Mikhail Bell
February 13, 2012
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January was National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Each year, the president issues a proclamation that ushers in thirty-one days of heightened anti-trafficking awareness efforts. Christians around the United States have continued to actively support such efforts. One of this year’s brightest moments happened in Washington, DC on January 14.
One expert recently assessed: “Nobody thinks slavery is happening in the United States in their city, their suburb or their small town.” A bluntly entitled documentary, “Sex and Money: A National Search for Human Worth” is a thoughtful and emotive look at sex trafficking in the United States. Director Morgan Perry, who is a Christian, calls viewers to action during a journey filled with the joy, sorrow, and inquiries that dominate the lives of victims every day. The Youth With a Mission alumna was on hand for the January screening of the film at National Community Church in Washington, DC earlier last month.
Running away
Current research suggests that many domestically trafficked minors come from abusive situations and broken homes. Of the tens of thousands who run away each year, “only a quarter to a third” are reported missing. According to Ernie Allen, “Most kids are not running to something. They are running away from something.” Allen is the CEO and President of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. This “new American homeless” provides the largest and most vulnerable source of supply to pimps and traffickers.
“I thought that I was the only 12-year-old,” one survivor divulged. “I was told to lie and say that I was 16 years old.” Small acts, such as a victim lying about her age or having sex with her pimp’s friends, eventually lead to full-fledged sexual exploitation. This is called drift theory, which asserts that each small deed brings a victim one step closer to an entangling cycle of “survival sex.”
At a certain point, resistance can dissipate. “There is a resignation of the female” to continued exploitation, Shared Hope International founder Linda Smith admitted.
According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, America’s federal anti-trafficking law, sexual exploitation involves two important elements. First, trafficking in persons does not require movement but is instead defined by the use of force, fraud, or coercion to keep a person against her or his will for commercial gain. Second, minors cannot be arrested for soliciting sex because they are under the age of 18. Consequently, under law, they do not have the capacity to consent to the violence and manipulation that trafficked persons commonly experience.
Restoration
All at once, sex trafficking involves the destruction of at least three lives. First the pimp, who profits from selling women and young girls as commodities, in some cases is reacting to childhood sexual abuse. “The pimp is a real sick individual but he doesn’t know he’s sick” Derrick, a former pimp, said.
Secondly, the victim loses her freedom of movement, ability to pursue alternative economic opportunities, and is continuously exposed to unparalleled sexual and psychological trauma. Some advocates have aimed to partially correct these ills through the implementation of legal measures such as asset forfeiture of traffickers and restitution of unpaid income to survivors of trafficking.
Third, purchasers of sexual services, opaquely referred to as “Johns,” are likely running from private dissatisfaction in a relationship to a damaged individual held in a brothel or strip club. Events like the recent National Day of Johns Arrests, which nabbed 314 such individuals, clearly indicate that demand for commercial sex offline is massive.
A major driver for the acceptance of commercial sex is America’s burgeoning sex industry. In recent years growth has shifted from seamy magazine subscriptions to the trolling of websites that contain even seedier content. More robust legal responses have arisen to ensure that accountability becomes de rigueur. For example, several states have mandated that “Johns” attend rehabilitative schools to correct distorted views about prostitution and sex trafficking.
Established in 2002, XXXChurch is among several Christian organizations that are attacking what many believe is the root cause of the problem: pornography. The ministry provides accountability software, namely X3 Pure and X3 Watch, that monitors adult website visits and send an alert to a friend of the potential user. Founder Craig Gross warned against ignoring porn addiction: “What you are looking for online” will eventually manifest itself through attempts to purchase sex in-person. Furthermore, the erosion of resistance to one’s recognizing symptoms of pornography addiction explains why “most people don’t get help” until it is too late. The unconventional group attends adult film conventions with the hope of converting adult film actors and educating participants about sex addiction and Jesus. It controversially popularized the slogan “Jesus loves porn stars.”
Help from on high
The growing demand for commercial sex with minors has garnered the attention of America’s attorney generals, as well. In Tennessee alone, one report revealed, 72 percent of the state’s counties recorded “at least one sex-trafficking case” in 2012 involving minors. From 2011-2012, the National Association of Attorneys General, which includes representatives from all fifty states, named human trafficking as its preeminent initiative.
“The only way not to find this problem in any city is simply not to look for it,” Ernie Allen concluded.
Statistics and anecdotes can obfuscate the issue beyond comprehension. However, Morgan Perry drew the battle lines clearly with one question: “When does my personal freedom perpetuate the next person’s slavery?” A series of personal decisions by victims, “Johns,” and concerned Christians will decide where the next chapter of commercial sex goes. Christians and churches need to be alert and proactive in pointing exploiters and victims towards the path that leads to life.
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