spoon [Please rewrite this. Ed.]

OK, she should put the spoon in her panties! Then, when she goes through security, the presence of a metal object in her nether regions will be detected, and she will be taken to a safe space where she will have one last opportunity to disclose that she's being sent home to marry against her will.

Karma Nirvana operations manager Natasha Rattu told Agence France Press, "We've had people [call to say] it's helped them and got them out of a dangerous situation. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do with your family around you, but they won't be aware that you have done it. It's a safe way."

According to AFP, a joint UK Home Office-Foreign Office unit dedicated to preventing forced marriages handled about 1,500 cases in 2012. The most common country linked to the investigations was Pakistan. No surprise there. Other countries included India -- again, no surprise -- Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Somalia, Turkey, and Iraq. No western "Christian" countries were mentioned.