Internet filmmakers wanted to see who would respond if an abusive boyfriend began attacking his pregnant girlfriend in a public setting.
Earlier this month, the group Trollstation posted a video on Facebook showing actors Nathan Brown and Amina Maz, who was not really pregnant, posing as a pregnant couple who were arguing on a busy London street, according to The Daily Mail.
Playing the boyfriend, Brown began verbally attacking his girlfriend, played by Maz, and their unborn baby as people walked by them in a clothing store and later outside a restaurant. The verbal attacks escalated into violence as Brown grabbed Maz and then punched her in the stomach and knocked her to the ground. It was all an act, but it was supposed to appear real.
Other than a store manager asking Brown to leave, most people walked by the couple without saying a word. A group of people finally responded when Brown began physically attacking Maz.
According to the report:
At this point, a group of men and women finally ask Nathan to leave his victim alone, before helping her up off the floor and ushering her inside.
The pair then confess that they are simply taking part in a ‘social experiment’ and insist that it is ‘not real’.
However one stranger seems so disturbed by the scene, she bursts into tears.
Amina, 23, from London, told FEMAIL: ‘I was quite shocked that people didn’t intervene until the punch. I couldn’t believe they were seeing an aggressor attacking a pregnant woman and not doing anything about it.
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‘They obviously didn’t want to put themselves in harm’s way.’
… Amina defended their decision to make the video, insisting they wanted to ‘raise awareness’ of domestic violence.
‘These are real issues,’ she told FEMAIL. ‘They happen every day. My message to people out there would be, if you see something like this happening, please intervene.’
After posting the video, the online group did face some backlash on Facebook. Some viewers said the group went too far with its experiment when it showed the man punching his pregnant woman, according to the report.
Unfortunately, the video exposed a situation that is a reality for too many women and their babies.
Domestic violence against pregnant women and their unborn babies is startlingly high. One in six women is first abused during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Several studies also have linked domestic violence to abortion. In these cases, some women were forced or pressured by partners into having abortions, while others believed abortion would help them escape abuse.
In a 2011 study in the Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, one woman told researchers: “So when I found out I was pregnant he was like … oh go get an abortion, I don’t want no baby now and threatening me and he was trying to get [X] to come and beat me up, he was telling me he was going to stab me and slice up my face and kick the baby out of my stomach and like … it was really scary.”
