Once again I find myself at Starbucks with many books and journals and magazines open taking over an entire table, or in this case, the bar. That’s what they get for letting me come in while writing my thesis. I basically treat it as my (second) office. Today I read through a 300 page book called Unmasked: Exposing the Cultural Sexual Assault and I have to say that I have much to think about. My focus for my thesis right now is about human trafficking and thus, my heart is heavy once more. A common occurrence as of late. If you haven’t noticed, just read my recent blog posts. I wanted to share an excerpt of the book as it hit me really hard.

The roots of sex slavery can be found in our junior high hallways. We see those roots by observing the effects of the negative message of our culture on the identity of our daughters [referring to females]. The roots of sex slavery are also seen in popular entertainment that enshrines those same values. We have allowed our daughters to be sexualized, depersonalized, and objectified, creating an atmosphere in which sexual predators thrive. This objectification and sexualization of our daughters leads to the creation of a pornography industry, which, in turn, feeds a sex-slavery industry. When we permit the message that the primary value of a women is her sexuality to pervade our entire culture, how can we shocked when people act out on that indirect invitation to partake of what is being offered to them? The appetite of the western nations for sex slavery is a direct result  of this alteration of identity, this identity theft on a generation of young women. [Unmasked by Jim Anderson p. 29]

I actually had to reread the whole section multiple times. In today’s world, we wonder why things are so bad. We wonder and then justify sexual behavior in teenagers. The same goes for involvement in pornography and the sex industry. Yet, when it comes to sex slavery, we act as if it is only foreign or has nothing to do with us. When we allow a world of sexual misconduct, promiscuity, extremities in dress, or justification of other sexual behaviors, like Anderson referenced, we actually allow for and  endorse sex slavery…without really knowing it. I have many more thoughts on this and will probably write more later, but this was a definitely impacting book. Get a copy of it and read it!