The buzz is sex trafficking. And really, it should be. The amount of children who are trafficked in our world is sickening. Most people have chosen to keep a blind eye to the issue because they don't understand just how close to home it really is.
I recently pastored at a church in an extremely affluent area of California. Most members of our congregation lived inside the false bubble of security that comes with wealth. One afternoon that bubble exploded when a young high school girl from our community was taken and sold into sex trafficking. This issue snuck right up through the back door of most families causing a demand to understand the threat. Through this experience ministries launched spreading awareness to help combat the issue.
Most people believe sex trafficking is limited to abduction and slavery, but it is actually much much broader. At the roots of sex trafficking is porn. Whether is is strip clubs, brothels, massage parlors, or local prostitution there is a degree of sex trafficking present. Most girls in these circumstances feel captured and paralyzed by the controlling pimps and managers. They are there not because they want to be sold for another man's pleasure but because they feel trapped and lack the self esteem to leave. Many are held without the option to leave others believe there is no other life available to them. The abuse manipulates their minds and they become prisoners inside their own bodies.
Sex trafficking is sexual manipulation of an individual for the benefit of a controlling power. Many girls are slaves to porn. It is the consumer who continues to keep them shackled in chains by their consistent internet views and credit cards purchases. Web cams are filled with trafficked girls. They are stuck in a room not allowed to leave until they produce dollars for their manager, boss, or company.
The consumer creates the demand by watching porn. The bigger the business the more the demand. The more the demand the more girls. Someone has to get all those girls. Suddenly one girl after another is manipulated and coerced into sex slavery.
When you look at porn you contribute to sex trafficking. You create a greater demand. You become the pimp.
