Women + Sexploitation
I started reading “Half the Sky” by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn a few nights ago.
It’s making me furious.
Not mildly irritated like bad soap. Or even ticked off like when someone cuts you off in traffic, causing you to slam on your breaks and want to give them the finger. The emotions this book evokes is deeper. It makes me livid. Fire burning in my soul, making me want to drop the American dream and use everything in my power to fight injustice.
And I just read the preface & one chapter!
What’s making my blood boil? Injustice. Eyes steadily watching the evil going on and not even blinking. Greedily watching, consuming souls, all for the sake of pleasure or power.
Think that women in America have it bad? Think again. We don’t. Tell that to women being trafficked, forced to sell themselves, their souls, for cheap sex. Complain to the hundreds of thousands of women who have been raped, not for just sick pleasure, but for power and politics. Tell the women who have been mutilated to remain constantly oppressed about your concerns about getting implants. Women around the world, and yes, even in America, are facing horrors every day. For many, the thought of death is a sweet comfort compared to the hell they endure daily.
It just shouldn’t be so.
I’ve been able to be involved somewhat with the fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation. A few months ago, I was able to host a non-profit in my living room and hear them share their vision of redemption. Weeks after that, I flew to Arizona and saw a home for women who had been trafficked or had lived on the street. I met the security guards who were going to protect the women from violent ex-pimps. I met the counselors who worked with the women, heard the horrors that they had to face. It’s a horrible thing that isn’t just happening in the world. It’s happening. Everywhere.
Sexploitation happens in softer areas as well. From the way we’re encouraged to dress to the places we let the boys go for “guy’s night out.” It happens when we allow porn in all it’s forms – something Preston Yancey recently wrote about. It happens when sexuality is treated as an object to use/abuse and not a gift to treasure and delight in. It’s sick and it’s evil. So why do we let it happen? Preston also wrote an excellent post called “Hey, Stripper!” that is well worth a read.
Some of the highest areas of sex trafficking aren’t in cultures that seem “evil.” Atlanta, San Antonio…those two areas are snug in the Bible Belt. Those are “Christian” cultures that pride themselves for their morals. The question that needs to be asked is who is buying sex? Who is participating in the sexploitation of women? The guy across the pew? Your boyfriend? Who are these people without faces?
The question that burns me is what will I do? What will you do to stop injustice against women?
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