Concubinage

The state of cohabitation without the full sanctions of legal marriage, concubinage is often a form of slavery in which women may be bought and sold. Their status and the legal status of their children is lower than that of the legal wife. Concubines may be bought from brothels or abducted or enticed from foreign countries. Although the historical justification for concubines was to ensure offspring, in practice most concubines were and are acquired for sexual pleasure. Concubinage is particularly the prerogative of the rich.

Concubinage still exists in Asia and in Arabia among the rich, and in Africa both among the rich and in tribal custom.

1. Men are trying to change the format of prostitution, by using a convenient, general term, because they cannot face the reality that concubines are prostitutes.

1. Sexual exploitation of women
2. Polygamy
3. Moral offences in heterosexual pairing
4. Forced marriage

1. Trafficking in women
2. Mixed race marriage
3. Chattel slavery

1. Inadequate national law enforcement
2. Female prostitution
3. Child-marriage

1. Illegitimate children

1. Engaging in chattel slavery
2. Assisting unmarried mothers