While child brides are pretty rare in the US and Europe, Plan International has come up with a genius plan to bring awareness to the issue of underage girls being married off, with a blog by Norwegian child-bride-to-be, 12-year-old Thea Bryllupet. On the blog, the pretty blonde prepares for her wedding with the usual cake tasting, dress shopping, etc but also worries about sex with her husband to be, who is 37 years-old. Pictures of models in bridal lingerie appear on her blog, presumably styles she is considering for her wedding night.
Pictures of household appliances she will be expected to learn how to use also appear, alongside selfies showing her at her bedazzled laptop – dressed in dungarees and pink, just like most girls at her age.
She isn’t real though, her blog is just a way to get people in first-world countries to take the issue of child marriage seriously. Millions of underage girls are forced to marry older men (even sometimes old men) every year, but because the weddings are taking place in Africa, India, Mexico and so on, it’s almost as though western society doesn't think of it as sex slavery. Unless, of course, we see it happening to a ‘regular’, European girl.
The concept is effective, and very well illustrated through the lens of this little girl’s blog. Those children in India and Africa may not have blogs, but if they did, you can be sure the fears they'd blog about would be the same as Thea’s.
The hashtag #stopbryllupet has been created to encourage people to voice their support to end child sex slavery. A ‘wedding’ is even due to take place this Saturday, and can be attended via Facebook. Plan International hopes that the public outcry will end the fictional wedding before it has a chance to take place.
One thing is certain:, it’s vile to imagine this little girl marrying a 37-year-old, so Plan International has definitely succeeded in bringing awareness to a very serious problem.
Picture: Facebook
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.