by Anny Lee and Christie Arnold
Engagement begins with the heart. Until we are rooted in a lifestyle of prayer, understanding, and resolve, our engagement will be short-lived, ineffectual, or both. Once we are grounded in a pursuit of purity and justice, however, every one of us can have an impact in helping victims and ending the scourge of trafficking women and girls for sex.
Here are 10 practical engagement points for individuals or groups:
1. Develop accountability in your own life as a way of modeling the purity and integrity needed to oppose commercial sexual exploitation and reduce demand for the trafficking of women and girls into pornography and prostitution. Sign up for Covenant Eyes to begin online accountability today.
2. Inform others about sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, and the harms of pornography. Don’t be silent. Ask questions. Open up conversations. Post or forward links to information and organizations. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).
3. Connect locally with organizations and churches who are combating sex trafficking. Visit the Rescue & Restore website to find contact information for anti-trafficking groups in your area, or contact pureHOPE for assistance in locating groups or churches in your area.
4. Organize a group to pray about the issue, start a Bible study, or take action (such as ministering to performers at strip clubs). Start a campus chapter to focus on the issue.
5. Host an event to raise awareness and funds. Organize a screening of a film such as The Candy Shop or put on a jewelry party featuring articles made by sex trafficking survivors; visit DestinyRescue.org or InHisImageDesigns.org for more info.
6. Stay informed by researching the issue and staying abreast of recent news. Review the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Initiate a Google alert for all news articles about “sex trafficking.”
7. Read books on the issue, perhaps in the context of a book club. Some recommended titles include Renting Lacy by Linda Smith, Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd, The Johns by Victor Malarek, Wired for Intimacy by William Struthers, Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen, The Slave Next Door by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter.
8. Advocate for change. Email, write, call or visit your local legislators, state representatives, congresspersons, senators, and other elected officials to advocate for stronger anti-trafficking laws and make them aware that fighting sex trafficking in your community is important to you. Visit PolarisProject.org for guidance.
9. Donate to organizations opposing sex trafficking, pornography, and other forms of exploitation.
10. Sponsor a child who has be rescued from sex slavery. Visit DestinyRescue.org to learn more.
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Han Eol (“Anny”) Lee is a junior majoring in Public Policy and minoring in Sociology at the College of William and Mary. She served as a pureJUSTICE intern during the summer of 2011. She is involved with International Justice Mission, Reformed University Fellowship, and Building Tomorrow.
Christie Arnold is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is majoring in International Studies with a minor in Social and Economic Justice. She is passionate about fighting against sex trafficking and was a 2011 pureJUSTICE intern.
