The following related articles are not jokes:

Al Arabiya News Channel, 17 Aug 2008, Saudi girl drinks bleach to escape marriage

A 16-year-old Saudi girl drank a bottle of bleach in an attempt to commit suicide to escape a forced marriage to a 75-year-old man, press reports revealed Sunday.

The girl identified only as, Shaikha, said her father was forcing her to marry the old man so that he could marry his 13-year-old daughter in an exchange deal, Bahrain's Tribune reported.

Shaikha described how her father took her to meet the old man and his 13-year-old in a marriage office where they all had pre-marital tests done, the Tribune quoted the Saudi Gazette as reporting.

Shaikha told the paper how she begged and pleaded not to be forced into marriage but both of the men ignored her pleas.

This cultural phenomenon is not limited to Arabic culture:

Western Resitance, Pakistan: Muslim Child Bride, Aged 9, Seeks Divorce

Yesterday, a nine year old girl who had been forced into a marriage appeared in a family court in Dera Ghazi Khan, in Punjab Province, Pakistan. She filed a petition demanding that her husband and his father be tried under Islamic Law.

The girl, Nusrat, had ben married off as part of a compensation package, known as vani. The family of domestic patriarch Allah Diwaya had been angered by the behaviour of Nusrat's brother, Abdul Shafoor. Her brother's crime was to have had an affair with a female member of Allah Diwaya's family.

Allah Diwaya called a panchayat or "Muslim village council", to settle the issue of the "crime" of Nusrat's brother. The panchayat commanded Nusrut's father to give her away to a son of Allah Diwaya, called Shaukat Hussain, in vani marriage.

Shaukat Hussain then proceeded to sexually abuse her for a month, Nusrat's petition statement claimed. She states that she was forced to undergo a marriage ceremony with Shaukat Hussain, and claims that he later produced marriage documents. These claimed she had been 18 at the time of the wedding. Her "husband" had obtained these documents as the result of a bribe. The imam who conducted their matrimonial rites was named as Maulvi Manzoor Hussain.