Social Experiment on Child Marriage Reactions

You will always be the love of my life.

You can't marry a young girl.

That's f***ed up.

Is there a police officer around here?

Oh, I'm already about to break his neck.

That was crazy. I did not know how to react to that.

I condone it. Child marriage? Yes.

Child marriage in the Middle East is still a very real problem.

Afghanistan's Taliban just passed a law that formally recognizes it.

So we staged a social experiment to see how the public reacts to a child's bride.

You will always be the love of my life.

What is wrong?

Your parents gave her their blessings.

Oh my God. What the f***? F*** you.

That's illegal.

This is perfectly normal in our culture.

You should know that by now.

Stop. Stop photography.

Is she okay? It's my wife.

So, basically, you look scared. Are you okay?

She's definitely fine. We're now married.

I hear that about you talking to her.

Is there anything you would like me to do?

You're in America. That's kind of weird.

We got her parents' blessings.

Does anybody know her parents? No.

So she's not okay. She's my wife now.

Okay. What? Oh my God.

Is there a police officer around here?

Blink twice. I'll call 911 right now.

Okay. I need to go intervene.

Hi, guys. My name is Natalie. This is an actress.

We're actually here today conducting a social experiment.

What was your first reaction?

This is wrong. Oh my God. I

hope it's not a marriage.

I'm already about to break his neck.

I'm literally, like, tears. Like, that was crazy.

I did not know how to react to that.

Her face is just so sad, so I'm so nervous.

My heart almost came through my mouth.

If this was real, I don't know how I would sleep tonight.

Unfortunately, girls as young as her are being married off every single day.

For example, in Iran, it's legal.

Girls as young as 10.

It breaks my heart.

It makes me very sad and angry.

I don't agree. No matter where it is, I don't think it's right.

She's not consenting. She's not of age.

Even if it's in another country.

I'm Muslim, so I get it. But I don't agree with it at all.

I condone it. He should marry her, yes.

You condone this?

Child marriage? Yes.

Unfortunately, in many of these countries, these young girls don't have anyone to advocate for them.

They want to make this country evil.

It's extremism that does this to young girls.

It doesn't do this now. That's not true.

This is happening in many Islamic countries around the world today.

Stop it all over the world.

How are you going to stop it now?

Just because it's not being stopped currently, that means you think it's okay?

It's not okay. I'm saying it makes sense.

You know, there's certain people who still say this isn't happening anymore, but it is.

What's the kind of message you would want to send to these girls?

Just let them know that there's people here that are against it.

People need to be brave enough to come here and make a change and stop that kind of thing from happening.

You're worth a lot more.

When it's far away, most people can't act and do anything.

But if it's in front of you, you can probably intervene and see how much you can help.

Thankfully, there's people like you to try to stop this from happening right here.

So thank you for intervening.

No problem. Thank you.

Good luck to you, sweetheart.

Even though this horrifying act is still practiced around the world,

it was refreshing to see Americans stand firmly against it and make sure that little girl felt seen.