Something that bothers me…
I’m on facebook more than I should be most days. To be honest I probably need an intervention. My phone is like a drug that I need to break free of. I’m working on it with the Moment app but it’s a process. My issues with my phone are real but they aren’t as real as the big problems. Lately… well for the past few years (since my daughter was born) there has been a problem that has bothered me a lot.
The problem is Human Trafficking. It’s common. It’s real. It’s worldwide. Not only is it local, but it is next door. It’s everywhere. Human trafficking has become normalized. More than 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked in the U.S. annually. That could be my daughter or my son! How could I not be concerned. A lot of the “Johns” are met in local places… they make the more vulnerable person think they are dating or like they are going to be helpful or supportive.
What bothers me about it? Boys, girls, women, and men are tricked into Human Trafficking every day… all over the world. They are nicely groomed and when they take the bait they are threatened, beaten, raped, tortured, drugged, and killed.
How is it normalized? It’s everywhere. It’s disguised as “Porn culture” or “Jokes”… We’ve all seen them posted by our friends or family. Here are a couple of images that I’ve seen lately on my news feeds. At first glance they look so innocent but lets be honest… they just normalize something sickening (Human Trafficking). We see porn jokes, word porn, food porn, and even weather porn. Ugh. At first I saw it and thought it was kind of funny but the more I saw it and the more I thought about it… the more I realized that it is taking something very ugly and trying to make it normal. Society views sex trafficking as something we ought to combat, yet it sees pornography as simply another venue of entertainment… but they are one in the same. They are so intertwined that one cannot exist without the other any longer. To be honest I’m not sure if they ever really could.
I’m going to be using a lot of links… so be prepared to click.
Pornography comes from the Greek words porne, meaning “prostituted woman” or “prostitution”, and the word graphos, meaning “writings.” If we can begin to comprehend that what is depicted in pornography is not simply sex or sexuality, but commercial sexual exploitation. According to Shared Hope International’s report on the demand for sex trafficking, pornography is the primary gateway to the purchase of humans for commercial sex.
The point is it is everywhere. Seriously. It’s sickening. I don’t care what you do in your personal life to spice things up… unless it hurts others. Human Trafficking hurts! It hurts people is so many ways. I know what you may be thinking: “But the people who do porn choose to do it”!?! Yes I’ve heard that argument a lot. I’m sure some do. However, there are even more who don’t. AND the truth is you will never know if what you are watching is consensual or forced. You will never know what is happening behind the scenes. Without even knowing it you could be supporting human slavery. You, who make light of pornography, could be fueling the abuse of another human and not even knowing it. Don’t believe me? Check out some of these websites…
Here are a few movies to consider watching (You might be able to find them online to steam or at your library):