#500's

A Young Chieftain, c. 300-600, in Remojadas style (Mexico's Veracruz Gulf Coast, part of the Classic Veracruz culture)

here's the context and a small summary of the legal jargon: today morocco removed their law that said that a rapist can not be prosecuted if he agrees to marry his victim. a similar law exists in lebanon. but did you know that this law does not come from the Arabic culture? nor from Islam? it actually comes from the old french laws! in fact it aimed at protecting the family's ownership over their daughter and punishing someone who would seduce her. it changed over time to become (similarly as in morocco or lebanon) a law that would punish the "seducer" unless he marries the girl.  France only removed this law in 1992, taking effect in 1994. it's really funny in so many ways:  we tend to think it's some law that has always been there and sometimes unconsciously attribute it to our culture. it's not. it's actually one of the darkest gifts of colonialism. the FRENCH! they are so funny when they write about it as some archaic law that proves the perceived backwardness in arab culture, when all i want to tell them is "kel shi bet2oulo byerja3lkon. nanannananaaaa". kudos morocco! and 3a2bel ma we remove all remnants of colonialism, in practice, in law and in minds.