If I stand next to a child who shows signs that she’s about to step in front of a train, and I do nothing when I definitely had the ability and means to do something, there’s a level of culpability that rests on my shoulders. Even if that’s not my child. Especially if I took her picture, said what she was about to do, and shared it with all my friends.
On Super Bowl Sunday 2020, JLo asked our daughters to step in front of a moving train, and then half of America applauded her. Then they shared the photos.
I’ve lost count of the number of women I’ve spoken to that tell me they’ve been raped in and around their work at strip clubs. I can’t mentally carry the stats on how many have said “I thought it would be glamorous. I didn’t think the guys could touch us. I didn’t think I had to have sex with anyone. Nothing about it was glamorous.” Every one of those women went on to explain how they were trafficked in my town. And spoke about the amount of cocaine it took to get them through most nights.
Listening to someone standing on a soap box, no matter how sturdy that box is to stand on, is tiring. Probably because it puts a mirror of reality in front of us when we so often want to believe “it’s glamorous.” So I’ll keep this short.
If we are not speaking up and saying that romanticizing the sex industry is dangerous (not to mention objectifying) then we are part of the grooming process that lures children into child sexual exploitation.
