marriage
Not So Many Fish in the Sea
After years of war, economic collapse and mass emigration, Lebanon’s dating pool has shrunk and sectarian pressures remain deeply entrenched. Yet, from niche dating apps to blind dates, young Lebanese are finding new ways to look for love.
Divorced, Desired and Devout
Secret marriages and serial divorce reveal how faith and intimacy are being renegotiated in the rapidly growing cities of Mauritania, one of the world’s few Islamic republics.
South Korea’s ‘Willfully Unmarried’ Movement
South Korea has long had the world’s lowest birth rate — a trend that it is unlikely to reverse. The country’s experience, fueled by increasingly divergent views on marriage and childbirth among women and men, may be a cautionary tale for the United States, where birth rates recently hit an all-time low.
‘A Happy Marriage Begins by Crying’: Kyrgyzstan’s Tradition of Kidnapping and Raping Brides
The future husband rapes the young woman shortly after having kidnapped her (it is estimated that there are 2,000 rapes preceding marriage a year), thus condemning her as his wife, for returning to her family after that would be a deep mark of shame.