Child marriage is very common in many countries across the world. In order to raise awareness, Coby Persin, who’s a Youtuber, went to Times Square to do a social experiment and see how New Yorkers react when they see a child bride.
The video featured the 65-year old groom and his 12-year old bride. The couple posed around Times Square for a mocking wedding photo shoot. People passed by and stared at them with their mouths open. Some people even stopped to ask the girl where her mother is and how old is she. When they realized that the girl is a child bride, some people became viscerally angry.
“This is bullshit,” one man says over the “groom’s” protests that he has the girl’s parents’ permission. “This is not right.” Some physically pull the girl away from him.
Persin explains that he was compelled to make this video addressing such problem as child marriage after realizing how many children get married each and every year.
“I couldn’t imagine my 12-year-old sister getting married to a 65-year-old man,” Persin said.
Although the video is staged, it highlights some points about child marriage that most people don’t know. Some people think that things like child marriage don’t happen in America, but unfortunately, it happens in the U.S and many developed countries too.
In most countries, the minimum age to marry is 18 but judicial approval and parental consent allow a person to be wed under the age of 18.
“Thousands of American children as young as age 10 have been legally married in the U.S., and most to adults with age differences that could have triggered statutory-rape charges, not a marriage license,” wrote Fraidy Reiss in the New York Times.
In developing countries, girls in poor households are becoming brides before they turn 18.
15 million girls- some aged 8-9, are married to much older men each year. 700 million women worldwide were married before they turned 18.
Watch the video:
Read more: 8-Year-Old Yemeni Child Died at Hands of 40-Year-Old Husband on Their Wedding Night