The Defenders USA Archives - Page 3 of 12 - Shared Hope International

October 22, 2013 by SHI Staff

Take Action: The Power of Accountability

Love. Care. Tenderness. Support. These are all character qualities that are essential to the Defenders. These qualities in my mind all describe one important value of the Defenders: accountability. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, accountability means “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”

I always grew up with the term “brother’s keeper.” Brother’s Keeper is a simple term that means you love someone enough to hold them accountable to their actions. In my experience, accountability is only successfully done when both parties hold each other accountable out of common love for the wellbeing of the other person. Part two of The Defenders Pledge says “I will hold my friends accountable for their actions towards women and children.”

Women and Children deserve respect. They deserve to be honored, and we should treat them with that in mind. Human Trafficking and commercial sex takes advantage of women, makes them our objects, and that in no way is right. Out of love for our friends and the women and children who are involved in the industry, should we not hold each other accountable and stay away from that? Out of love and care for the wellbeing of our fellow men, should we not hold each other accountable to our actions? Should we not challenge each other? That’s why part two of the Defenders pledge exists. Out of love and respect for women and children, indulging in the commercial sex industry is clearly not an option.

But as I’ve said in previous blog posts, commercial sex can be an addictive indulgence. It can consume our lives, and pretty soon, quitting this terrible indulgence is harder than we thought. That is also where accountability comes in. Accountability can work as a powerful sword. Holding our fellow men accountable to their actions can fight those desires to indulge, and for some, completely eliminate them. For many, accountability also becomes a shield, which defends our hearts and restores our minds. I’ve experienced this effect personally through a Men’s group which I’ve called Men Mentoring Men.

This group consists of 5-8 men who are committed to meeting once each week to talk about life. We talk about the highs, lows, and struggles of the past week–both sexually and relationally. This group helps men grow in relationship with each other, and restore a healthy view of relationships and sexuality. We laugh, we cry, and we celebrate. This group creates a sword and shield for men who are struggling with commercial sex. It allows men to be vulnerable, and to acknowledge the pain in their life. Ultimately, this group effectively restores our desire to honor and respect women and children.

So today I’d encourage you to take action by starting an accountability group with 2 or more of your friends. It can be as simple as meeting up for coffee every Wednesday morning and talking about life, purity, and relationships. For more ideas, check out this Defenders resource: http://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/How-to-Start-a-Defenders-Mens-Accountability-Group.pdf.

Together, we can end demand.

October 15, 2013 by SHI Staff

Take Action: The Power of Renting Lacy

In September of 2012, I found myself reading Renting Lacy. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. Despite the warning at the beginning of the book telling me that it has very tough content, I thought I could handle it. I thought to myself, I can do this. This will be a one-sitting book for me. I was confident because my mind is pretty tolerant of tough content. I’m a guy that can watch violent things; rated R movies with violent content are a piece of cake for me, because I have the ability to think and process through what I am seeing. Renting Lacy, however, turned out to be totally different.

After only one chapter of reading, my jaw had dropped, and I was nearly crying. One chapter after that, I found myself in tears, having to put the book down for a while. I couldn’t handle it. I found myself overwhelmed by the fact that Linda was sharing true stories. Unlike graphic rated R films, for the first time my mind could not separate the fake from reality. It was all reality. These brutal situations actually happened to women and children on a daily basis. Several days later, I found myself still reading Renting Lacy. The content was educational, but so shocking to the point that I had to put the book down and process what I read. This sounds like a negative thing, but it isn’t. It is important, especially when reading Renting Lacy, to sit down and process what you’ve read.

Renting Lacy changed my life. What I thought would be a one-sitting read turned into a one week read. Not because of the length of the book, but because of the shock that I had to process through.

Though this book was extremely hard to read through, it was absolutely necessary. I am so happy that I have read the book Renting Lacy, because it was the catalyst for me becoming a Defender and an activist against human trafficking.

Whether you are a current activist, or someone who is just now learning about human trafficking, you need to read this book. It will shock you. Perhaps it will make you cry. It will educate you. But more importantly, it will motivate you. Everyone needs to have a copy of this book, because it changes lives. Go get Renting Lacy NOW.

Renting Lacy is now available in audiobook form. You can get a digital or physical copy of the audiobook here.

September 15, 2013 by SHI Staff

Take Action: The Power of Social Media

Social Media has grown substantially in the past few years. Facebook now has over 1 billion users. Many people have over 1,000 connections on Facebook. Twitter is rapidly increasing its user base; celebrities, politicians, and even the pope himself are using Twitter to get their message out. All around the globe, Social Media is being used to connect with childhood friends, reunite adoptive children with parents, and more importantly, get your message out.

Through social media, we now have the ability to make a global impact. You have the ability to raise awareness and communicate with fellow advocates. The ultimate question, then, is how do you use social media? Have you been to the Shared Hope International Facebook page or twitter feed? Have you ever engaged with the things that we post?

This is not a guilt-trip on my part, forcing you to engage on social media. I truly believe that social media networks have the power to connect and inform. Let me share a story to illustrate that. Some time ago, the Oregon House of Representatives nearly passed a very tough bill, which would have taken a huge step backwards when it comes to fighting human trafficking. If this bill were passed, minors who are trafficked wouldn’t have been as protected as they should be. Through social media, however, a change was made. In a little over a week, we had thousands of people from all over the world fighting for this dangerous bill to be changed before it got passed. Social media got the word out. Through social media, we made a local issue a global issue.

And to my surprise at the time, all of the fighting paid off. Because so many activists took action over social media and other media outlets, I watched the miraculous happen as Senator Floyd Prozanski stood up and made a movement to take the bill back to committee so it could be re-amended, making it a felony on the first offense to purchase sex from minors. Now, this bill has been passed, and as soon as it was signed, it was a felony to purchase sex from a minor in Oregon. Through social media, activists from all over the globe made a difference. More importantly, every one of us were connected to the cause. A miraculous act was performed because of social media activism and communication.

So I want to challenge you. Take action and learn the power of engaging on social media. We, at Shared Hope, strongly believe in communication, and social media is one of our many ways of doing that on a daily basis. So, I encourage you to go engage. Comment on our posts. Reply to our tweets. Share our posts. Join the conversation. Get the word out, and make a difference in the world. Together, we can change our culture.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sharedhopeinternational

Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/sharedhope

Defenders Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/defendersusa

Defenders Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedefendersusa

September 4, 2013 by SHI Staff

Eradicating the Commercial Sex Elephant in the Room

Guest Blog Post by Dale Rylander (Defenders Captain)

When I try to get my head around the scope and complexity of the commercial sex issue I feel like a blind man encountering an elephant (the leg is a tree, the tail is a rope, the trunk is a snake, the ear is a fan and the side is a large rock). Each time I approach the commercial sex elephant from a different direction I feel like I am dealing with a different problem. Then, when I step back I realize its huge size and multiple complex issues. It is also the elephant in the middle of the room that is hard to talk about.

But we need to! The destructive impact of commercial sex in our communities, our nation and our world is huge. Each year 100,000 preteen and teenage girls are victimized as prostituted children in the US. (In 2011 there were 83,425 forcible rapes reported in the US.) If each prostituted child experiences physical sexual contact more than once a month that equals 1,300,000 rapes each year. (In 2011 there were 1,203,564 violent crimes reported in the US.) Commercial sex also has a huge impact in other countries often exacerbated by conflict, culture and poverty.

If we are going to successfully eradicate this huge commercial sex elephant we need to address all of its multiple different complex issues. There are prostituted girls that need to be rescued, potential victims that need to be educated, behaviors that need to be eliminated and laws that need to be enacted and enforced. All of these are important and all of these must be addressed.

Just as an elephant looks different when viewed from a different angle; so does a presentation about commercial sex look different when I talk to a different audience. The information is always based on the same facts but the presentation is customized to challenge a specific audience to take age and gender appropriate actions. By focusing on the needs and interest of a specific audience I can reduce the duration of the presentation and emphasize relevant content that maintains the audience’s attention.

I look for opportunities to make presentations about the commercial sex elephant to the following different audiences:
• Preteen and teen girls using the Chosen DVD and Training package with emphasis on awareness of their personal safety and the safety of their friends.
• Preteen and teen boys using the Chosen DVD and Training package with emphasis on awareness and personal commitment to respect girls and women.
• Parents using the Chosen DVD and Training package with emphasis on the challenges associated with parenting teenagers.
• Political Action using Protected Innocence Challenge to encourage individuals and groups to become informed and express opinions to their elected officials.
• Adult men using personal testimonial followed by open discussion to challenge adult men to take Defenders Pledge.

Is one of these actions more important than the others? No.
Do I always have an opportunity to do all of these? No.

My goal is to make the most of each opportunity and although my contributions may be small I hope my focus on the needs and interests of specific audiences enable each presentation help eradicate a small part of the commercial sex elephant.

Dale Rylander is a professional technology consultant. He is married with three adult children. His wife challenged him to take the Defenders’ Pledge. Motivated by the enormous scope of this issue, he is working as the first Defenders Captain in Dallas to educate and challenge men in Dallas, in Texas, in the United States and around the world to change their attitudes and actions about commercial sex.

August 29, 2013 by SHI Staff

“Concert for the Innocent” – Vancouver, WA

Announcing the “Concert for the Innocent” a benefit/awareness concert supporting victims of child trafficking

The Defenders USA and Shared Hope will be hosting a free concert with local Vancouver and Portland bands to raise awareness about the issue of ending demand for domestic minor sex trafficking. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that over 100,000 children are trafficked every year in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age is 12-14 years old.

The concert will feature local bands and special guest speaker Mike Macintosh from Horizon Christian Fellowship in California. There will also be fun for the whole family, including dunk tanks, inflatable bounce houses, face-painting, and more.

Date/Time: August 31, 2013 from noon to 6:00 PM

Location: Marshall Park, 1009 E McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98663

Guest Speaker: Mike Macintosh of Horizon Christian Fellowship

Bands: Evan Wickham, Chuck Girard, Alex Ferraro, James Younger, The Fargher Lake Boys, and more!

Cost: Free!

This awareness concert is sponsored by Shared Hope, the Defenders USA, and Harvest Fest Events, and is open to the general public.