I checked out a documentary on sex trafficking called Stopping Trafficking: The Movement to End Sex-Trafficking from the Brentwood Library two or three weeks ago and just now worked up the courage to finally sit down and watch it. Wow.

I knew a little about sex trafficking and slaving (a term they used to differentiate from slavery). I never realized just how prevalent this industry is around the world, even in the U.S.

I never realized that girls and boys as young as 4 (and possibly younger) are targets of men (and sometimes women) who will pay for sexual favors from them. For many of them, their only memories are of being abused, so they don’t know of the possibility of any other kind of life and how their lives could be better. They don’t know to cry out for help or that help even exists.

One way the documentary brought forth as a way to end sex trafficking is to stop watching pornography. Pornography feeds this industry, creating or at least intensifying the sick desires that fuel the need for grown men and women to want to buy children for sex.

While most pornography isn’t geared toward children, I’d argue that just like any other kind of addiction, once the initial rush fades, it takes more and more to achieve gratification. Eventually, this is the result.

I know that there are faith-based groups fighting against sex trafficking. Two that I know of are IJM (International Justice Mission) and Freedom’s Promise (which specifically ministers to victims in Cambodia).

I think too many are too willing to turn a blind eye to this pandemic. Too many are unwilling to entertain even the idea of a child being raped 30 or 40 times a day for sometimes years on end.

I’d recommend Stopping Trafficking as important viewing, but there was some explicit content as far as detailing some of the specific acts done to a particular victim who is now a grown man leading the charge against sex trafficking.

The time for silence is over. The time for action is now.