Are you a modern day hero?

With over 100,000 children enslaved in the sex trafficking industry in the U.S. every year, the question arises: how do we end demand for child sex trafficking?

The answer? Men need to be heroes. This will end demand.

Definition of a hero: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities, an illustrious warrior, one who shows great courage.

If all men were true heroes (at their jobs, in their communities, in their families) — they would stop disrespecting and objectifying women. If all guys did not objectify women, they would naturally stop watching porn. And the pornography industry fuels the child prostitution industry. Here is the process: many men who watch porn continue to seek bigger thrills, and naturally begin going to strip clubs, which many times ends up with these men soliciting sex from a prostituted women or child. Simply put, every time a guy looks at porn, he is essentially dropping money into the pockets of pimps. This ongoing cycle of buyers wanting a product (sex with a minor) fuels demand.

But what can you do? This seems like an almost impossible challenge to solve. The media, friends, family members may not understand or be supportive.

But one man can take the pledge. One man can tell a couple of his friends about his commitment to help end demand. One man can hold himself and his friends accountable for their actions toward women and children. One man can help add gasoline to the flame of a wildfire movement. And together, we can flip our society, our country, and our world upside-down and end demand for domestic minor sex trafficking.

The answer to this problem is simple, but initiating, starting, and building the movement proves more difficult.

Women and children need heroes ­­– they need Defenders.

Fifteen to twenty percent.

That’s the number of American men who will buy sex at some time during their lives. That number may seem exaggerated, but not when you look at the fact that 100,000 children will be trafficked in the U.S. this year.
That means that there are a lot of men out there who buy children for sex.
But this doesn’t have to continue. We can stop this.
But how?
How do we stop these men from buying sex? And how do we ensure that they won’t fall back into their old ways?
Several means of deterring buyers, “johns”, have been tried:

1. Attending an educational “john school”
2. Community service
3. Greater penalties
4. Putting their names in the newspaper, on a billboard, or on the internet
5.  More jail time
6. Adding them to the sex offender registry

What’s the most effective method? What will stop these men from continuing to destroy the lives of these young girls?

According to a 2011 study on Boston buyers of sex, adding buyer’s names to the official sex offender registry is the greatest deterrent for johns. It beats out jail time, greater penalties, and community service. Unfortunately, it is also more effective than putting these men through “john school.”
Right now, it seems like cold, hard sentencing, and registering these men on the sex offenders list is the best way to deter buyers of sex.

But who’s to say that couldn’t change?
Could these men be reeducated? One john who went through a reeducation program in Tennessee said: “I’m so embarrassed … These girls are somebody’s daughters. I have a daughter.” He changed. Could other men be effectively taught that these girls they’re buying are someone’s daughter or sister?
We hope so.
What about you? What can you do today to turn johns into Defenders?
Give time, give money, and educate yourselves and others about America’s serious problem of sex trafficking. Spread the word.

Rob, a new Defender, recently did his part to try to save a potential victim of sex trafficking.

At church, Rob’s pastor spoke about Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. Listening to his pastor, Rob felt the spiritual and emotional weight of what he was hearing. “We were sitting there, with our jaws dropped,” said Rob.

His pastor gave him a copy of Renting Lacy, and he couldn’t put it down.

A couple days later, Rob was sitting at a stop sign, about to turn onto the highway to go to the gym. He looked to his left, and that’s when he saw her. She was wearing baggy clothes, and pulling a bright red suitcase behind her. She looked like a runaway. She couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15 years old.

As he merged his vehicle onto the highway, Rob kept thinking about what he’d learned after reading Renting Lacy. He knew he had to go back. He got off at the next exit, and circled back to where he’d seen the girl.

By that time, she was sitting at a Chevron station with her belongings, sipping a soft drink. Rob felt inside that something was different—something wasn’t right about her situation. “She had a look in her eyes that said her innocence was lost,” said Rob. He called 9-11. The dispatcher told him two sheriff patrol cars were headed to the scene.

Twenty minutes later, the girl had already left, and Rob saw the two law enforcement officers speed past the Chevron.

He often wonders what happened to the young girl, whether the police managed to save her, or whether she became another domestic minor sex trafficking victim…

If you are in a scenario like Rob found himself in, don’t hesitate to call the police. They will get help for the girl.

Click here to learn more about how you can stand up as a Defender and protect innocent girls, like Rob did.