Philobiblon

If, for selfish reasons, you were to choose who NOT to be born as, an Aboriginal woman in Australia – particularly in remote traditional communities – would probably be right up there.

This account is horrific (not for the sensitive) – the following quote is only one of the milder stories:

Rogers also detailed cases in which girls of 10 and 12 were handed over as “promised wives” to old men who took them away, with the permission of their family, and sexually assaulted them.

So what’s being done? A service for victims has been scrapped, and the federal government is suggesting a summit, which the Northern Territory government is planning not to attend.