Rebeca

age 20, married at 14 in bangladesh

Rebeca's family did not consider her husband to be a particularly good match for her. But they agreed to the wedding because they were desperately poor, and he was willing to waive the customary dowry requirement.

So at 14, Rebeca was forced to leave school to marry a 39-year-old man who had been married twice before. She did not consent to the marriage and was appalled by the age of
her husband.

Rebeca said that for the first few months she avoided having sex by screaming whenever her husband came near her. But eventually, he had his way—and he infected her with a sexually transmitted disease he contracted while working away from home at his circus job. Rebeca had surgery twice for what she identified as uterine ulcers. She herself did not attribute her physical problems to an STD, but to her marriage at such a young age to an older man.

Asked why she thought her parents had arranged this marriage, she said "What benefit will come from speaking of it now? Now this marriage should be considered as good, and I will not think about whether it is really good or not. What more I can say about this? I have to stay here."