Child Gypsy Wedding in Russia

[freedomjesusfootball]

Citation = any biology textbook. (The hymen must break at least partially to allow periods to occur.)

The hymen is not a complete membrane in most cases. It has an opening in the middle, kind of like a rubber gasket. In very rare situations, girls can have an imperforate hymen. They present with delayed periods and lower abdominal swelling. I am not sure what biology text you are reading, but you may want to look for a better one.

[Dinorah]

For the Roma, they are both a minority and have a serious social component of grifting, theft and trafficking in Southern Europe. I don't know how to disentangle the which causes what, but the problem is multifaceted. There is serious prejudice against the Roma in Southern Europe (I am speaking only to things I have witnessed with my own eyes, so I don't know the ins and outs of Eastern Europe or the UK), but at the same time, it is hard to ignore the fact that they organize children into pickpocketing teams, have beggars that are paying daily cuts to a "pimp" for the privilege of their particular area, and traffic in illegal prostitutes in places where prostitution is actually LEGAL.

Sure, the key is to educate the children in order to break the power and cut off the money for the men who are at the top of these con and pimping pyramids within Roma communities. They are the ones who are most afraid of Roma children getting an education, and they will do and say anything to frighten the children and the parents who want to educate them, and to get the authorities to throw in the enforcement towel. You feed that into the fact that most children in Southern Europe are raised to stay away from Roma because they told Roma are thieves and kidnappers, and each community gets to stay stagnant and wallow in their individual grievances.

I'm from Southern Europe, and I agree with all of this. The descrimination is dreadful and sometimes violent, at the same time this is an issue where there's only so much cultural relativism you can have. I've heard the argument "having their children beg is part of the ROma's culture" and it makes me roll my eyes. It almost sounds like another form of racism. The Roma should be dealt with like any other person in the countries where they reside, when issues like child marriage or exploitation are at stake.

[Clementine]

I'm from Southern Europe, and I agree with all of this. The descrimination is dreadful and sometimes violent, at the same time this is an issue where there's only so much cultural relativism you can have. I've heard the argument "having their children beg is part of the ROma's culture" and it makes me roll my eyes. It almost sounds like another form of racism. The Roma should be dealt with like any other person in the countries where they reside, when issues like child marriage or exploitation are at stake.

I agree. It is hard to be open, objective, non judgmental and not prejudice against Roma from Eastern Europe when they bring so many bad things with them: begging, stealing, picpocketing, trafficking, child exploitaition, waves of crimes against elderly people, skimming credit cards and ATM machines. I don't know if the Roma who come here are representative of their communities or if we just get the bad apples.

Personal examples from the last week: 1. one brothel with trafficked women exposed in my neighbourhood, run by Roma. 2. Had to scream at a Roma beggar who blocked my way and tried to put his hand in my purse when I was entering my local grocery store. He just grinned and went on to the next person. 3. My 70 year old mother called and was upset. When she went outside to pick up the newspaper at five a clock in the morning, she found two men who "looked Roma" in her garden, sneaking out from behind the tool shed and then ran away when they heard her coming. Now she is scared to go outside when it's dark. She contacted the police, but since the men, whoever they were, were already gone and nothing was missing, they won't do anything.

Sometimes it feels like we're under siege and I get suspicious every time a see a person with non Scandinavian looks. I wasn't like this two years ago and I don't like it.