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One day, a woman involved in prostitution stood at the corner where we stopped for a traffic light. Looking at her through the glass, I commented to my boss, “It would be really interesting to have a conversation with her, just to learn about her life and what brought her to this place.”

Within two years I was given the opportunity to do just that. As an advocate for the prevention of exploitation, I have heard stories of survivors from all sides of commercial sexual exploitation, alarming accounts of heartbreak and sorrow, but also reason to hope. Here are some of their stories.

Heidi grew up in a small town. She had good grades. She was involved in church and school activities. Heidi went to college, and, in her first year, was date-raped by a male student. Out of that trauma, she emerged a very hurt and vulnerable young woman. Heidi did not get the counseling and support she needed. She didn’t feel like she could talk with anyone from her church or family, and at the time sexual assault services were not available on her campus. She ended up blaming herself for what happened.

Heidi’s self-esteem continued to crumble, and it wasn’t long before a pimp recognized her vulnerability and manipulated her into stripping and prostitution. For the next 10 years he used threats and physical violence to move her from place to place, keeping her trapped under his power.

Heidi’s story touched something in me. I began to see all the times in my life when I questioned who I was, or what my purpose or value in life was. In some ways, I had been a pretty naïve kid; but I wasn’t all that different from a lot of other young people. I was taught to be nice and to trust people. I didn’t have much training in dealing with clever manipulators. Even though I had not been traumatized by a violent assault or rape, such as Heidi had experienced, I could have been easy pickings for someone seeking to do me harm.

Sadly, Heidi’s story is not unique. Other sex industry survivors share similar stories of being caught up in deception. At their most vulnerable, they craved what they were made to believe was love and affection offered by their recruiters. The recruiters know what works. They make the young individuals feel as if they are the most important people in the world. This feigned love and affection leads them to readily accept promises of excitement, money, and glamour. The survivors tell how they were intentionally separated from their families and other support structures, and, in the hands of skillful manipulators, the young people often thought they had chosen prostitution themselves.

Mark is a reformed ex-pimp. Twenty years ago, Mark assumed a fatherly role to recruit vulnerable girls, usually 13-17 years old, into his stable (the group of young women he was pimping). He used force to retain them, and purposefully tried to drive them out of their minds. Although he is thankful for God’s intervention in his life to get him out of pimping, Mark candidly admits that at one time there was no tactic too strong, no line at which he would stop.

David managed strip clubs for 14 years. He used to be proud of his ability to recruit, to take nearly any young woman into stripping at a so-called gentleman’s club. Afterwards he watched the devastating results of drugs and alcohol as countless young women tried to numb the pain of the loss of self-respect, abusive relationships, sexual harassment, and derailed career dreams.

We have all heard the assumptions and excuses for prostitution and strip clubs: It’s just harmless entertainment; It’s a good way to pay for college; It’s her choice. Once I had heard the real life accounts of Mark and David, I was given a window of clarity; I was able to see beneath the more visible, outer surface of the industry. I could no longer believe that only certain people would be engaged in this world. The young women and girls Mark and David spoke of were like Heidi — like me — suddenly caught in something bigger than they could have imagined.

Listening to Heidi, Mark, David, and many other survivors and advocates from across the country, I soon realized that sexual exploitation is a multi-billion dollar industry with many victims and only one purpose: to generate money for a few through the corruption of many others. Young women and men in particular were falling victim to the wiles of industry professionals on a daily basis. I could not afford to be just a casually interested observer any longer; I knew I needed to get involved. I had to find a way to help make a difference.


This revelation began for me after I left that first job and moved to Minnesota. In 1992, I met Pastor Al and Ina Erickson through involvement in my church. The Erickson’s had a relative who had been cleverly enticed into prostitution, forced to do things she would have never done on her own. Inspired by their activism, I started working with Pastor Al the next year at the Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution (A-STOP), the organization he founded to prevent commercial sexual exploitation. Now, 14 years since its inception, the organization has grown into Adults Saving Kids (ASK), with an increasing number of resources, volunteers, and employees who are committed to the safety of young people.

When I think back to my carpool musings several years prior, I realize I have received the answer to my own question for the woman on the street: “What brought you to this place?” While I never did have the opportunity to speak to her, I have been able to hear the accounts of numerous others who have survived lives of exploitation. I have learned of young people all across the country who have been forced into prostitution, an estimated 300,000 juveniles in the United States alone. Many youth get in when they are 14 years old or younger.¹ Because of my work with Adults Saving Kids, I am now aware and familiar with the faces on the street. I see and recognize a system of commercial sexual exploitation — prostitution, pornography, and stripping — in which people are simply commodities to be literally bought and sold.

Sex sells! All too often we have heard and seen this message, mass produced by the media and marketing worlds. But the reality of sexual exploitation is nothing like the fairy tale glamour of the movie Pretty Woman and other celluloid and print products promoted and sold under the banner of entertainment. Physically and commercially abusing the gifts that God has given in fact prostitutes the very thing we should be able to celebrate: the fact that we are sexual beings created in the image of God. To distort those gifts, to lose a healthy attitude toward the God-given gift of our own sexuality, is a loss that is difficult — almost impossible — to recover.

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Looking the other way — pretending that this real and pervasive industry is not alive and well across the United States — is simply foolish and even more dangerous. When we allow our sisters and brothers to be misused, abused, and bought and sold, we are also a part of the problem. Commercial sexual exploitation has thrived because we have allowed it to.


And yet, in the midst of all the ugliness, there is hope. There is hope in communication, education, and the acknowledged reality of sexual exploitation that allows solutions to come forth. More concretely, there is hope in the bold actions of many survivors, activists, and volunteers. Here are a few stories of such hope.

Mary has been a sexual assault therapist for over 20 years. For most of her professional career, Mary’s faith life was not connected with her work. She didn’t talk about God at work, and the church didn’t talk about sexual assault and abuse. As she struggled with the issues presented by her clients, Mary often wondered, “Where is the church?” Finally, Mary has found a way to bring her knowledge to the church and help the church act on it. Filling her roles as a volunteer speaker and member of an Adults Saving Kids team in the LaCrosse Area Synod, Mary brings the lives of thousands of survivors to the church and to the world as she works to prevent the trauma they have experienced from being perpetuated further by continued apathy or lack of knowledge.

Another unexpected glimpse of hope recently surfaced in an article in a Minneapolis-St. Paul newspaper, the Star Tribune (April 24, 2004). Curt Brown wrote about a “john school” attended by men arrested for “prostitution-related charges.” As reported by Brown, the men in attendance start the daylong event in expected reluctance. But something happens as the day unfolds. As they listen to the stories of prostitution survivors, their hearts begin to change. When they hear and see the physical and emotional suffering to which they have exposed themselves, their families, and the women in prostitution, most commit to change their behavior.

With compassionate education and communication, those who have been a part of the problem begin to see how addressing the demand for prostitution will disrupt the system of sexual exploitation. These brief, but clear visions of hope call us to face the reality of sexual exploitation boldly. Without them, the chaotic deception of sexual exploitation can only lead to death — the death of relationships, the death of innocence, the emotional and far-too-often physical death of someone’s child. With hope, we need to heed the call to act boldly.

We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. In the ELCA’s Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation we read that our faith “calls us all to attend to, discuss, resist, and reject the system of sexual exploitation”.² We need to look beyond the car window, into the streets, and deep into our own hearts. Who is the woman on the corner? Who is the boy in the shadows? What, given our knowledge and our powerful resources, would Jesus ask us to do in our communities?


While responses to these questions will vary from person to person, community to community, certain common themes emerge. First, individually and as cohesive communities, we need to face the reality of what is going on in commercial sexual exploitation. You have already taken the first step by reading this article. The next step may be to share this article with others and continue to learn more yourself. It may not always be easy; we will need prayer and the support of others to do this.

We must then assess the situation to determine what is missing to help give those in need the tools to stay safe. Are children and parents having conversations about sex that avoid attaching shame and encourage healthy, safe lives? This can be a challenging conversation to begin, but one that empowers families and communities. As these conversations continue over time, a common language based on trust helps develop positive, healthy views of each individual’s own inherent sexual nature. One of the best gifts you can ever give is to share openly, honestly, and consistently with those you love and care for.

Knowledge is power. Imagine a young adult who sees the human body, not as a mystery or something to be ashamed of, but as a reflection of God’s image. Likewise, it is important to educate and inform young people of the realities of sexual exploitation and to fully equip them to keep them from danger. Imagine the increased ability this person would have to deflect negative interactions with those who prey on young women and men. Imagine their response to situations or materials that seek to present a distorted view of others and their bodies.

It doesn’t stop at our own front door. Think of the young people in your congregations. Do they know in a very real and concrete way that the church cares about them? Are adults in the congregation intentionally praying for the children? Are adults speaking about ways they themselves can resist being drawn into the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation, thereby decreasing the demand for the industry that allows it to survive? Are pastors and members speaking about these issues from the pulpit or other venues?

It doesn’t stop at the church property line, either. Where in your community are there places that young people get lost? We see them, but we haven’t really seen them. We need to employ a lens that encompasses care for all God’s children. What is lacking in our community systems that could help keep these young souls out of harm’s way?

These questions may well call you to move to action. It is our hope and desire that every person, every women’s or men’s group, and every congregation will pray, listen, and respond. In doing so, we live the love of Jesus that caused him to take a risk in order to value and bless the lives of children and others who were vulnerable. It is a gift for us to be able to do the same!

Amy Hartman will be the Co-Executive Director of Adults Saving Kids starting June 1. She is also a Master of Arts student at Luther Seminary, working toward being consecrated as a diaconal minister in the ELCA. She and her husband attend Our Saviour’ s Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis.

Notes
1 Both statistics are from the ELCA Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, pg. 3.
2 ELCA Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, pg. 1.

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© 2004 Women of the ELCA. All written material, graphic elements, and related indicia are copyrighted by Women of the ELCA and may not be printed or electronically reproduced without express written consent.