The Horrors of Sex Trafficking & The Need For Redeeming Love Jessica McConnell Nazarene Theological Seminary Tom Nees Social Justice Award Submission April 22nd, 2014 ABSTRACT Using historical slavery and abolition as a foundation, I will introduce what is known as modern day slavery, human trafficking and sex trafficking. Focusing on the sex trafficking of women and children, I will present statistical information about the reality of the sex trafficking industry in our world today. I will then take a specific look at the experience of women and children who are held in bondage, and develop a case for the worth of a life and the image of God pertaining specifically to victims of sex trafficking. Following this, I will present information on “Pimps” and “Johns”, and the roles they play in this business. Then, I will present an analysis of God's creation and purpose for sex. To conclude, I will note the three populations that exist outside of sex slavery: the people who know about it and are involved, the people who know about it and ignore it, and the people who are not yet aware that sex slavery exists and is a serious problem in our world today. I am writing this paper to raise awareness about this very real issue in our society and to encourage people to get involved. HISTORICAL SLAVERY AND ABOLITION When an average American hears the word “slavery”, what most often comes to mind is the vision of African Americans picking cotton on a large slave plantation in the southern United States. Visions of the “Underground Railroad”, the words of Abraham Lincoln, or the 13th Amendment might come to mind. One might also remember learning about the injustices, the abolitionist movements, and the Civil War, all things that were pounded into their heads while in grade school. To review, “slavery” has been understood as the ownership of another human being as an object or piece of property, that is an object, that is able to be bought, sold, and used however the owner decides. Africans were sold into slavery by their own people to European traders for luxuries, like guns, and other “advancements”. The African people who were sold into slavery were traded in what is known as the “Triangular Trade” and shipped, living in terrifyingly, despicable conditions, across the ocean on the “Middle Passage” to be sold, like cattle, to work on plantations. The “Triangular Trade” was an industry where Europeans traded manufactured goods for African people, took them to the New World, and sold the African people for raw materials. It was a money‐making business and it was booming! In 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. All the while, enslaved Africans resisted on board the ships, they resisted work on the plantations, and sometimes they established full out rebellions. Knowing that they could not earn their freedom, slaves also tried to escape through the “Underground Railroad”, and travel north. Then, over time, what had begun as small murmurs among common people, some influential politicians, and religious societies, turned to rumblings, and then to voices, which began to speak out boldly against slavery; voices arguing in favor of human equality, human rights, and morally appropriate activities for Christians. Naturally, there were also plenty of arguments that were pro‐slavery.1 Through a series of intense historical events, slavery was eventually abolished in the United States with the passing of the 13th Amendment, which states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”2 This is the slavery that the majority of people know and think of when the topic of slavery is brought up. Rarely, is modern day slavery their first thought. Many people are so 1 The Abolition Project. Information retrieved from <http://abolition.e2bn.org/index.php> on March 5th, 2014.
2 United States Constitution. Accessed at <http://constitutionus.com/> on March 5th, 2014.
ignorant to the existence of modern day slavery that they would not believe it if they did hear. The Trans‐Atlantic Slave Trade seems to be so far behind us that even just the idea of slavery being a reality in our world today sounds impossible. But the truth is that less than 200 years ago many people in the United States did not see a problem with human slavery, and when one recognizes the reality of human trafficking and sex slavery in the modern world, we see that just as many, if not more, U.S. Citizens, who had supported it before, see no problem with it today. CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY: “THE GAME” Having looked at what is traditionally understood as slavery, we turn to a new definition of it, for a more contemporary place in time. The most common form of modern slavery is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is defined by the U.S. Government as “Any commercial sex act induced by force, fraud or coersion.”3 While we look at sex slavery, prostitution, and human trafficking and think that maybe this is something new in our world, the reality is that much of it has been going on for hundreds of years behind closed doors, hidden from plain sight. For many it has become known as the “oldest profession”. In fact, prostitution is a reality that we find in the Bible. In the book of Hosea for example, we see God command Hosea to take Gomer, a prostitute, for his wife and have children with her. Hosea is taught unconditional and redeeming love by God's command to marry her. This is the same love that God has for us. In the book of Joshua, we see Rahab, a prostitute, who helped the Israelites capture Jericho. She is honored for her faith and her actions. The Bible also tells us that prostitution and sexual immorality is sinful, that it destroys marriages, families, lives, as well as the soul and spirit of a person. God created sex for very 3 Inside: Secret America, Episode 3: American Sex Slave, directed by National Geographic (2013; National Geographic Channel, original air date July 24, 2013), TV. specific reasons and for a specific kind of relationship. All too often, we are taught to think that women who sell their bodies for money are doing it because they want to. We think that it is their fault and that if they get beat up, that they deserved it. We think that prostitutes can just leave their “profession” if they want to. We do not understand how they got to be where they are, what they are going through, and why they have so much difficulty in just walking away. We also do not understand that while it is destructive and sinful, that more often than not, they are victims and it is not their fault. We judge them based on what we think they do and fail to love them as God loves them. Sex trafficking has been nicknamed “The Game”.4 It is a reality that holds more fear than perhaps anything else in history. Women and children are either tricked, kidnapped, or abducted, and forced into sex slavery. There are a variety of ways that these things can happen. There are also some women who are lured into the sex industry by a false sense of glamor and prosperity and who quickly find out that it is not what they bargained for and cannot leave.5 Like the Trans‐Atlantic Slave Trade, sex trafficking is a booming business. It is happening across the world and is likely a reality in every country on earth. It is run by men and women, “pimps”, who see it as a lucrative business and do not care about the human lives that are being ruined, rather the money that they can make through these “assets”6. It is supported by the people who desire sex and this particular kind of experience that keep it going, as much as it is by those people who know about sex slavery and choose to do nothing. 4 Ibid.
5 Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, directed by Matthew Dickey and Benjamin Nolot (2011; Exodus Cry), DVD. 6 Inside: Secret America.
“THE GAME”: LOCAL, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL Sex trafficking is the “fastest growing criminal industry in the world”, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.7 It is currently second only to the drug trade. It is expected to pass the drug trade at some point in the near future, because of the realization that “If I sell a kilo of cocaine, I sell it one time. If I sell a woman, I get seven years worth of work minimum. I sell her time again and again and again.”8 When a girl is able to make $200 to do whatever a man wants her to do and service 20 to 30 clients every day, making approximately $2,000 per week, and $24,000 per month, just one slave could make a trafficker thousands, and multiple sex slaves could make them billions.9 Aside from the lucrativeness of this industry, the organization of this crime has been almost perfected. “A lot of money keeps this sick business going” and our culture demands it.10 There are so many people getting paid off in this business. Transportation networks, including: document forgers, smugglers, taxi cab drivers, border officials, and new owners make it so that women and children can be exported and imported all over the world as merchandise sold to the highest bidder. Many national governments are also involved and this interplay of corruption makes it very difficult for this cycle of violence and torture to end.11 “Sex tourism” has become a part of this business' identity, meaning that women from all over are shipped to new countries and stay for a short amount of time to provide sexual opportunities to “Johns” and “Johns” from all over travel to new places to have sex with those being trafficked in that 7 Nefarious.
8 Ibid.
9 Bought & Sold: An Investigative Documentary About the International Trade in Women (Home Use), directed by Gillian Caldwell (2009; Witness), DVD. 10 Human Trafficking, directed by Christian Duguay (2005; Echo Bridge Home Entertainment), DVD 11 Nefarious.
area.12 Those being trafficked are afraid of the police, because their current solution is to criminalize and arrest them.13 Sweden, however, has passed legislation that seems to be working. They have begun to arrest and criminalize men for buying sex. This is an extreme conviction and a heavy enough deterrent that men have been swayed from purchasing it.14 Human trafficking, as already noted, is big business. The UN estimates that on average human trafficking raises approximately 7 billion dollars every year.15 Research on a topic this broad, diverse, and relatively hidden is hard to do. Statistical evidence has the best intentions of accuracy, though it is impossible to know how close the statistics actually are. Nevertheless, research has indicated that the average age of entry into prostitution is between the ages of 9 and 14.16 It is thought that 100,000 to 600,000 people are entered into it every year in the United States of America, that there are at least 27 million enslaved worldwide, and that half of these are children.17 Research has also shown that 80% of those trafficked in America are citizens and that “Women in prostitution have a mortality rate 40 times higher than the national average.”18 Other important statistics to note are: 95% of those in prostitution were victims of childhood sexual abuse, 60% of them have been physically assaulted, and out of those who are able to escape 96 out of 100 return to the sex trade.19 THE EXPERIENCE OF WOMEN IN SEX SLAVERY As previously mentioned, women are often either tricked, abducted, or kidnapped, and 12
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15
Human Trafficking.
Bought and Sold.
Nefarious.
Bought and Sold.
16 Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, directed by Maro Chermayeff (2012; Docurama), DVD. 17 Survivor: Breaking Free From Sex Slavery, directed by Brook Bello (2013; FilmRise), DVD. 18 Inside: Secret America.
19 Nefarious.
forced into sex slavery. At times, there are women who enter it voluntarily, and are lured by promises of a better life, glamor, and prosperity. Still other women enter it because they really need money and see no other way to survive. It is a common held belief among those educated on sex trafficking that regardless of how a woman enters the trade, she does not stay in it voluntarily. Ways in which a woman may be tricked often occur in one of two ways. There are such people known as “Romeo Pimps” or “Mack Pimps” who pose as the perfect boyfriend, showering them in love and gifts, until they have earned their trust, can take them away, and can betray them.20 This may also occur through the “promise of a better life in a faraway land” and the promise of work. Industries promoting opportunities with modeling companies, dance agencies, hotel work, waitressing, beauty shops, marriage agencies, and massage parlors are particularly susceptible to this type of fraud.21 Women who are kidnapped or abducted, however, are often assaulted and contained through the use of violence. There are also women who are victimized through a combination of the two. By this I mean, that it is possible for a woman to be raped and then blackmailed into submission.22 It can happen to any woman anywhere at any time. It most often happens to women who either come from a culture where prostitution is more acceptable, or from a culture of poverty and oppression. In India, for example, women have little to no value within the caste system. Many women, who had prostitutes for mothers, often accept it as their fate to become prostitutes also. It is this culture of tradition, where this profession has been passed down to them and because it is their culture, they believe that they have no way out. India’s sex 20 Inside: Secret America.
21 Bought and Sold.
22 Inside: Secret America.
trafficking industry stakes claim in having the biggest and most brutal trafficking problem in the world.23 While this is happening abroad, it also happens here in the United States, to women from every background. However, sex traffickers typically target woman who are somehow “disconnected” from the world around them. They pick up women who seem to be unimportant, submissive, and “easy targets”.24 Traffickers also prey upon runaways, teenagers with tough home lives, and those who are obviously vulnerable in one way or another.25 Once a woman has been thrust into this lifestyle, due to the vastness of the network of corruption she is now living in, alongside of the drugs, physical violence, psychological games, threats, and manipulation through which she is controlled, and the fear she experiences as a result of all these things, she is often times completely, helplessly, and hopelessly trapped and unable to escape. Many women become addicted to drugs, for the altered state of consciousness it achieves for her in her attempts to escape. Other women attempt to commit suicide; if her life comes to an end, then she has finally escaped. Still other women continue to hold on, though they may live in this dark place, without any hope of feeling truly alive ever again. Women who have been forced into this lifestyle are “treated like animals”.26 Women forced into sex trafficking know all too well what real fear is. They are afraid to leave their pimps and, at the same time, afraid for their lives and sanity to stay. They judge themselves based on what they believe the perception of others is, convincing themselves that they really are just whores.27 They are ashamed of themselves and take full responsibility for 23 Half the Sky.
24 Gardens of the Night, directed by Damian Harris (2007; City Lights Pictures), DVD. 25 Survivor.
26 Bought and Sold.
27 Inside: Secret America.
what happens to them, as if they had a choice in the matter. They feel bad about themselves, humiliated, and dirty. When in reality, these women are victims.28 From the very beginning, these trafficked women are taught that their lives have no value aside from the amount of money that their bodies can make.29 Many survivors remember feeling “subhuman”, empty, and as if they had sold their souls. The experience destroys every part of the identity that they once had. 30 This experience has also been renamed “soul assassination” and “murder of the spirit”, because of the unbelievable amount of intimate pain and shame that encompasses it.31 It is not uncommon for a woman to disassociate in order to survive. But more than anything, these women need to be redeemed and set free.32 They need to have their human rights and dignity restored. If a woman is rescued from sex slavery, the recovery process is tremendously difficult. So difficult, in fact, that many women end up going back into sex slavery because that is what is “normal” and familiar to them; and sadly, that is also where they feel most accepted. A woman who is in sex slavery experiences many things while in bondage. Her experience often begins with a stay at some secluded place, often nicknamed “the breaking grounds”. In this place, a woman or child is “seasoned” and her body, soul, and spirit is broken through rape and abuse. Once she is in the business full time she will see on average 20 to 30 customers every single day.33 She is often brainwashed to the point where they do not see themselves as victims, even though “every new guy, could cost her life”.34 She is forced and 28
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34
Bought and Sold.
Human Trafficking.
Nefarious.
Survivor.
Inside: Secret America.
Nefarious.
Inside: Secret America.
expected to act like she wants to sell her body for money, even when she does not.35 She can be bought by any kind of person, raped, photographed, and videotaped without ever seeing any of the supposed money she had “earned”. Often times these pornographic pictures and videotapes are sold for even more money that she will never receive.36 It occurs regularly that she is convinced that she owes her captor money, and because she owes them, they own her. This is especially the case for women being trafficked internationally. Unfortunately, this is a debt that can never be simply worked off.37 THE EXPERIENCE OF CHILDREN IN SEX SLAVERY While the experience of children in sex slavery is extremely similar to the experience of women in sex slavery, there are a few minor differences that set this particular type of tragic business apart. For example, 75% of underage transactions start online. Underage is considered to be age 21 and under.38 Children are often considered much more valuable because they have been less used and they are often virgins.39 Children were not designed for sex. They were designed to be children, who have imaginations, are full of laughter, and explore the world. Children who are forced into sex trafficking have their childhoods unfairly stolen from them. Childhood sex slavery and child pornography impact a child in extraordinarily awful ways. These actions that are done to them hinder their psychological development and skew their entire worldview.40 The prevalence of information on childhood sex trafficking internationally is much greater than in the U.S. This is not to say that it happens any less here or that what happens 35
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37
38
Human Trafficking.
Inside: Secret America.
Bought and Sold.
Inside: Secret America.
39 Trade of Innocents, directed by Christopher Bessette (2012; Monterey Media), DVD. 40 Gardens of the Night.
internationally is any less important. The country of Moldova has become known as the “epicenter of the trafficking crisis”. After 1991, when communism fell, people began to leave the country, and when they left, they left the children of Moldova behind. These orphans became the perfect population, as they were both vulnerable and desperate for basic survival needs.41 In Sierra Leone, at a counseling and medical treatment center known as the Rainbo Centre, employees and volunteers see 100 to 200 rape cases every month. Half of these cases are from women ages 12 to 17 and a quarter of these are age 12 and under, including infants and toddlers. There is a sense of pride here to devirginize and at the same time, a strong desire for justice that is never meted. Out of the 10,000 cases that have been reported, not even 1% has been convicted.42 Sex trafficking in Thailand has become a major part of their society, it even has government support. It has been described as a “sexual utopia”, but not for those trapped in it. Many of those trafficked come from rural regions, some go into the city for work to provide for their parents, while other parents sell their children into sex slavery. According to Chulalongkorn University, “Today there are 2.8 million girls in prostitution in Thailand. 800,000 are children.” In Cambodia, child prostitution is so popular that pedophiles from around the world fly in to buy children for sex; they can even pay with their credit cards. Cambodia has cultivated a culture of selling and female infants born in rural areas are considering a “security asset”, because they can be easily sold into sex slavery if life becomes financially difficult for a family. UNICEF estimates that there are at least 19,000 children trapped in prostitution there.43 41 Nefarious.
42 Half the Sky.
43 Nefarious.
THE WORTH OF A LIFE: MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD Having taken a look at the reality of “The Game” and the experience of women and children who are being trafficked in the sex trade, I believe it is important for victims, traffickers, and those of us who are either advocates against it, ignorant of it, or who are purposely ignoring it, to discern exactly what a human life is worth. Many of those being trafficked do not feel like their lives are worth anything, that is what they are told and that is how they are treated. As Christians, however, we know that their lives have value. We know that every life, regardless of how it is lived, has value to God. In Genesis 1:27, God created humanity, man and woman. He saw that they were good and He created them in His own image (imago Dei). Psalm 139:13‐16 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the day ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Luke 12:7 says, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Human life was created on purpose and with a purpose. Each person who has lived was specifically designed by God and put here for a reason. Every human life is valued by God and He loves us all very much. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” John 3:16 tells us, “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, will never die but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 says that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “PIMPS” AND “JOHNS” We have discussed in depth, the one side of human trafficking, and the experience of those being trafficked. Seldom even considered, however, is the role of the trafficker. Knowing what happens to women and children who are forced into sex slavery, along with the abuse, rape, torture, control, psychological damage, among other terrors; it is difficult to want to give these people even a portion of our time. But having just considered what the worth of a human life is and how much God loves every single one of us, regardless of the lives we live, I think it is important to talk about the “Pimps” and the “Johns”. The idea of them and what they do often has the tendency to make a person feel extremely angry. What they are doing is completely unjust, morally wrong, and despicable, and these words barely scratch the surface. Too often we only see the woman who is being prostituted, and we blame her and accuse her, like it is her fault that she is doing what she is doing. We seldom see the “Pimp” that makes all the profit with none of the risk. Sometimes these are men who are selling one woman; other times these are men who have become ridiculously wealthy and respected business men through this work. These men are heartless and “live in the shadows”, doing whatever it takes to make money. Traffickers are always recruiting, looking to trade, and looking to sell.44 Pimps are often said to only take half of what a prostitute makes. Yet, the Pimp is the one controlling the money and the victims.45 Besides the money that they make, Pimps are also well known for their methods of control. A lot of times this involves: “brainwashing”, physical 44 Inside: Secret America.
45 Bought and Sold.
violence, threats, manipulation, and lying, among many other control tactics.46 “A pimp is a wife beater, rapist, murderer, child‐molester, drug dealer, and slave driver rolled into one.”47 Customers are known as “Johns”. The average customer is employed, married, and around age 40. They come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities.48 One survivor said that having sex with a prostitute is nothing more than a man masturbating inside of a woman's body.49 “Johns” get some sort of satisfaction out of using a woman in this way. They know that they can treat her like she is not worth anything and that she is obligated to act like she wants him even if she does not. They know that she has to do whatever he wants her to do and pretend like she likes it. “Johns” find a certain kind of excitement in taking part in doing this intimate and illegal act. There are also “Johns” that prefer children. Some “Johns” will travel half way around the world to satisfy their “craving” of taking advantage of a small child.50 It is so difficult to understand what goes through their heads and their stories are so vastly untold, that the majority of researchers have no information about these men. These things that I have written here are observations that I have made through my research, in movies and documentaries on human trafficking; observations that I believe to be sad, but true. “Pimps” and “Johns” come from opposite sides of the spectrum of sex trafficking, yet they have what is most significant in common, they exploit women and children to fulfill and gratify an all‐
consuming desire – one for money and the other for sex. 46 Human Trafficking.
47
Collins, Amy Fine. “Sex Trafficking of America; The Girls Next Door”. Vanity Fair, Web Exclusive, May
24, 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/05/sex-trafficking201105> on March 5th, 2014.
48 Inside: Secret America.
49 Nefarious.
50 Trade of Innocents.
GOD'S PLAN FOR SEX God created sex for so much more than this idea of a man masturbating inside of a woman's body (or a child's body). While the Bible says far more about what sex is not supposed to be, there is a whole book, The Song of Solomon, dedicated specifically to celebrating sex, love, intimacy, and passion. The Holiness Code in Leviticus is explicit about who it is acceptable and unacceptable to have sex with. It all comes down to sex being acceptable in one circumstance, within the boundaries of marriage. In 1 Corinthians 7:1‐5 it is written, “Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self‐control.” Sex was created for procreation, pleasure, intimacy, companionship, to glorify God, and to also avoid sexual immorality. CONCLUSION Having considered what slavery is traditionally known as, the reality of slavery in the modern world, the business of sex trafficking, the experience of women and children, the worth of a human life, the role played by “Pimps” and “Johns”, as well as God's plan for sex, we must now consider what all of this means to us. There are three groups of non‐participants. The first group is those who know about human and sex trafficking and are heavily involved in eradicating and abolishing it. The second group is those who know about it but choose to do nothing. The third group is those who have not yet heard about the horrors of sexual slavery. Those who know and who are active have developed phenomenal organizations. However, it is not enough. There is not enough money, not enough volunteers, and not a broad enough system or network of support to push human trafficking to its end. A movement to end sex trafficking must be at work from the bottom and the top. The heat at the top should include: training for law enforcement, immigration officials, and embassy officials, ceasing the treatment of trafficked women as illegal immigrants, to provide stays of deportation, increase penalties for convicted traffickers, use confiscated funds for counseling – health care, housing, legal advice, and compensation, and to provide witness protection and relocations to endangered witnesses and victims of sex trafficking.51 The heat at the bottom should come through making parents and communities aware that this topic is a real thriving industry in our world today.52 More than anything though, the fight against sex trafficking has no need for “interested observers”, rather “incurable fanatics”.53 Victims of trafficking need to be rescued and set free, physically, as well as emotionally and spiritually, from their past and their trauma. They need support and the opportunity to build strong, stable, encouraging relationships.54 This restoration process is the greater challenge.55 Victims have a need to share their stories and be validated in their experiences.56 What has found to be most influential upon survivor success and preventative to reentry is the 51
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Bought and Sold.
Half the Sky.
Nefarious.
Inside: Secret America.
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Survivor.
Gospel. Wilberforce, an abolitionist to the Trans‐Atlantic Slave Trade believed that slavery was a moral and spiritual issue that could not be stopped without the power of God working in and through this spiritual battle. There is this belief that it takes something more than a good counselor and positive reinforcement to change a victim's heart. It takes the unconditional love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who gives them a new identity, makes them whole, delivers and cleanses them from who they were.57 While there are measures being taken, there are still people, even Christians, who know and are not doing anything to help. We have not only an obligation, but a responsibility to help. We all have something that we can contribute. Choosing to feign ignorance is not helpful to anyone. A prayer to God in Psalm 82:3‐4 says, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked”. If it is possible for us to help in this endeavor, should we not at least try? Psalm 1:17 is an actual command by God to “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; and plead the case of the widow.” Likewise, the Greatest Commandment, recorded in Mark 12:29‐31, “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.” Finally, we are also called to action through the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18‐20, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the 57 Nefarious.
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” These people to which we are sent include victims of sex slavery, traffickers, and people who buy sex. It is our responsibility as Christians to participate in the mission of God in redeeming creation through the atoning work that the Incarnate Christ came to do through his life, death on the cross, and resurrection. I believe that it is the calling of every believer to nurture and show the love and compassion of Christ to all those who have not known it, do not know it, have rejected it, or forgotten it. To give a voice to the voiceless, hope to the hopeless, another chance for the broken, rest for the weary, help to the helpless, love to the unlovable, respect for the disrespected, patience to the misunderstood, healing for those in pain, and a boost to the beaten down. To protect and defend those who cannot protect or defend themselves. To stand up for what is right and provide everyone with their basic needs for survival. To bring a smile back to someone's face and help them to know the hope that is in Jesus Christ. RESOURCES Bought & Sold: An Investigative Documentary About the International Trade in Women (Home Use). Directed by Gillian Caldwell. 2009. Witness. DVD. Collins, Amy Fine. “Sex Trafficking of America; The Girls Next Door”. Vanity Fair, Web Exclusive, May 24, 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/05/
sex‐trafficking‐201105> on March 5th, 2014. Gardens of the Night. Directed by Damian Harris. 2007. City Lights Pictures. DVD. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Directed by Maro Chermayeff. 2012. Docurama. DVD. Human Trafficking. Directed by Christian Duguay. 2005. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. DVD. Inside: Secret America, Episode 3: American Sex Slave. Directed by National Geographic. 2013. National Geographic Channel. Original Air Date July 24, 2013. TV. Nefarious: Merchant of Souls. Directed by Matthew Dickey and Benjamin Nolot. 2011. Exodus Cry. DVD. Survivor: Breaking Free From Sex Slavery. Directed by Brook Bello. 2013. FilmRise. DVD. The Abolition Project. Information retrieved from <http://abolition.e2bn.org/index.php> on March 5th, 2014. Trade of Innocents. Directed by Christopher Bessette. 2012. Monterey Media. DVD. United States Constitution. Accessed at <http://constitutionus.com/> on March 5th, 2014.