Man “marries” 12-year-old as social experiment to raise awareness of child marriage

Child marriage remains a pressing issue today. It is widespread in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Latin America, and Oceania.

To raise awareness about this case, an old man decided to “marry” a 12-year-old girl in February 2016. According to Daily Mail, it was initiated by Coby Persin, a YouTube sensation.

He asked a then-65-year-old man to pose with the girl wearing wedding attire in the middle of Times Square, New York. He brought the two for a supposed photo shoot, which angered the people who saw the ceremony.

Persin uploaded the video of the social experiment on his YouTube channel, where part of the title reads, “Child Marriage Social Experiment.” As of this writing, it has been viewed a whopping amount of 19,219,015 times, 128,000 likes, and around 22,235 comments.

The source cited that when Persin started to direct the two, people stared at them in shock and disbelief. Some even approached the “couple” and a woman asked the girl in the bridal dress, “Where is your mom?”

To play along, the old man answered her and said that her parents “gave” him permission to marry their daughter. The woman, in response, answered, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” in anger.

Another person also confronted the old man and wondered about the whole legality of the incident. He exclaimed, “This is bulls***! This is not right! And I’m sure if we called the cops, you would get locked up!”

The old man replied that they have “security” in case people would confront them right there in the public. A woman also approached the “couple,” albeit in a calmer manner than the two.

She questioned them and then eventually grabbed the girl’s arm as the latter failed to answer her directly. Two men also got hold of the situation and asked the girl, “Are you okay with this?!”

When she didn’t answer just like before, they told the old man, “Oh I don’t think so, sir!”

This lead to a public confrontation that got the public riled up. Some called the old man “a f***ing sick pervert” and told her to “get (his) hands off her.”

The source reported that a similar social experiment was done in Lebanon, where a charity organization decided to dress up a young girl and an old man in wedding suits.

According to the report, people had various reactions, unlike in the experiment done in Times Square. Both experiments aimed to raise concerns about child marriage.

Watch the video of the old man and the then-12-year-old having a “photo shoot” in Times Square:

What do you think about this, readers? Do you know anyone who has been subjected to child marriage? Let us know your thoughts on this issue in the comments section below!