Getting Married Young

Lori Alexander, of The Transformed Wife, wondered why today’s Christians don’t support getting married young. In the past, women got married around age 16-25, with the peak and ideal window around age 18-20.

It wasn’t that long ago — the 1950s and 1960s — when the age of first marriage was about the lowest in US history.

Even today, millions of women (about 14% of all married women) marry their high school sweethearts, typically around age 18-20. Commonly, these relationships begin when the girl is 15-17. And, they often involve “dating.”

In Mexico, and elsewhere in Spain and Latin America, a girl was considered ready for courtship at age 15. This was celebrated as the quinceanera.

In the US, “Sweet Sixteen” was a similar celebration, and 16 was a typical age of “debut” among the upper classes.

Apparently, it is OK if a 16yo girl and 17yo boy become a couple and get married a year or two later. But, it is not OK if a 21yo man and a 16yo girl become interested in each other, perhaps not even “dating,” but an actual courtship, and they actually get married. Anything but that! If that same 21yo man gets married to another 21yo man, well, that’s OK, even among some Christians. Every kind of degeneracy is tolerated and celebrated, but not that.

“But,” seems a common complaint, “a girl that age is not mature enough to make a commitment of marriage.” Unless, apparently, she marries a boy of the same age who is equally clueless. Then, it’s OK. But, if she were to court with a man of 25, who is probably more capable of supporting a wife and children, and not so clueless, somehow that’s a problem.

In the 1850 data above, the peak of the curve (the mode) is about 19 for women, and about 24 for men.

The real Laura Ingalls began courting the real Almanzo Wilder when she was 15, and he was 25. They married when she was 18, in the year 1885.

Nevertheless, it is true that women of that age have bad judgement. That is why, in the past, the process was inevitably guided by the parents, who would make an effort to ensure that their daughters met the right sort of men. Of course their permission was required for marriage.

Some of this comes from the Feminist types, who are worried that, once they get tired of “learning about what kind of men they want,” during the ages 15-30, there won’t be any men left to save their hoe ass. Sensible men don’t want to wait around for a decade until their future wives get tired of having sex with other men. They would be looking for younger women without all this sordid history, who have more than a few months left in their prime childbearing years of ages 16-32, who have some remaining pair bonding capability, who haven’t been poisoned by feminist/Leftist filth in college, who aren’t already married to their careers, and who don’t have such a nasty fucking attitude. They might seek out sixteen year olds who they might marry at age 18.

Even today, about 60% of college students are virgins when they enter college. Avoiding premarital sex is not so hard when you only have to avoid it until age 20.