you raise valid points. from the POV of the family, maybe they saw no other options to make sure their children survived.

One thing. In Islam, the Prophet, Mohammad is considered the ideal man. He married his wife Aisha when she was 6 years old and he was 50; he did not consummate the marriage until 3 years later, when she was 9 and he was 53. This is used to justify, for some Muslims, old men marrying little girls.

To be fair, the world was a different place in the 7th century. In Europe, noble girls could be married as young as 9, but did not consummate until after menstruation. In India, Gandhi was 13 when he got married to a 12 year old. In ancient Israel, after her bat mitzvah at age 14 a girl could be married, and often the groom would be quite a bit older because he needed to be financially secure before he could marry.

I don't think any of this is good, BTW. But it was the reality for many cultures and time periods. Women had few rights and were considered property.

Despite intellectually knowing this is part of their culture, it still broke my heart to see that small girl fighting against being taken away by that old man.

Also, there are health consequences when little girls are raped by grown men. I've done some research on it, and it's horrific.