The Privilege to Love

Let me explain: as a forced marriage survivor and a woman who comes from a South-Asian community and religion, falling in love is a privilege I simply did not have.

I know that some of us don't even think about falling in love or having the conscious autonomy to pick a romantic partner in the context of privilege. For most, it is a given, a choice - a basic freedom.

Forced marriage is not part of religion, but there are conditions you have to comply with in order to satisfy your family and community. Love should, of course, never be limited to certain conditions.

My marriage was engineered for me from a young age. To make matters worse, the marriage was with my direct cousin, someone with whom I shared actual DNA. As a consequence of this, the freedom to fall in love and the luxury of marrying someone in the context of an organic and developing relationship, was taken away from me.

There's millions of women who do not have this privilege. Can you imagine not being able to date? To experience heartache? To fall in love and get married out of free will rather than coercion? These are all valuable life-affirming experiences to have.

Not everyone has this luxury and the fact that there are so many women out there who do not have this choice is why I am asking you - as its founder - to join me and support Universal Truth to make sure more women and men can be afforded this privilege.

Nyla Khan