Nearly 10 years ago, Lisa Thompson prayed that God would give her a cause to fight for, a passion. It was a prayer that was answered in an amazing way. Today, Thompson is the liaison for the abolition of sexual trafficking at The Salvation Army National Headquarters in Virginia. This week, she's touring Ohio to spread awareness. In a phone interview with CitizenLink, she uncovers the scourge of sex trafficking.
Human trafficking, most people would think of it as a thing of the past. How can this be happening in the world today?
A lot of people do think that slavery is something that ended when we fought the Civil War. But the reality is that trafficking, which is a route into slavery, does continue. And actually, it's flourishing. There might be as many as 27 million people in slavery in the world today.
Trafficking, it's really what you can think of as a process. It's the means by which a lot of people end up in these conditions of slavery. You have traffickers who recruit, they harbor, they transfer, they obtain, they sell people. They might use coercion, they might use fraud, they might force someone, they might exploit a person's position of vulnerability. It's very important to understand that the reason why traffickers do all of this is they have a very specific purpose — and that purpose is exploitation.
What makes Ohio a hub for modern-day slavery and what prompted you to go on a tour of this state?
Ohio has quite a preponderance of sexually oriented businesses. And when you're talking about sex trafficking, you have to make the connection between sex trafficking and the purpose — why these women are being trafficked in the first place. They are being trafficked for prostitution and various forms of other commercial sex. That means you have to take a look at the various venues where sex is sold.
About a year or so ago, the Toledo Blade ran a series about a sex-trafficking ring that was recruiting young girls from Ohio for a prostitution network that extended well beyond Ohio, into Pennsylvania, and to many other states. People were shocked to find out that these pimps were recruiting and actually considered Toledo to be a prime place for recruiting girls for their sex-trafficking ring.
The number of people being trafficked each year appears staggering.
The Department of State has an office to monitor and combat trafficking of persons, and they issue an annual report which gives a global survey of trafficking. By their estimation, 800,000 people are trafficked across borders each year. In the United States, we really don't have a good handle on the annual incidents of trafficking. We do know that approximately 200,000 to 300,000 children are very much at risk of being lured and recruited into sex trafficking rings. Missing children, runaway children, children in group homes.
It's estimated that roughly 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. It's been estimated that anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 people are in a condition of slavery in the United States.
I understand the annual U.S. State Department report — the Trafficking in Persons report — does not include the U.S. Does that contribute to a lack of awareness?
You're right. The TIP report that is issued by the State Department every year, does do a global survey of trafficking. It's not meant to examine U.S. domestic policy. What the U.S. has done then, the Department of Justice has begun issuing an annual report on its efforts to combat trafficking.
How can people recognize if someone is in this situation; what are the signs to watch for? And what should they do if they do see someone they suspect is in this situation?
There are definitely some clues. You need to consider, is the person controlled by another person? Does there appear to be a controlling person or a boss who does all the speaking for that person? Can you tell whether or not the person has any control over their personal schedule, or their money, their ID, their travel documents? Is this person transported to and from work? Or do they live and work in the same place? Does the individual owe a debt to their employer, to their crew leader? And do they have an ability to leave their job site? Do you see physical evidence of trafficking, perhaps if there's bruises, or maybe you notice severe depression or fear, or the person seems overly submissive.
What should people do if they do recognize someone in this situation? How can Christians get involved in this?
You should definitely call a hotline. The Department of Health and Human Services has a hotline: (888) 373-7888. Just call and make a report. The Salvation Army has a Web site that has a list of different ways people can help.
Do you see a connection between the pornography industry and sex trafficking?
I definitely see a connection.
You have pornography that's used as a form of instruction so that those who are inexperienced sexually can be trained on what's expected of them when they're trafficked and prostituted around the country. You have trafficking victims being used in the production of pornography, because they are under complete and utter control of other people, they are forced to perform the most degrading and difficult forms of sex acts.
Does one average guy viewing porn, does that contribute to the problem of sex trafficking, and how?
What I fear, for even the one average guy who's looking at pornography, is that what he's getting exposed to is somebody else's conceptualization of sexuality, and what it means to be sexual with a woman. I can tell you that those depictions of sexuality are exceedingly violent, they're exceedingly degrading to women, and I fear that eventually, over time, his brain is absorbing this, and he's getting this message, that, 'Oh, well this must be what women expect.' So in his own personal relationships, he's going to expect women to perform a certain way, to look a certain way, and he's not going to think anything of expecting her to perform degrading acts, or being even violent toward his partners.
What do you hope to see in the U.S. and worldwide in the next five years on this issue?
I hope that people will begin making some of the logical connections between sex trafficking and the sex industry. If we could stop demand for commercial sex, there wouldn't be any reason for women and girls to be trafficked into prostitution.
These groups that are helping people address sex addictions are hugely important, and I think the church needs to do everything possible to help facilitate these kinds of ministries. Helping these people, giving them the support, the Christian resources that they need to help overcome their addiction, is another important part of helping curb the demand for commercial sex.
We have this toxic thing that we're wading in constantly, which is hypersexualizing females, hypersexualizing children, sending cultural messages that pimping is cool or that women were meant to be prostitutes, normalizing sexual violence. We're surrounded by this constantly, through magazines, through television shows, through radio, through music. To the degree that we, as Christians, sit back and tolerate this, then we are culpable in what happens.
We are culpable.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To learn more or to take action, visit The Salvation Army Web site.
