Selling wives sex slaves

Wife selling is the practice of a husband selling his wife and may include the sale of a female by a party outside a marriage. Wife selling has had numerous purposes throughout the practice's history; and the term " wife sale " is not defined in all sources relating to the topic. Sometimes, a wife was sold by a husband to a new husband as a means of divorce, in which case sometimes the wife was able to choose who would be her new husband, provided she chose within a certain time period, and especially if the wife was young and sexually attractive. In some societies, the wife could buy her own way out of a marriage or either spouse could have initiated this form of divorce. Reducing a husband's liability for family support and prenuptial debts was another reason for wife sale.

Bride-buying , also referred to as bride-purchasing , is the industry or trade of purchasing a bride as a form of property. This enables the bride to be resold or repurchased at the buyer's discretion. This practice continues to have a firm foothold in parts of the world such as China , North Korea , Vietnam and Africa. Described as a form of marriage of convenience , the practice is illegal in many countries.

A few weeks ago, Megan Stephens got on a bus in a bustling city centre in the north of England. A man sat across the aisle from her. He was wearing sunglasses and had a moustache. For a horrible moment, she thought she recognised him.

Tahmina, 13, was sold by her sister to a man nearly 30 years her senior. Rescued by an anti-trafficking charity, she is one of the lucky ones — but her story is echoed across India, where hundreds of thousands of women and girls are forced into sexual and domestic slavery. Wed 7 Mar Pul has travelled 2,km from her home in Assam, north-east India , to a small government-run shelter in another state where her daughter is waiting. She had thought she would never see her again.