Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice throughout history and around the world in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping still occurs in countries spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and parts of Africa, and among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, and the Romani in Europe. In most countries, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime, rather than a valid form of marriage. Some versions of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. The term is sometimes used to include not only abductions, but also elopements, in which a couple runs away together and seeks the consent of their parents later; these may be referred to as non-consensual and consensual abductions respectively. However, even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax, particularly in Kyrgyzstan, and Chechnya.

Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former refers to the abduction of one woman by one man (and his friends and relatives), and is still a widespread practice, whereas the latter refers to the large scale abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war. (See also war rape)

Some modern cultures maintain a symbolic kidnapping of the bride by the groom as part of the ritual and traditions surrounding a wedding, in a nod to the practice of bride kidnapping which may have figured in that culture's history. According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of marriage by capture, based on the practice of the husband going into hiding with his wife to avoid reprisals from her relatives, with the intention that the woman would be pregnant by the end of the month.

Background and rationale

Though the motivations behind bride kidnapping vary by region, the cultures with traditions of marriage by abduction are generally patriarchal with a strong social stigma on sex or pregnancy outside of marriage and illegitimate births. In some cases, the couple collude together to elope under the guise of a bride kidnapping, presenting their parents with a fait accompli. In most cases, however, the men who resort to capturing a wife are often of lower social status, because of poverty, disease, poor character or criminality. They are sometimes deterred from legitimately seeking a wife because of the payment the woman's family expects, the bride price (not to be confused with a dowry, paid by the woman's family).

In agricultural and patriarchal societies, where bride kidnapping is most common, children work for their family. A woman leaves her birth family, geographically and economically, when she marries, becoming instead a member of the groom's family. (See patrilocality for an anthropological explanation.) Due to this loss of labor, the women's families do not want their daughters to marry young, and demand economic compensation (the aforementioned bride price) when they do leave them. This conflicts with the interests of men, who want to marry early, as marriage means an increase in social status, and the interests of the groom's family, who will gain another pair of hands for the family farm, business or home. Depending on the legal system under which she lives, the consent of the woman may not be a factor in judging the validity of the marriage.

In addition to the issue of forced marriage, bride kidnapping may have other negative effects on the young women and their society. For example, fear of kidnap is cited as a reason for the lower participation of girls in the education system.

The mechanism of marriage by abduction varies by location. This article surveys the phenomenon by region, drawing on common cultural factors for patterns, but noting country-level distinctions.

Africa

In three African countries, bride kidnapping often takes the form of abduction followed by rape.

Rwanda

Bride-kidnapping is prevalent in areas of Rwanda. Often the abductor kidnaps the woman from her household or follows her outside and abducts her. He and his companions may then rape the woman to ensure that she submits to the marriage. The family of the woman either then feels obliged to consent to the union, or is forced to when the kidnapper impregnates her, as pregnant women are not seen as eligible for marriage. The marriage is confirmed with a ceremony that follows the abduction by several days. In such ceremonies, the abductor asks his bride's parents to forgive him for abducting their daughter. The man may offer a cow, money, or other goods as restitution to his bride's family.

Bride-kidnap marriages in Rwanda often lead to poor outcomes. Human rights workers report that one third of men who abduct their wives abandon them, leaving the wife without support and impaired in finding a future marriage. Additionally, with the growing frequency of bride-kidnapping, some men choose not to solemnize their marriage at all, keeping their "bride" as a concubine. Domestic violence is also common and is not illegal.

Bride kidnapping is not specifically outlawed in Rwanda, though violent abductions are punishable as rape. According to a criminal justice official, bride kidnappers are virtually never tried in court: "'When we hear about abduction, we hunt down the kidnappers and arrest them and sometimes the husband, too. But we're forced to let them all go several days later,' says an official at the criminal investigation department in Nyagatare, the capital of Umutara." Women's rights groups have attempted to reverse the tradition by conducting awareness raising campaigns and by promoting gender equity, but the progress has been limited so far.

Ethiopia

In parts of Ethiopia, a man working in co-ordination with his friends may kidnap a girl or woman, sometimes using a horse to ease the escape. The abductor will then hide his intended bride and rape her until she becomes pregnant. As the father of the woman's child, the man can claim her as his wife. Subsequently, the kidnapper may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage. Girls as young as eleven years old are reported to have been kidnapped for the purpose of marriage. Though Ethiopia criminalized such abductions and raised the marriageable age to 18 in 2004, this law has not been well implemented.

The bride of the forced marriage may suffer from both the physical consequences of early sexual activity and pregnancy, and the early end to her education. Abductions of schoolgirls still occur in Oromiya, for example. Women and girls who are kidnapped may also be exposed to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

Kenya

Forced marriages continue to be a problem for young girls in Kenya. The United States Department of State reports that children and young teenaged girls (aged ten and up) are sometimes married to men two decades or more their seniors.

Marriage by abduction used to be, and to some extent still is, a customary practice for the Kisii ethnic group. In their practice, the abductor kidnaps the woman forcibly and rapes her in an attempt to impregnate her. The "bride" is then coerced through the stigma of pregnancy and rape to marry her abductor. Though most common in the late 19th century through the 1960s, such marriage abductions still occur occasionally.

Central Asia

In Central Asia, bride kidnapping exists in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan. Though origin of the tradition in the region is disputed, the rate of nonconsensual bride kidnappings appears to be increasing in several countries throughout Central Asia as the political and economic climate changes.

Kyrgyzstan

Despite its illegality, in many primarily rural areas, bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu (to take and flee), is an accepted and common way of taking a wife. Studies by researcher Russell Kleinbach have found that approximately half of all Kyrgyz marriages include bride kidnapping; of those kidnappings, two thirds are non-consensual.

In one model of bride kidnapping present in Kyrgyzstan, the young man decides he wishes to marry and asks his parents to pick him out a suitable bride, or is told by his parents that it is time he settled down and that they have found someone of the right background and attributes. (In this sense, it may be similar to an arranged marriage, although the arranging is all on one side.) The prospective groom and his male relatives or friends or both abduct the girl (in the old nomadic days, on horseback; now often by car) and take her to the family home. Once there, the man's relatives may attempt to convince the woman to accept the marriage, and to place a white wedding scarf (jooluk) on her head to symbolize her agreement. They may do this by pointing out the advantages of the union, such as the wealth of their smallholding, to show her what she would gain by joining their family. Families may use force or threaten to curse the woman if she leaves, an effective threat in a superstitious country. Some families will keep the girl hostage for several days to break her will. Others will let her go if she remains defiant; she may, for example, refuse to sit down or to eat, as a sign that she is refusing the proffered hospitality. During this period, the groom typically does not see the bride until she has agreed to marry or at least has agreed to stay. The kidnapped woman's family may also become involved, either urging the woman to stay (particularly if the marriage is believed socially acceptable or advantageous for the prospective bride and her family), or opposing the marriage on various grounds and helping to liberate the woman.

In other models of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan and other areas of Central Asia, the woman may be a complete stranger to the man prior to the abduction. Sometimes the groom and his family, rather than selecting a particular young woman to kidnap, decide on a household; that way they can still kidnap one of the sisters if the woman they desire is not home . As in other societies, often the men who resort to bride kidnapping are socially undesirable for a variety of reasons; they may be more likely to be violent, have a criminal history, or to be substance abusers.

The bride kidnapping process sometimes includes rape. Even when sex does not take place, once a woman has been kept overnight, even for a single night, her virginity is put in doubt. With her honor disgraced, she will have very few other options for marriage. Thus, after one night of capture, the woman is culturally compelled to marry the man. Such immense social stigma is attached to a refusal to marry after a kidnap that the kidnapped woman usually feels that she has no choice but to agree, and some of those who refuse even commit suicide after the kidnapping .

The matter is somewhat confused by the local use of the term "bride kidnap" to reflect practices along a continuum, from forcible abduction and rape (and then, almost unavoidably, marriage), to something akin to an elopement arranged between the two young people, to which both sets of parents have to consent after the fact.

Although the practice is illegal in Kyrgyzstan, bride kidnappers are rarely prosecuted. This reluctance to enforce the code is in part caused by the pluralistic legal system in Kyrgyszstan where many villages are de facto ruled by councils of elders and aqsaqal courts following customary law, away from the eyes of the state legal system. Aqsaqal courts, tasked with adjudicating family law, property and torts, often fail to take bride kidnapping seriously. In many cases, aqsaqal members are invited to the kidnapped bride's wedding and encourages the family of the bride to accept the marriage.

The history of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan is under dispute. Russian and later USSR colonizing powers made the ancient practice of the nomads illegal, and so with the fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent liberation of the Central Asian nations, many have revived old customs as a way of asserting cultural identity. Rejecting a kidnapping is often culturally unacceptable for women, and perceived as a rejection of the Kyrgyz cultural identity. The practice is also associated with asserting masculinity. Recent studies challenge the claims that bride kidnapping used to be prevalent. According to Kyrgyz historians, and Fulbright scholar Russell Kleinbach, whereas kidnappings were rare until Soviet times, the bride kidnapping tradition has dramatically increased in the 20th century. The rise in bride kidnappings may be connected with difficulty in paying the required bride price (kalym).

According to the United States Embassy, two American women were bride-kidnapped in rural Kyrgyzstan in 2007.

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, bride kidnapping (alyp qashu) is divided into non-consensual and consensual abductions, kelisimsiz alyp qashu ("to take and run without agreement") and kelissimmen alyp qashu ("to take and run with agreement"), respectively. Though some kidnappers are motivated by the wish to avoid a bride price or the expense of hosting wedding celebrations or a feast to celebrate the girl leaving home, other would-be husbands fear the woman's refusal, or that the woman will be kidnapped by another suitor first. Generally, in nonconsensual kidnappings, the abductor uses either deception (such as offering a ride home) or force (such as grabbing the woman, or using a sack to restrain her) to coerce the woman to come with him. Once at the man's house, one of his female relatives offers the woman a kerchief (oromal) that signals the bride's consent to the marriage. Though in consensual kidnappings, the woman may agree with little hesitation to wear the kerchief, in non-consensual abductions, the woman may resist the kerchief for days. Next, the abductor's family generally asks the "bride" to write a letter to her family, explaining that she had been taken of her own free will. As with the kerchief, the woman may resist this step adamantly. Subsequently, the "groom" and his family generally issues an official apology to the bride's family, including a letter and a delegation from the groom's household. At this time, the groom's family may present a small sum to replace the bride-price. Though some apology delegations are met cordially, others are greeted with anger and violence. Following the apology delegation, the bride's family may send a delegation of "pursuers" (qughysnshy) either to retrieve the bride or to verify her condition and honor the marriage.

Uzbekistan

In Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region in Uzbekistan, nearly one fifth of all marriages are conducted by bride kidnapping. Activist groups in the region tie an increase in kidnappings to economic instability. Whereas weddings can be prohibitively expensive, kidnappings avoid both the cost of the ceremony and any bride price. In Karakalpakstan, the bride kidnapping sometimes originates out of a dating relationship and, at other times, happens as an abduction by multiple people.

The Caucasus

Bride kidnapping is an increasing trend in the countries and regions of the Caucasus, both in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the South and in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia in the North. The traditions in the Caucasus, though appearing in distinct cultures, may have emerged during Ottoman rule. In the Caucasian versions of bride-kidnapping, the kidnap victim's family may play a role in attempting to convince the woman to stay with her abductor after the kidnapping, because of the shame inherent in the presumed consummation of the "marriage."

Georgia

In Georgia, activists estimate that hundreds of women are kidnapped and forced to marry each year. In a typical Georgian model of bride kidnapping, the abductor, often accompanied by friends, will accost the woman, and coerce her through deception or force to enter a car. Once in the car, the victim is taken to a remote area or the man's home. These kidnappings sometimes include rape, and generally result in strong stigma to the female victim. Women who have been victims of bride kidnapping are often regarded with shame; the victim's relatives may view it as a disgrace if the woman returns home after a kidnapping. Human Rights Watch reports that prosecutors often refuse to bring charges against the kidnappers, urging the kidnap victim to reconcile with her aggressor. This failure to investigate and prosecute abductions is consistent with a systematic reluctance of the police in Georgia to enforce laws against domestic and sexual violence against women.

Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, both marriage by capture (kiz kachirdmak) and elopement (goshulop gachmak) are relatively common practices. In the Azeri kidnap custom, a young woman is taken to the home of the abductor's parents through either deceit or force. There, she may be raped. Regardless of whether a rape occurs or not, the woman is generally regarded as impure by her relatives, and is therefore forced to marry her abductor. Despite a 2005 Azeri law that criminalized bride kidnapping, the practice places women in extremely vulnerable social circumstances, in a country where spousal abuse is rampant and recourse to law enforcement for domestic matters is impossible. In Azerbaijan, women abducted by bride kidnapping sometimes become slaves of the family who kidnap them.

Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia

The Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia regions in the Northern Caucasus (in Russia) have also witnessed an increase in bride kidnappings since the fall of the Soviet Union. As in other countries, kidnappers sometimes seize acquaintances to be brides and other times take strangers. Under Russian law, though a kidnapper who refuses to release his bride could be sentenced to eight to ten years, a kidnapper will not be prosecuted if he releases the victim or marries her with her consent. Chechnya and Ingushetia, other North Caucasian neighbors of Dagestan and Georgia, also have bride kidnapping in their cultures. As in the other regions, authorities often fail to respond to the kidnappings. In Chechnya, the police failure to respond to bridal kidnappings is compounded by a prevalence of abductions in the region. Several such kidnappings have been captured on video.

East Asia

Hmong culture

Marriage by abduction also occurs in traditional Hmong culture, in which it is known as zij poj niam. As in other cultures, bride kidnapping is generally a joint effort between the would-be groom and his friends and family. Generally, the abductor takes the woman while she is alone. The abductor then sends a message to the kidnap victim's family, informing them of the abduction and the abductor's intent to marry their daughter. If the victim's family manage to find the woman and insist on her return, they might be able to free her from the obligation to marry the man. However, if they fail to find the woman, the kidnap victim is forced to marry the man. The abductor still has to pay a bride price for the woman, generally an increased amount because of the kidnapping. Because of this increased cost (and the general unpleasantness of abduction), kidnapping is usually only a practice reserved for a man with an otherwise blemished chance of securing a bride, because of criminal background, illness or poverty.

Occasionally, members of the Hmong ethnic group have engaged in bride kidnapping in the United States. In some cases, the defendant has been allowed to plead a cultural defense to justify his abduction. This defense has sometimes been successful. In 1985, Kong Moua, a Hmong man, kidnapped and raped a woman from a Californian college. He later claimed that this was an act of zij poj niam and was allowed to plead to false imprisonment only, instead of kidnapping and rape. The judge in this case considered cultural testimony as an explanation of the man's crime.

China

Until the 1940s, marriage by abduction, known as qiangqin, occurred in regions of China. According to one scholar, marriage by abduction was sometimes a groom's answer to avoid paying a bride price. In other cases, the scholar argues, it was a collusive act between the bride's parents and the groom to circumvent the bride's consent. Ethnographer Anne McLaren found that qiangpin, though illegal in imperial China, was common in rural areas, and often became a local "institution" that could be carefully planned and undertaken in a public context.

According to McLaren, in one form of a typical qiangqin, the abductor would arrive at a woman's house flanked by around twenty men. While the friends carried the woman away, the "groom" would use scissors to try to cut off the woman's pants. The woman, struggling with ensuring her dignity, would be unable to adequately fight off her abductors. The victim would then be taken to the groom's house, where the marriage would be consummated.

Chinese scholars theorize that this practice of marriage by abduction became the inspiration for a form of institutionalized public expression for women: the bridal lament. In imperial China, a new bride performed a two to three day public song, including chanting and sobbing, that listed her woes and complaints. The bridal lament would be witnessed by members of her family and the local community.

Bride kidnapping still occurs in areas of China. In many cases, the women are kidnapped and sold to men in poorer regions of China, or as far abroad as Mongolia. Reports say that buying a kidnapped bride is nearly one tenth of the price of hosting a traditional wedding. Non-governmental organizations tie this trend of abducting brides to China's one-child policy, and the consequent gender imbalance as more male children are born than female children.

The Americas

Tzeltal community, Mexico

Among the Tzeltal community, a Mayan tribe in Chiapas, Mexico, bride kidnapping has been a recurring method of securing a wife. The Tzeltal people are an indigenous, agricultural tribe that is organized patriarchally. Premarital contact between the sexes is discouraged; unmarried women are supposed to avoid speaking with men outside of their families. As with other societies, the grooms that engage in bride kidnapping have generally been the less socially desirable mates.

In the Tzeltal tradition, a girl is kidnapped by the groom, possibly in concert with his friends. She is generally taken to the mountains and raped. The abductor and his future bride often then stay with a relative until the bride's father's anger has reportedly subsided. At that point, the abductor will return to the bride's house to negotiate a bride-price, bringing with him the bride and traditional gifts such as rum.

Europe

Roma (Gypsy) communities

Bride kidnapping is a traditional Romani practice. In the Romani culture, girls as young as twelve years old may be kidnapped for marriage to teenaged boys. As the Roma population lives throughout Europe, this practice has been seen on multiple occasions in Ireland, England, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The kidnapping has been theorized as a way to avoid a bride price. The tradition's normalization of kidnapping puts young women at higher risk of becoming victims of human trafficking.

Catholic law

In Catholic canon law, the impediment of raptus specifically prohibits marriage between a woman abducted with the intent to force her to marry, and her abductor, as long as the woman remains in the abductor's power. According to the second provision of the law, should the woman decide to accept the abductor as a husband after she is safe, she will be allowed to marry him. The canon defines raptus as a "violent" abduction, accompanied by physical violence or threats, or fraud or deceit. The Council of Trent insisted that the abduction in raptus must be for the purpose of marriage to count as an impediment to marriage.

In history

Mediterranean

Marriage by capture was practiced in ancient cultures throughout the Mediterranean area. It is represented in mythology and history by the tribe of Benjamin in the Bible; by the Greek hero Paris stealing the beautiful Helen of Troy from her husband Menelaus, thus triggering the Trojan War; and by The Rape of the Sabine Women by Romulus, the founder of Rome

In 326 A.D., the Emperor Constantine issued an edict prohibiting marriage by abduction. The law made kidnapping a public offense; even the kidnapped bride could be punished if she later consented to a marriage with her abductor. According to historian Judith Evans-Grubbs, spurned suitors sometimes kidnapped their intended brides as a method of restoring honor. The suitor, in coordination with his friends, generally abducted his bride while she was out of her house in the course of her daily chores. The bride would then be secreted outside the town or village. Though the kidnapped woman was sometimes raped in the course of the abduction, the stain on her honor from a presumptive consummation of the marriage was sufficient to damage her marital prospects irreversibly. Sometimes, the "abduction" masked an elopement.

Italy

The custom of fuitina was widespread in Sicily and southern Italy. In theory and in some cases it was an agreed elopment between two youngsters; in practice it was often a forcible kidnapping and rape, followed by a so-called "rehabilitating marriage" (matrimonio riparatore). In 1965 this custom was brought to national attention by the case of Franca Viola, a 17-year-old abducted and raped by a local small-time criminal, with the assistance of a dozen of his friends. When she was returned to her family after a week, she refused to marry her abductor, contrary to local expectation. Her family courageously backed her up, and suffered severe intimidation for their efforts; the kidnappers were arrested and the main perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The exposure of this "archaic and intransigent system of values and behavioural mores" caused great national debate. In 1968, Franca married her childhood sweetheart, with whom she would later have three children. Conveying clear messages of solidarity, Giuseppe Saragat, then president of Italy, sent the couple a gift on their wedding day, and soon afterwards, Pope Paul VI granted them a private audience. A 1970 film, La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife) by Damiano Damiani and starring Ornella Muti, is based on the case. Viola never capitalised on her fame and status as a feminist icon, preferring to live a quiet life in Alcamo with her family.

Slavic tribes

East Slavic tribes, predecessor tribes to the Russian state, practiced bride kidnapping in the eleventh century. The traditions were documented by Russian monk Nestor. According to his Chronicles, the Drevlian tribe captured wives non-consensually, whereas the Radimich, Viatich, and Severian tribes "captured" their wives after having come to an agreement about marriage with them. The clergy's increase in influence may have helped the custom to abate.

Marriage by capture occurred among the South Slavs until the beginning of the 1800s. Common in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the custom was known as otmitza. The practice was mentioned in a statute in the Politza, the 1605 Croatian legal code. According to leading intellectual and Serbian folk-chronicler Vuk Karadzic, a man would dress for "battle" before capturing a woman. Physical force was a frequent element of these kidnappings.

Bride kidnapping was also a custom in Bulgaria. With the consent of his parents and the aid of his friends, the abductor would accost his bride and take her to a barn away from the home, as superstition held that pre-marital intercourse might bring bad luck to the house. Whether or not the man raped his bride, the abduction would shame the girl and force her to stay with her kidnapper to keep her reputation. As in other cultures, sometimes couples would elope by staging false kidnappings to secure the parents' consent.

Turkana of East Africa

The Turkana tribe in Kenya also practiced marriage by abduction. In this culture, bridal kidnapping (akomari) occurred before any formal attempts to arrange a marriage with a bride's family. According to one scholar, a successful bridal kidnapping raised the abductor's reputation in his community, and allowed him to negotiate a lower bride price with his wife's family. Should an attempted abductor fail to seize his bride, he was bound to pay a bride price to the woman's family, provide additional gifts and payments to the family, and to have an arranged marriage (akota).

In film

Features

Bride capture has been reflected in feature films from many cultures, sometimes humorously, sometimes as social commentary.

Bride kidnapping is depicted as a frontier solution in the 1954 Hollywood musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The 1960 Hong Kong film Qiangpin (The Bride Hunter) portrays the custom in the format of an all-female Shaoxing opera comedy, in which Xia Meng plays a gender-bending role as a man masquerading as a woman. Bride kidnapping is displayed somewhat humorously in Pedro Almodovar's 1990 Spanish hit ¡Átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!), starring Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril. It is the underlying theme behind the 2005 Korean movie The Bow.

A 1970 Italian film, La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife) by Damiano Damiani and starring Ornella Muti, is based on the story of Franca Viola, described above. Before the national debate caused by the Viola case, a 1964 satire directed by Pietro Germi, Seduced and Abandoned (Sedotta e abbandonata), treated the Sicilian custom as a dark comedy.

Some Russian films and literature depict bride kidnapping in the Caucasus. In The Girl Prisoner of the Caucasus, a bride kidnapping occurs in an unidentified Caucasian country. There is a Soviet comedy entitled Kidnapping, Caucasian Style ( ).

In the 2006 comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the eponymous fictional reporter Borat, played by British comedian/satirist Sacha Baron Cohen, attempts to kidnap Canadian actress Pamela Anderson in order to take her as his wife. He brings a "wedding sack" which he has made for the occasion, suggesting that such kidnappings are a tradition in his parody of Kazakhstan.

Documentaries

In 2005, a documentary film entitled Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan made by Petr Lom was presented at the UNAFF 2005 festival, and subsequently on PBS and Investigation Discovery (ID) in the United States. The film met controversy in Kyrgyzstan because of ethical concerns about the filming of real kidnappings.

In literature

A Sherlock Holmes story features bride kidnapping. In "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist", a woman is employed as a governess by a man who knows that she will soon inherit a fortune. A confederate follows her along a deserted road, captures her, and conveys her to a defrocked priest for a marriage ceremony.

In television

In the BBC radio and television comedy series The League of Gentlemen, the character Papa Lazarou comes to the fictional town of Royston Vasey under the guise of a peg-seller. He seeks to kidnap women by entering their homes, talking gibberish to them (Gippog) and persuading them to hand over their wedding rings. He 'names' them all 'Dave', and, after obtaining their rings, proclaims; "you're my wife now".

See also

• Bride price
• Bride burning
• Exchange of women
• History of rape
• Honor killing
• Shivaree
• Shotgun wedding, a sudden wedding, often because the bride is pregnant
• Stockholm syndrome, when a captive grows to identify with their captor

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• Armstrong, Jane, Rage or Romance?, Globe and Mail (Canada), April 26, 2008.

• BBC, Ethiopia: Revenge of the Abducted Bride, June 18, 1999.

• Kokhodze, Gulo & Tamuna Uchidze, Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, June 15, 2006.

• Isayev, Ruslan, In Chechnya, Attempts to Eradicate Bride Abduction, Prague Watchdog, Nov. 16, 2007.

• Kiryashova, Sabina, Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, November 17, 2005.

• McDonald, Henry, Gardai Hunt Gang Accused of Seizing Roma Child Bride, Guardian, U.K., Sept. 3, 2007.

• NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, Kidnapping Custom Makes a Comeback in Georgia, May 14, 2006.

• Rakhimdinova, Aijan, Kyrgyz Bride Price Controversy, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Dec. 22, 2005.

• Rodriguez, Alex, Kidnapping a Bride Practice Embraced in Kyrgyzstan, Augusta Chronicle, July 24, 2005.

• Ruremesha, Jean, RIGHTS-RWANDA: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women's Groups, Inter Press Service, Oct. 7, 2003.

• Smith, Craig S., Abduction, Often Violent, a Kyrgyz Wedding Rite, N.Y. Times, Apr. 30, 2005.

Dissertations

• Moua, Teng, The Hmong Culture: Kinship, Marriage & Family Systems, University of Wisconsin–Stout (May 2003)

References

1. See, e.g., William Shepard Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs and of Rites, Ceremonies, Observances, and Miscellaneous Antiquities, (J.B. Lippincott Co., 1897), p. 654; John Lubbock, The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man: Mental and Social Condition of Savages, (Appleton, 1882), p. 122. Curtis Pesmen & Setiawan Djody, Your First Year of Marriage (Simon and Schuster, 1995) p. 37. Compare with Edward Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (Allerton Book Co., 1922), p. 277 (refuting the link between honeymoon and marriage by capture).
2. See Brian Stross, Tzeltal Marriage by Capture, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 3, Kidnapping and Elopement as Alternative Systems of Marriage (Special Issue) (Jul., 1974), pp. 328-346 (describing Tzeltal culture as patriarchal with a few opportunities for "pre-marital cross-sex interaction")[hereinafter Stross, Tzeltal Marriage by Capture]; Sabina Kiryashova, Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, November 17, 2005, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258105&apc_state=henpwp (discussing the shame brought on Azeri kidnap victims who spend a night outside of the house); Gulo Kokhodze & Tamuna Uchidze, Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=321627&apc_state=henh (discussing the Georgian case, where "great social stigma attaches to the suspicion of lost virginity.". Compare with Barbara Ayres, Bride Theft and Raiding for Wives in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 3, Kidnapping and Elopement as Alternative Systems of Marriage (Special Issue) (Jul., 1974), pp. 245. ("There is no relationship between bride theft and status distinctions, bride price, or attitudes toward premarital virginity. The absence of strong associations in these areas suggests the need for a new hypothesis.".)
3. See Stross, Tzeltal Marriage by Capture (Tzeltal culture); George Scott, The Migrants Without Mountains: The Sociocultural Adjustment Among the Lao Hmong Refugees In San Diego (Ann Arbor, MI: A Bell And Howell Company, 1986), pp. 82-85 (Hmong culture); Alex Rodriguez, Kidnapping a Bride Practice Embraced in Kyrgyzstan, Augusta Chronicle, July 24, 2005 (Kyrgyz culture);
4. See Stross, Tzeltal Marriage by Capture, pp. 342-343; Craig S. Smith, Abduction, Often Violent, a Kyrgyz Wedding Rite, N.Y. Times, April 30, 2005.
5. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kazakhstan, Vol. 8, No. 9, Sept. 2006, p. 117 ("Families in Kyrgyzstan generally exploit the labor of new brides as a way of adding to the resources and productivity of the household with little cost to the family.Families in Kyrgyzstan generally exploit the labor of new brides as a way of adding to the resources and productivity of the household with little cost to the family."); Sabina Kiryashova, Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Nov. 17, 2005, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258105&apc_state=henpwpr ("Even more sinister are reports of kidnapped brides being taken abroad or used as slaves at home. “There have been cases when girls were abducted and used as housekeepers,” said Saida Gojamanli from the Human Rights and Legislation Protection Bureau.")
6. Save the Children, Learning from Children, Families and Communities to Increase Girls' Participation in Primary School
7. Julius Adekunle, Culture and Customs of Rwanda, Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, p. 106
8. Tom Streissguth, Rwanda in Pictures, p. 39; Jean Ruremesha, RIGHTS-RWANDA: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women's Groups, Inter Press Service, Oct. 7, 2003.
9. Ruremesha, RIGHTS-RWANDA: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women's Groups.
10. Streissguth, p. 39.
11. U.S. Department of State, Rwanda: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2007, March 11, 2008
12. BBC, Ethiopia: Revenge of the Abducted Bride, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/371944.stm, June 18, 1999.
13. BBC, Ethiopia: Revenge of the Abducted Bride.
14. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ETHIOPIA: Surviving forced marriage, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69993
15. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ETHIOPIA: Surviving forced marriage, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69993; State Department Human Rights Report -- Ethiopia, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100481.htm
16. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ETHIOPIA: Surviving forced marriage
17. LEARNING FROM CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES TO INCREASE GIRLS’ PARTICIPATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOL Save the Children USA report
18. United States State Department, Kenya: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007, March 11, 2008, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100487.htm
19. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Kenya: Information on Kisii marriage customs and whether women are, at times, abducted and coerced into marriage, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,463af2212,469f2e452,45f147f811,0.html
20. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence
21. Werner, Cynthia, “Women, marriage, and the nation-state: the rise of nonconsensual bride kidnapping in post-Soviet Kazakhstan,” in The Transformation of Central Asia. Pauline Jones Luong, ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004, pp. 59–89
22. United Nations Population Fund, Bride Kidnapping Fact Sheet, www.unfpa.org/16days/documents/pl_bridenapping_factsheet.doc
23. Uzbekistan: No love lost in Karakalpak bride thefts, http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-64561
24. SeeRuss Kleinbach & Lilly Salimjanova, Kyz ala kachuu and adat: Non-consensual bride kidnapping and tradition in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian Survey, (June 2007) 26:2, 217 - 233; Handrahan, Lori, Hunting for Women, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 6:2,(2004) pp. 207 — 233
25. See Handrahan, p. 208 (Kyrgyzstan); Kleinbach & Salimjanova, p. 218 (Kyrgyzstan); Werner, pp. 82-84.
26. Bride kidnapping is criminalized in Article 155 of the Criminal code. See Russ Kleinbach & Lilly Salimjanova, Kyz ala kachuu and adat: Non-consensual bride kidnapping and tradition in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian Survey, (June 2007) 26:2, 217 - 233, available at http://faculty.philau.edu/kleinbachr/2007_study.htm.
27. United States State Department, Kyrgyz Republic: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007, March 11, 2008, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100616.htm
28. Kleinbach & Salimjanova, Kyz ala kachuu and adat: Non-consensual bride kidnapping and tradition in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian Survey, (June 2007) 26:2, 217 - 233.
29. PBS, Kyrgyzstan: The Kidnapped Bride, http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan/thestory.html; Handrahan, Lori, Hunting for Women, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 6:2,(2004) pp. 207 — 233, at 209; Alex Rodriguez, Kidnapping a Bride Practice Embraced in Kyrgyzstan, Augusta Chronicle, July 24, 2005.
30. Craig S. Smith, Abduction, Often Violent, a Kyrgyz Wedding Rite, N.Y. Times, April 30, 2005.
31. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan, p. 86, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/kyrgyzstan0906/kyrgyzstan0906webwcover.pdf
32. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan, p. 91, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/kyrgyzstan0906/kyrgyzstan0906webwcover.pdf; Craig S. Smith, Abduction, Often Violent, a Kyrgyz Wedding Rite, N.Y. Times, April 30, 2005.
33. Luong, Pauline Jones. The transformation of Central Asia : states and societies from Soviet rule to independence. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004.
34. See Rodriguez, Kidnapping a Bride Practice Embraced in Kyrgyzstan.
35. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan
36. Burulai Pusurmankulova, Bride Kidnapping: Benign Custom Or Savage Tradition?, June 15, 2004, Voice Of Freedom Initiative Of The Human Rights Working Group, [1]
37. See Judith Beyer, Kyrgyz Aksakal Courts: Pluralistic Accounts of History, Journal of Legal Pluralism, 2006; Handrahan, pp. 212-213.
38. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence, p. 106
39. Human Rights Watch, Reconciled to Violence: State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan, pp. 87-88, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/kyrgyzstan0906/kyrgyzstan0906webwcover.pdf; Handrahan, pp. 212-213.
40. Hanrahan, p. 222.
41. International Human Rights Law and Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav012400.shtml; Handrahan, p. 222.
42. Russ Kleinbach & Lilly Salimjanova, Kyz ala kachuu and adat: Non-consensual bride kidnapping and tradition in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian Survey, (June 2007) 26:2, 217 - 233, at 230, available at http://faculty.philau.edu/kleinbachr/2007_study.htm.
43. Aijan Rakhimdinova, Kyrgyz Bride Price Controversy, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Dec. 22, 2005, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258820&apc_state=henpwpr
44. Warden Message, United States Embassy, Kyrgyzstan, http://bishkek.usembassy.gov/december_10_2007.html
45. Cynthia Werner, "The Rise of Nonconsensual Bride Kidnapping in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan", in The Transformation of Central Asia: States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence (Cornell University Press, 2004: Pauline Jones Luong, ed.), p. 70.
46. Werner, pp. 71-72.
47. Werner, pp. 72-73.
48. Werner, pp. 73-74.
49. Werner, pp. 74-75.
50. Werner, pp. 75-76.
51. Werner, p. 76.
52. Alena Aminova, Uzbekistan: No Love Lost in Karakalpak Bride Thefts, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, June 14, 2004, available at http://faculty.philau.edu/kleinbachr/uzbekistan_kidnappping.htm
53. See Aminova
54. Alena Aminova, Only a Few Are Aware That Bride Kidnapping is A Criminal Offense, CaucAsia: Traditions and Gender (international coalition of gender journalists), vol. 5 (2005), available at http://www.wcg.org.ge/gmc/Kavkazia2005_05E.pdf.
55. Conciliation Resources, After the War: Armenia,http://www.c-r.org/resources/photogalleries/radio_diaries/photogallery_radio_diaries.php
56. NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, Kidnapping Custom Makes a Comeback in Georgia, May 14, 2006,
57. Bride kidnapping tradition on the rise in North Caucasus, http://en.rian.ru/society/20071016/84145392.html.
58. Bride kidnapping tradition on the rise in North Caucasus, http://en.rian.ru/society/20071016/84145392.html
59. See Sabina Kiryashova, Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258105&apc_state=henpwp; Gulo Kokhodze & Tamuna Uchidze, Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=321627&apc_state=henh
60. Gulo Kokhodze & Tamuna Uchidze, Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, June 15, 2006,
61. Gulo Kokhodze & Tamuna Uchidze, Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia
62. Violence Against Women in Georgia, http://www.omct.org/pdf/VAW/2006/CEDAW_36th/CEDAW36_VAW_in_Georgia_en.pdf
63. Bride Theft Rampant in Southern Georgia, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=321627&apc_state=henh
64. Georgia: Human Rights Developments, http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/europe9.html
65. United States State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Georgia, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78813.htm; Amnesty Int’l, Georgia—Thousands Suffering in Silence: Violence Against Women in the Family, AI Index: EUR 56/009/2006, Sept. 2006, at 11.
66. Farideh Heyat, Azeri Women in Transition: Women in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan (Routledge 2002), p. 63.
67. Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258105&apc_state=henpwpr
68. U.S. State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006, Azerbaijan, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78801.htm
69. Sabina Kiryashova, Azeri Bride Kidnappers Risk Heavy Sentences, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=wpr&s=f&o=258105&apc_state=henpwp
70. Dagestan Reports Sudden Surge in Bride-Snatching, http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20071018/55283495.html
71. See Estonian Review: August 2-8, 2006, Estonian National Kidnapped In Russia's Dagestan, Aug. 7, 2006, http://www.estemb.se/estonian_review/aid-606 (noting the bride kidnapping of a 19-year-old Estonian woman in Dagestan).
72. Ruslan Isayev, In Chechnya, Attempts to Eradicate Bride Abduction, Prague Watchdog, Nov. 16, 2007, http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000015-000006-000024&lang=1
73. C.J. Chivers, Missing Chechen Was Secret Bride of Terror Leader, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/world/europe/27chechnya.html
74. Jane Armstrong, Rage or Romance?, Globe and Mail (Canada), April 26, 2008, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080424.wbrides04262/BNStory/Front/home/?pageRequested=1
75. U.S. State Department, Russia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2006, March 6, 2007, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78835.htm
76. http://uk.truveo.com/Bride-kidnapping-Chechnya/id/1427864049
77. United Nations Population Fund, Bride Kidnapping Fact Sheet, www.unfpa.org/16days/documents/pl_bridenapping_factsheet.doc; Nilda Rimonte, A Question of Culture: Cultural Approval of Violence against Women in the Pacific-Asian Community and the Cultural Defense, Stanford Law Review, Vol. 43, No. 6 (Jul., 1991), pp. 1311-1326 [hereinafter Rimonte, A Question of Culture].
78. Teng Moua, The Hmong Culture: Kinship, Marriage & Family Systems (2003), http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2003/2003mouat.pdf
79. George Scott, The Migrants Without Mountains: The Sociocultural Adjustment Among the Lao Hmong Refugees In San Diego (Ann Arbor, MI: A Bell And Howell Company, 1986), pp. 82-85.
80. There is significant dissent in the Hmong-American community about the acceptability of bride capture. See Madhavi Sunder, Piercing the Veil, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 112, No. 6 (Apr., 2003), pp. 1399-1472, at 1470.
81. Jennifer Ann Yang, Marriage By Capture in the Hmong Culture: The Legal Issue of Cultural Rights Versus Women's Rights, Law and Society Review at UCSB, Vol. 3, pp. 38-49 (2004); Rimonte, A Question of Culture, p. 1311; Pat Schneider, Police to Meet with Asians on Cultural Issues, Capital Times (Madison, WI), April 13, 2000.
82. Rimonte, A Question of Culture, p. 1311.
83. See generally Anne E. McLaren, "Marriage by Abduction in Twentieth Century China", Modern Asian Studies, vol. 4, pp. 953-984.
84. Hill Gates, China's Motor: A Thousand Years of Capitalism, p. 131, cited in Anne E. McLaren, "Marriage by Abduction in Twentieth Century China", Modern Asian Studies, vol. 4, p. 955.
85. McLaren, p. 955.
86. Anne E. McLaren, "Marriage by Abduction in Twentieth Century China", Modern Asian Studies, vol. 4, p. 957
87. Anne E. McLaren, "Marriage by Abduction in Twentieth Century China", Modern Asian Studies, vol. 4, pp. 959-960
88. Anne McLaren & Chen Qinjian, "The Oral and Ritual Culture of Chinese Women: Bridal Lamentations of Nanhui", Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 59, No. 2 (2000), pp. 205-238, at 208.
89. McLaren & Qinjian, p. 208
90. Insight News TV, China, Mongolia: Kidnapped Wives, http://www.insightnewstv.com/d08/
91. United States State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007 (China), http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100518.htm
92. See generally Stross, 'Tzeltal Marriage by Capture, pp. 328-346.
93. Stross, pp. 334-335.
94. Stross, pp. 340-341 (describing the grooms in marriage by capture as "poor . . . ugly . . . interested in girls who did not reciprocate their interest").
95. Stross, p. 340.
96. See Henry McDonald, Gardai hunt gang accused of seizing Roma child bride, Sept. 3, 2007, Guardian, U.K., http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/23/ireland
97. MacDonald, Gardai hunt gang accused of seizing Roma child bride; OSCE, Building the Capacity of Roma Communities to Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings, 2007, p. 17 http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/06/25035_892_en.pdf; Alexey Pamporov, Roma/Gypsy population in Bulgaria as a challenge for the policy relevance, http://epc2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=60261.
98. See Pamporov, p. 4.
99. See MacDonald, Gardai hunt gang accused of seizing Roma child bride; OSCE, Building the Capacity of Roma Communities to Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings.
100. Henry Amans Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law, Published by Benziger brothers, 1918, pp. 160-161
101. Ayrinhac, pp. 160-161.
102. [2] The Book of Judges in the Bible
103. See Homer, The Iliad.
104. See Livy, The Rape of the Sabine Women, in Mary R. Lefkowitz & Maureen B. Fant, Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation, Published by JHU Press, 2005, pp. 176-178.
105. Judith Evans-Grubbs, Abduction Marriage in Antiquity: A Law of Constantine (CTh IX. 24. I) and Its Social Context, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 79, (1989), pp. 59-83, at 59, 65.
106. Evans-Grubbs, pp. 60-62.
107. Evans-Grubbs, p. 62, 76.
108. "Franca Viola" by Deirdre Pirro in The Florentine (issue no. 78/2008 / April 30, 2008) [3]
109. M. Kowalewsky, "Marriage among the Early Slavs", Folklore, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Dec., 1890), pp. 463-480 [hereinafter Kowalewsky].
110. Kowalewsky, p. 476.
111. Kowalewsky, pp. 475-476.
112. Kowalewsky, pp. 475-476; Maxime Kovalesky, Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russia, London: David, Nutt & Strand (1891), pp. 23-24.
113. Kovalesky, pp. 23-24.
114. Mercia MacDermott, Bulgarian Folk Customs (1998), p. 132.
115. E. D. Emley, "The Turkana of Kolosia District", The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 57, (Jan. - Jun., 1927), pp. 157-201.
116. Grant, Bruce. "Good Russian Prisoner: Naturalizing Violence in the Caucasus Mountains" in Cultural Anthropology. Vol. 20, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), p. 54.
117. Kazakhstani comedian offers lesson in laughter, Darwin Palmerston Sun (Australia), November 29, 2006.
118. See Mary Wiltenburg, "Backstory: The Most Unwanted Man in Kazhakhstan", Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 30, 2005.
119. http://www.unaff.org/2005/f_bride.html
120. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan/thestory.html
121. For Peter Lom's view of the ethical controversy and the perception of his filming in Kyrgyzstan, see http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan/lom.html

External links

• The Kidnapped Bride: A documentary by Petr Lom
• Dedicated to Understanding Ala Kachuu (bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan) and Preventing Non-Consensual Marriage
• Spotlight on: Violence Against Girls in Ethiopia -- Marriage by Abduction and Rape
• Rights-Rwanda: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women's Groups
• Article on the kidnap of a young girl for marriage in Kyrgyzstan