Media Highlights
Unchained works hard to educate the public and policymakers about forced and child marriage in the U.S. through various channels, including presentations, training sessions for key groups, social media and news media. Here are some of Unchained’s favorite media highlights, including television, radio and print stories about Unchained and op-ed articles Unchained’s founder/executive director, Fraidy Reiss, has written.
How Can We End Child Marriage? Don’t Give Underage Girls Spousal Visas.
10/8/2024 – In Ms. Magazine, Fraidy calls on Sen. Dick Durbin to amend or withdraw his federal bill that would contradict, undermine and obstruct the national and global commitment to end child marriage by the end of the decade.
A bride too soon
10/1/2024 – Rotary Magazine profiles Fraidy and Unchained’s work to end forced and child marriage in the U.S. in its October 2024 issue cover story.
Payzee Mahmod, Fraidy Reiss, & Holly Thompson Rehder call for a child marriage ban | GCF NYC 2024
9/28/2024 – Fraidy takes the stage at the 2024 Global Citizen Festival with child marriage activist Payzee Mahmod and Missouri State Senator Holly Thompson Rehder to call for an end to child marriage in the U.S. and around the world.
‘I was handed to a complete stranger’: the survivors fighting to end child marriage in 37 US states – and the people who want to keep it legal
7/9/2024 – The Guardian features stories of two survivors-turned-activists working to end child marriage in the U.S. alongside Unchained, including the challenging opposition they have faced in the process.
Unchained at Last – Ending Child and Forced Marriage with Fraidy Reiss
6/10/2024 – Fraidy joins actress/activist Alyssa Milano on her Sorry Not Sorry podcast to reveal the shocking truth that much of the United States, including California, has no minimum age for marriage and to get into the roots of this issue and the harm it does.
Opinion: California enables abusive child marriage, but Bay Area lawmaker blocks reform effort
5/24/2024 – Fraidy and actress/activist Alyssa Milano refuse to stay silent while California Asm. Ash Kalra blocks the widely popular bill to end child marriage, a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives — so they blast him and the two groups that are pressuring him to block the legislation, American Civil Liberties Union of California and Planned Parenthood of California, in Kalra’s hometown paper, The Mercury News.
Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life
5/14/2024 – New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof gives Unchained and Fraidy a special shout out in his memoir Chasing Hope, recalling how Fraidy’s work to end child marriage in the U.S. brought the issue to his attention, leading him to extensively cover it in his columns.
Ending Child Marriage: Mission Discussion | Global Citizen NOW New York 2024
5/2/2024 – Fraidy illustrates the impacts and prevalence of child marriage in the U.S., as well as what society can do to fix it, at Global Citizen NOW alongside Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, founder of Kakenya’s Dream, Tubi Retta of Girls Opportunity Alliance at the Obama Foundation and child marriage survivor and activist Payzee Mahmod.
Meet the Woman Working to End Child Marriage in the US
3/28/2024 – Global Citizen profiles Fraidy’s work via Unchained to end child marriage across the U.S., and specifically in California.
Protesters urge WA lawmakers to end child marriage
1/19/2024 – The Seattle Times covers Unchained’s first-ever Silent Chain-In, held in Olympia, where the silence sent a loud message: It is time for Washington legislators to pass HB1455 and end child marriage.
At 19, I was forced to marry a stranger and was sexually assaulted every month for 12 years
1/9/2024 – Reading this firsthand account of Fraidy’s forced marriage, forced marital sex and forced parenthood — published in HuffPost — might be painful for you. But please do it anyway, because writing it was even more painful for Fraidy. And the world needs to know. (The piece broke HuffPost records by garnering 600,000 views the first day.)
State and sex-specific trends in the annual incidence of child marriage in the United States since the year 2000
12/2/2023 – Unchained’s research on child marriage in the U.S. is once again published in a peer-reviewed journal, this time in Child Abuse & Neglect. Co-authored with Prof. Alissa Koski and Kaya Van Roost of McGill University, the study shows that child marriage remains legal and happening at an alarming rate in most of the U.S. and that, like in other countries, child marriage here reflects a devaluation of girls.
Child marriage is still legal in California. How could this be?
9/28/2023 – Fraidy authors an op-ed for the Sacramento Bee detailing how child marriage is particularly egregious in California and why ending it is crucial.
Missing: Donyelle Johnson
8/21/2023 – The hosts of the Crime Junkie podcast give Unchained a special mid episode shout-out and sponsorship while discussing the horror of child marriage in the U.S. today.
Connecticut’s child marriage ban was six years in the making: ‘It’s a very different world now in 2023’
8/21/2023 – Ending child marriage in Connecticut took Unchained and its allies more than half a decade, but the victory was worth the work, as CT Insider explains.
The fight to end forced marriage across the U.S. with Fraidy Reiss, Founder/Executive Director at Unchained At Last
8/9/2023 – Fraidy joins the hosts of The Girl and the Gov podcast to explain the difference between a forced and an arranged marriage and to answer why only some states have ended child marriage.
Why child marriage is legal in California — and the unexpected groups fighting to keep it that way
8/3/2023 – The Los Angeles Times breaks down the uniquely challenging legislative battle Unchained faces to end child marriage in California, including surprising opponents.
Michigan governor signs ‘overdue’ laws that aim to end child marriage
7/12/2023 – The Guardian details Michigan’s journey toward ending child marriage, including Unchained’s years of persistent advocacy.
The 19th Explains: Why child marriage is still legal in 80% of U.S. states
7/5/2023 – Nonprofit news outlet The 19th explains that 10 states have passed bans on child marriage and looks at how advocates like Unchained continue to push lawmakers to end the practice.
Child brides: A campaign starts to ban underage marriages in California
6/23/2023 – CalMatters examines the pervasive child marriage problem in California and Unchained’s tireless work to end it through the lens of Unchained’s Sacramento Chain-In and research into the prevalence of child marriage in the state.
Children can still get married in California. These protesters want to change that
6/22/2023 – The Sacramento Bee highlights Unchained’s Sacramento Chain-In to push California lawmakers to introduce and pass a long overdue bill to end all marriage before 18 in the state, without exceptions. (Read a non-paywalled version here.)
Connecticut lawmakers vote to ban child marriages: ‘Even if it happens to one person, that’s huge’
6/2/2023 – Unchained’s emergency Chain-In in front of the Connecticut state house led to immediate action when the senate voted unanimously that same day to pass pending legislation to end child marriage, as Connecticut Insider and Hearst Connecticut Media explain.
A fake reality show trailer shines light on the real issue of US child marriage
3/24/2023 – The Times of Israel showcases “Unseen Housewives,” Unchained’s outrageous, provocative “trailer” about child marriage in the U.S. and dives into its inception and creation as well as Unchained’s continued advocacy to end child marriage in the U.S. that inspired the project.
As advocates push for child marriage bans, some states resist
3/17/2023 – The Washington Post describes Unchained’s uphill battle to end child marriage in the U.S., despite pushback advocates receive from apathetic lawmakers and clueless opponents.
Unseen Housewives
3/15/2023 – In conjunction with healthcare ad agency Area 23, Unchained releases “Unseen Housewives,” its outrageous, provocative “trailer” for a show that must not go on: child marriage in the U.S.
The frontier on consent
1/10/2023 – Population Media Center’s The State of: Women podcast interviews Fraidy about how forced and child marriage intersect with issues of consent and bodily autonomy.
Ending forced and child marriage in the U.S.
9/16/2022 – BBC World Service, the world’s largest broadcaster, interviews Fraidy about her work to end forced and child marriage in the United States and Unchained’s recent legislative victory in Massachusetts. The interview airs on multiple NPR affiliates, including WBUR in Boston. (Link no longer available.)
Gutsy
9/9/2022 – Fraidy is featured in Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s new Apple TV+ docuseries, Gutsy, as one of the “world’s boldest and bravest women” who have made an impact in their community and on the world. Fraidy makes her appearance in the Gutsy Women Are Rebel Hearts episode of Gutsy, which examines her escape from an abusive forced marriage and her relentless advocacy to end forced and child marriage in the United States.
Child marriage in the United States: Prevalence and implications
11/29/2021 – Unchained’s groundbreaking research on the prevalence of child marriage in the United States is published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, in a supplement alongside other research funded by the Gates Foundation about child marriage globally.
These women found creative ways to overcome the barriers in front of them
11/12/2021 – The New York Times features an interview with Fraidy about her work to end forced and child marriage in the United States, one of multiple interviews with women leaders around the world.
Pregnant at 15, married at 16: She’s speaking out to end child marriages
10/15/2021 – Vicky Nguyen interviews Fraidy and child marriage survivor Chloe about our new study of child marriage in the U.S. and how child marriage affects some 300,000 children here at home for Top Story with Tom Llamas on NBC News Now.
A 14-year-old bride, wed to her rapist, playing on a jungle gym
6/19/2021 – Nicholas Kristof writes in the New York Times about our recent study of child marriage in the U.S. and our “heroic work” to end it — which has led so far to five U.S. states banning this “repugnant” practice.
The wedding dress repurposed
6/3/2021 – The New York Times highlights women, including Fraidy, who use wedding dresses in unconventional ways, even to advocate for social justice, as is the case with Unchained’s Chain-In protests against forced and child marriage in the U.S.
Child marriage traps girls in an inescapable legal hell. But it is still legal in 46 US states.
4/11/2021 – Fraidy authors an op-ed for Insider about our new child marriage study, which found nearly 300,000 children were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 — and 60,000 marriages occurred at an age or age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.
‘Trapped’: The American women and girls forced into marriage
12/24/2020 – Al-Jazeera investigates the pervasiveness of forced and child marriage in the U.S. and around the world, including Fraidy’s story and expertise, while also examining how covid-19 has created a “shadow pandemic” of these and other human rights abuses.
I was a child bride: The untold story
10/23/2020 – Journalist Elizabeth Vargas interviews Fraidy about forced and child marriage in the U.S., while four American child marriage survivors share their heartbreaking stories, for this two-hour A&E documentary special now airing on Hulu.
She escaped a forced marriage & now helps others do the same
10/12/2020 – Andy Levine interviews Fraidy for his Second Act Stories podcast, calling her story “among the most inspiring tales” he’s ever featured on his show. Fraidy’s story resonated with listeners, as well, who voted her episode as the series’ best episode of 2020.
Life is in the transitions: Mastering change at any age
7/14/2020 – Author Bruce Feiler features Fraidy’s story among a compilation of life stories from Americans who’ve been through major life changes for Life Is in the Transitions (Penguin Press). The book quickly hits the New York Times bestseller list.
Knots: A forced marriage story
3/4/2020 – Knots, a feature-length documentary film from filmmaker Kate Ryan Brewer, premieres at the Omaha Film Festival and is scheduled to screen at several other film festivals around the world. The film follows three forced marriage survivors in the U.S. — including Fraidy.
Woman
11/13/2019 – Woman, from filmmakers Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand, makes its U.S. debut in New York City. The sweeping documentary is based on interviews with some 2,000 women around the globe, including Fraidy. In a world where women are forced to marry, deprived of an education, forbidden from going outside on their own and subjected to myriad other abuses, the film is a message of love and hope.
The book of gutsy women: Favorite stories of courage and resilience
10/1/2019 – Fraidy is featured in Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s The Book of Gutsy Women (Simon & Schuster), in which they share the stories of the “gutsy women” who have inspired them — women with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions and get the job done.
The Tamron Hall show: Underage marriage
9/29/2019 – Fraidy appears on the Tamron Hall Show on ABC to dissect the pervasive issue of forced and child marriage in the U.S.
I was a child bride: The untold story
4/25/2019 – Journalist Elizabeth Vargas interviews Fraidy about forced and child marriage in the U.S., while four American child marriage survivors share their heartbreaking stories, for this two-hour documentary special on A&E.
Child marriage is still happening in the U.S. & around the world
3/8/2019 – Fraidy and Chelsea Clinton call out legislators and some feminists for their refusal to end child marriage in the U.S. in this joint op-ed article published in Refinery29 on International Women’s Day.
Unchained At Last aims to end child and forced marriages
2/15/2019 – NJ Monthly Magazine profiles Fraidy’s work as a forced marriage survivor-turned-advocate.
Visas are being approved for child brides. A former teen bride wants to change that.
1/20/2019 – Soledad O’Brien of Matter of Fact (airing on 180 stations around the country) talks with Fraidy about a dangerous loophole in U.S. immigration law: It sets no minimum age to petition for a foreign spouse/fiancé(e) or to be the beneficiary of a spousal/fiancé(e) visa. As a result, girls here are forced to marry adult men overseas who want a U.S. visa and a child bride.
Defenders: Fighting for those who need it most
8/31/2018 – Great Big Story features Fraidy as the fifth “defender” in a five-part series about fearless, headstrong, undeterred women fighting for change in the spirit of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Child marriage is legal in 48 states. These women are asking why.
6/23/2018 – The #MeToo movement hasn’t come for child marriage yet. But Unchained has, as Buzzfeed reports.
One down, but 49 states still allow child brides
6/1/2018 – Nicholas Kristof writes a column in the New York Times about child marriage in the U.S. and progress in Unchained’s growing movement to end this human-rights abuse.
Forced-marriage survivor: Forget religious exceptions! Ban child marriages
5/30/2018 – The Star-Ledger publishes an op-ed Fraidy wrote about Asm. Gary Schaer’s move to hold up legislation that would end child marriage in New Jersey. Fraidy details what she endured as a teenage bride when she was forced to marry, and challenges Schaer’s attempts to allow the same abuses to happen to other girls.
Understanding ‘the full extent of America’s child marriage problem’
5/24/2018 – WBUR’s Here & Now (NPR) speaks with Fraidy about progress in the movement to end child marriage in the U.S.
Delaware becomes first state to ban child marriage
5/13/2018 – NowThis airs a video assessing progress in the movement to end child marriage after Delaware becomes the first U.S. state to end it and recognizes Unchained’s leadership in pushing for change.
Nonprofit ‘Unchained At Last’ protests child marriage laws in the U.S.
5/7/2018 – NowThis airs a video of Unchained’s first Chain-In Flash Mob.
America’s forced marriage problem
4/14/2018 – Fraidy gives a powerful TEDx Talk at TEDxFoggyBottom2018. She explains how her own traumatic experience inspired her to found Unchained to help other women and girls in the U.S. to escape forced marriages.
Child marriage isn’t marriage and ‘nearly 18’ isn’t 18 years old
3/22/2018 – Why have legislators abandoned 17-year-old girls? In this op-ed article published by The Hill, Fraidy demands answers from lawmakers who have turned their backs on the girls at highest risk of child marriage.
Survivors of child marriages and forced marriages speak out
3/20/2018 – Fraidy is one of three child and forced marriage survivors to share their traumatic experiences in this video for Condé Nast’s Iris.
Activist Fraidy Reiss on ending forced marriage in America
3/9/2018 – In this video op-ed for NowThis, Fraidy explains how archaic legal loopholes allow children in all 50 U.S. states to be forced to marry and what Unchained is doing to change that.
Drop in worldwide child marriages
3/6/2018 – The rate of child marriage is declining globally, but it will not disappear until we pass legislation around the world, including in the U.S., to end this human rights abuse, as Fraidy tells CBSN.
Child marriage in the USA
2/9/2018 – BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour speaks with Fraidy about the alarming rate of child marriage in the U.S.
‘It put an end to my childhood’: The hidden scandal of US child marriage
2/6/2018 – The Guardian examines child marriage in the U.S., including comments from Fraidy and information about Unchained’s work to end this human-rights abuse.
Five fearless female founders to follow in 2018
12/11/2017 – Forbes names Fraidy one of five women who are tackling some of the world’s “most urgent issues.” The Forbes piece recognizes Fraidy’s fierce leadership in the national movement to end forced and child marriage in the U.S.
Let me tell you what forced marriage in America looks like
11/16/2017 – Thomson Reuters Foundation News publishes an op-ed article Fraidy wrote about her personal story and her work, through Unchained, to end forced and child marriage in the U.S.
Child marriage is happening at an alarming rate across the U.S.
11/16/2017 – CNN publishes an op-ed article Fraidy wrote about the rate of child marriage in the U.S.
Why does the US have so many child brides?
10/23/2017 – BBC shines a spotlight on child marriage in the U.S., including an interview with Fraidy.
Despite progress, child marriage is still legal in all 50 states
7/26/2017 – Fraidy writes an update for Nicholas Kristof‘s blog in the New York Times, showing that many U.S. legislators still cling to child marriage.
Child marriage in America: By the numbers
7/6/2017 – At first, almost no one believed Fraidy Reiss when she said child marriage happens in the United States, reports PBS’ Frontline.
Girls in white dresses
Summer 2017 – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, writing for Ms. Magazine, examines forced child marriage in the U.S. and Unchained’s work to end this human-rights abuse. (Not available online.)
Advocates work to end child marriage in the U.S.
6/20/2017 – NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro of Weekend Edition speaks with Fraidy about Unchained’s work to end child marriage in every U.S. state.
Child brides
6/14/2017 – Full Frontal With Samantha Bee reveals the shocking truth about child marriage in the U.S. and recognizes Unchained’s leadership role in working to end it.
‘It was forced on me’: Child marriage in the U.S.
5/26/2017 – Nicholas Kristof writes a column in the New York Times about child marriage in the United States, including comments from Fraidy and information about her story and her work, through Unchained, to end forced and child marriage in the U.S.
Was Christie’s cruel veto on child marriage bill ignorance or malice?
5/16/2017 – The Star-Ledger publishes an op-ed article Fraidy wrote about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s outrageous conditional veto of the bill that would have ended child marriage in New Jersey.
Why is child marriage legal in all 50 states?
5/7/2017 – Along with a stunning documentary about an activist working to end child marriage in Nepal, CBS News features this interview with Fraidy, who gets emotional when asked about her parents: They shunned her more than a decade ago, when she fled her abusive arranged marriage. Additionally, CBSN posts this web extra with more footage of the interview with Fraidy.
Child brides are a little-known, but very real, problem in America today
3/17/2017 – Fraidy talks about her own traumatic experience in an abusive arranged marriage, and her work to end child marriage across the U.S., on Public Radio International’s The World.
Why does the United States still let 12-year-olds get married?
2/12/2017 – Washington Post publishes Fraidy’s op-ed article about child marriage on the front page of the Sunday Outlook section. The article reveals that nearly a quarter-million children as young as 12 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010, mostly girls wed to adult men. The op-ed is among the five most-read articles on the Post website; it garners nearly a million unique views.
Forced marriage
1/30/2017 – Fraidy and Jasvinder Sanghera of Karma Nirvana (UK) share their surprisingly common personal experiences on BBC’s The Conversation: Both faced a forced marriage as a teen. Both were shunned by their families when they rejected the marriage. Both later founded NGOs to help other women and girls.
Unchained At Last founded by ex-Orthodox Jewish bride aids women and girls escape forced marriages
10/16/2016 – The New York Daily News describes the traumatic events that led Fraidy to found Unchained in 2011 and help other women and girls escaping forced marriages.
Uncovering the problem of forced marriage in the U.S.
9/13/2016 – Fraidy shares her personal story on PBS Newshour, as part of a two-part segment about forced marriage in the U.S.
Fighting to end the international practice of child marriages
2/23/2016 – Child marriage “is legal in the United States and … is happening in the United States,” Fraidy explains in this Al Jazeera America interview.
The child bride next door: Inside America’s forced marriage problem
12/28/2015 – Fraidy explains on NPR’s The Takeaway why child marriage is an urgent problem in the U.S.
America’s child-marriage problem
10/13/2015 – The New York Times publishes Fraidy’s op-ed article shedding light on the U.S.’s dirty little secret: Child marriage, including why and how it happens in the U.S.
You think coerced marriages aren’t a problem for women in the US? Think again
6/21/2015 – Fraidy sits with PRI’s The World to share her story of escaping a forced marriage and going on to help others in the U.S. do the same.
Thousands of women in the U.S. forced into marriage
4/13/2015 – NPR’s All Things Considered looks at forced marriage in the U.S., including an interview with Fraidy.
Woman breaks through chains of forced marriage, and helps others do the same
3/20/2015 – The story of Fraidy, the wounded healer, as told by the New York Times.
The joy of leaving an arranged marriage – and the cost
6/15/2014 – Fraidy and Rachel Martin talk about the dark side of “arranged marriage” for NPR’s Sunday Conversation.
Shedding light on forced marriage in America
2/3/2014 – Fraidy discusses forced marriage in the U.S. with Tom Ashbrook for NPR’s On Point.
How a bride forced to marry became “Unchained At Last”
1/22/2014 – Why Fraidy founded the only organization dedicated to helping women in the U.S. to escape forced marriages, as told by Al Jazeera America.
Orthodox woman’s journey from teen wife to advocate
2/10/2013 – The Jewish Daily Forward explains how Fraidy’s experiences led her to found Unchained.
Forced marriage in America: many women don’t know their rights, fear to claim them
11/19/2012 – Fraidy shares her survivor-turned-advocate story with Thomson Reuters Foundation News.
Showdown on HuffPo Live
8/20/2012 – Fraidy appears on HuffPo Live to take on a group of panelists who are enamored of arranged marriage. (Link no longer available.)
Fraidy Reiss: Breaking the chains of religious tradition
4/25/2012 – The op-ed article Fraidy wrote, described below, was republished April 25 in the Huffington Post. (Link no longer available.)
Breaking the chains of religious tradition
4/24/2012 – The op-ed article Fraidy wrote, described below, was republished in the Washington Post. (Link no longer available.)
Among N.J. Orthodox Jewish women, child custody fears form barrier to freedom
4/15/2012 – Women in the U.S. in 2012 fear, legitimately, that they might lose their children if they lose their religion, as Fraidy explained in this opinion piece published on the front page of the Star-Ledger‘s Perspective section. The Star-Ledger also published an accompanying breakout box about Unchained and a photo of Fraidy that ran with the headline, “Breaking the chains: Shackled by an arranged marriage and religious customs, a New Jersey woman finds her freedom and tries to help others, too.”
Featured on the Jeff Probst show
9/11/2012 – Fraidy is interviewed on the Jeff Probst Show on NBC TV. (Link no longer available.)
Strict divorce rules leave women ‘chained’ to husbands
8/3/2011 – Orthodox Jewish law does not allow a woman to divorce her husband, as explained in this op-ed article by Unchained founder/executive director Fraidy Reiss published in The Jewish Daily Forward.
