The story of Thea – the 12 year old set to marry a 37 year old this weekend

Thea is a 12 year old girl from Denmark – and this Saturday, the One Direction fan will marry a 37 year old called Geir, in an arranged marriage her mother informed her of just one month ago:

 

Her blog (English translation through Google Translate here) has apparently received half a million visits in the run-up to the big day (Buzzsumo tells us the homepage has been shared a couple of thousand times – but suspiciously few times on Twitter). In 30 or so photo-laden blogs over the last month, Thea has let us into her thoughts as the wedding day approached. The blogs tackle issues such as being forced to move away from home with Geir to sex with him on the wedding night.

Except… there will be no wedding night.

Thea’s story is actually part of a brilliant campaign by children’s development charity Plan International aimed at highlighting the 39,000 children every day that are forced into marriage.

Given the obvious and admirable effort Plan went to, it’s a shame an English translation option wasn’t added to the blog, something I feel confident would have widened the potential for coverage and, therefore, impact. I do realise that would have affected the blog’s authenticity before the reveal, however.

Source: i

 

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