If She Stays Silent, It's Consent — Stephanie Sinclair on Afghan Child Marriage

"Girls, if they're silent when they're being married, that counts as consent... Even if in fear they don't say anything, it's considered consent." It's a detail Stephanie Sinclair shares early in this conversation — one small example of how the architecture of child marriage in Afghanistan works, and how silence itself can be turned into a weapon against the people forced into it. Sinclair is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who first travelled to Afghanistan in 2003. What she witnessed there — including encounters with young women who had set themselves on fire rather than remain in forced marriages — became the foundation for Too Young to Wed, the nonprofit she went on to found. TYTW now works with girls and families across several countries, including Afghanistan and Kenya, combining documentary photography with direct support on the ground. In this conversation with Tahir Shah, Sinclair talks about her enduring love for Afghanistan, how the country and its people first drew her in, and the realities facing girls there today. The Scheherazade Foundation has previously supported TYTW's work, and this conversation continues that relationship. https://tooyoungtowed.org/main/index Azada Women, a project of The Scheherazade Foundation, funds mobile internet connections for women inside Afghanistan — one woman, one hundred dollars, one year online. Support the campaign: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/azada...