In the past week, two large events have taken place in Portland to help end human trafficking. Exactly a week ago, the 2-day Do You Know Lacy? sex trafficking awareness training took place. The training had over 200 attendees. Just yesterday an event called ConnectPDX took place, where organizations from all over the Pacific Northwest gathered to create a common plan to end human trafficking. This next blog post is a compilation of my thoughts from these events.

I could write pages and pages about the wisdom that was shared, but today i’m going to focus on something related to the Defenders. But before I begin, here is a reminder of what our Defenders pledge is:

1.    I will not participate in pornography, prostitution, or any form of the commercial sex industry.

2.    I will hold my friends accountable for their actions toward women and children.

3.    I will take immediate action to protect those I love from this destructive market.

Shamere McKenzie, a sex trafficking survivor, says this about men:

“Men–Understand. Understand what it is to be a man. Understand why a woman was created from your rib. Understand that a women was not taken from your head to be on top of you, or your feet to be below you, but from your rib to be beside you. Men need to stand up and be Defenders for women.”

Ultimately, as Shamere pointed out, it’s men that need to stand up and defend women. These girls are being violated, and we cannot just sit here. Men have to rise up and stop this issue. After all, are we not the demand for this brutal business? And if we are the demand, are we not the cure as well? We are the ones that have to stop this problem. (For more information on the supply and demand culture, I recommend you watch this video by our friends at the EPIK Project)

Men, when it comes to ending the trafficking in this world, it’s our job. As a fellow Defender pointed out at the Do You Know Lacy? training, we have absolutely no right–ever–to disrespect any human being. When we look at pornography, go to the strip club, or purchase a prostitute, we are objectifying these women. We are completely taking away their rights, saying that they are ours for the taking.

I want to take some time to talk about pornography. After all, that’s not related to trafficking at all, right? Well, as I’ve done my research on pornography, I’ve found that they are completely intertwined. As it turns out, you cannot have one without the other. To put it simply, pornography is simply the pictures or videos of the prostitution. Ultimately, if you are supporting pornography, you are supporting trafficking. in some way.

What if I told you that pimps used pornography to train the little innocent 12-year-old girls on how to treat the client? What if I told you that pornography is used by pimps to advertise their girls, and what if I told you that buyers often demand that the little girls do the acts that they saw in the pornography they viewed? All of these are true. It happens, and It’s real.

If that doesn’t convince you pornography and trafficking are intertwined, lets talk about science.

In the drug world, marijuana is referred to as the gateway drug. People call it this because of a thing called habituation. When a person experiences the high that marijuana offers, their brain falls in love with it, and of course they continue to use it because it satisfies them so much. Eventually, habituation kicks in and his/her brain gets used to the high that marijuana offers. After a while, the marijuana high no longer satisfies the person, so he/she has to move on to something more powerful. This cycle continues on forever.

Pornography works the same way. It’s actually proven that the same chemicals are spinning in your brain when you indulge in pornography. When you view pornography, you get a certain “high,” but eventually that kind of pornography doesn’t please you anymore, and you have to move on to something even more hardcore. Pretty soon, pornography won’t even please you, and that’s when people move on to the more physical things, like prostitution and private strip clubs shows. This is not a slippery slope argument; this is a scientific fact.

So, where do we go from here? I hope you have realized that pornography is deeply intertwined with human trafficking. If you have, and you struggle with sexual addiction, know that there is hope. As Defenders we can support each other, and acknowledging that you have this addiction is the first step towards healing. If you haven’t already, take the pledge, and then get friends to join you. Support each other. Create a men’s support group.

In the words of a fellow Defender, Nick Lembo, “We are supposed to be sexual beings. But when you take it outside of what it’s supposed to be, lives are ruined.”

Together, we can end demand. We are Defenders.