One thing that has been coming up a lot lately, is the issue of sex trafficking. My thoughts… How can we, as a culture, not only allow this to happen, but even promote it? How do we promote it, you ask? Let’s just take a look around us. Our culture has become more and more sex oriented. Our TV shows, movies, music, advertising, it has all become centered around this extremely detestable fact: Sex Sells.
As businesses and corporations continue to sexify their product, sells continuously grow. It’s disgusting. We see things like Miley Cyrus dry humping a guy on stage in nothing but her underwear, and we promote it. We go out and buy her album, and say, “I’m living my life how I want to.” WRONG!! We are living our life how these industries want us to. We spend our money on the items (even if it is as a joke) that support the actions of the celebrity, further solidifying the fact that sex sells. Why would industries change how they are doing things when what they are doing is making them a lot of money?
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we promote this sex culture? Why do we feed into this craziness that has skyrocketed in the past 10 years? What is it that fascinates us and moves us to spend our money on the things that are produced by people who, if they were not rich and popular, could be committed to an insane asylum?
The answer is the problem itself: Sex Sells. But why does it sell? It sells because it is pleasure and enjoyment. It sells because we have become such a ‘me focused society’. We focus on our own pleasure and enjoyment so much that we feel that we can perform whatever action we want as long as it makes us happy. So, when we see a magazine or movie that has a sexual reference or image on or in it, we think, “Hey, this could be a source of pleasure for me.” and we buy it. This then leads us to things like prostitution.
But why does that lead to sex trafficking, especially of young children? Because the more and more our culture promotes sex, the younger people are when they find out about it. Once they find out about it, they want to participate in it. This leads to 12 year olds wearing booty shorts that have NAUGHTY written across the back of it. This, in turn, leads more men to lust and to think, “Hey, this could be a source of pleasure for me.” and they buy “it”.
I am not meaning to imply that sex trafficking exists because of Miley Cyrus or because of booty shorts. What I do mean to imply is that when we forget what sex truly is and we feed into this ‘sex sells’ mindset, WE sexify our daughters and sons at younger and younger ages, which in turn increases man’s desires and leads us to things like younger teenagers being trafficked for sex across the world.
Clarification: Sex Trafficking was around before booty shorts. I’m not saying that Sex Trafficking was caused by it in any way. I in no way intend to say that it is a woman or child’s fault for wearing a certain type of clothing. They are in no way at fault. Those that are at fault for this are those that capture, transport, trade, sell, and buy. But we can help by not feeding into the ‘sex sells’ mindset and by attempting to transform our culture for the better.
It is disgusting and revolting that grown men and women could bring themselves to actually transport children and teenagers from place to place to sell the use of their bodies. What is even more revolting is that this business actually prospers. This tells me that it is not only the traffickers that are lost, but rather our culture as a whole. If there were no buyers of this then there would be no sellers. You can understand this with a very simple (like mine) understanding of supply and demand.
We must strive to promote the dignity of every single life. The young children, teenagers, and even adults that are caught up in sex trafficking need your help. Stop feeding into the ‘sex sells’ mindset. As much as sex sells, so does good wholesome fun. Don’t believe me? Why is Duck Dynasty so successful? (Not a plug for Duck Dynasty, only referencing their success.) Put your money into things that promote the dignity of life, that don’t feed into this sex driven culture, and that promote true love.
This Bruised Reed 