Bride kidnapping, also known as bridenapping, marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman russian bride bad idea wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping has been practiced around the world and throughout history.
In most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime rather than a valid form of marriage. Some types of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. Some cultures today maintain symbolic bride kidnapping ritual as part of traditions surrounding a wedding, in a nod to the practice of bride kidnapping which may have figured in that culture’s history. Benjaminites seize wives from Shiloh in this 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld. They were not enough women available for marriage after the high losses in the Battle at Gibeah.
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 marriage and illegitimate births. In some modern 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. 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.
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.
In three African countries, bride kidnapping often takes the form of abduction followed by rape. 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. 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.
