I have strange hobbies. One of them is reading extensively about human trafficking and the brokenness of the human condition that contributes to it. This past week I have absorbed several more books as I continue to learn about this human rights crisis. The following except from the conclusion of The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade by Victor Malarek manages to succinctly describe our inability to "love our neighbor as we love ourself."
Government bureaucrats lament that their nations lack an adequate legal framework to tackle the problem, with the implication that their intentions are thwarted by inadequate laws. Well, let's get one thing straight. Assault is assault. Confinement is confinement. Rape is rape. And since the sanctions for dealing with these egregious offences already exist in every law in every nation on the planet, nothing prevents them from prosecuting traffickers under their own criminal codes.
With few exceptions, most governments and police forces view trafficking in human beings as a far less serious crime than trafficking in guns or drugs. Most approach it primarily as an illegal immigration issue, and this may have something to do with unspoken biases. Better someone else's daughters, the thinking goes; at least whoever's frequenting them isn't out raping our own. Such views rear their ugly heads not only in back-room whispers but also in public debates by people who should know better. How can we ever expect to stem this odious trade if we think it is acceptable to buy, sell and rape any human being?
Other social biases also come into play. In the minds of most people, these women are prostitutes who have willingly chosen their route. Why should we give a damn? As heartless as it sounds, this thinking is ingrained in the minds of most cops on the beat. They steadfastly believe that virtually any woman who accepts money for sex must have entered "the world's oldest profession" with eyes wide open. They can't fathom that anyone could be so naive as to fall for the promise of "real jobs" in far-off foreign lands. As a result, the cops on the front lines rarely look beyond the mascara and the stiletto heels, and the authorities seldom investigate whether the women were abducted, tricked, or coerced. First and foremost, trafficking is not an illegal migration issue; it is violation of human rights.
Victor Malarek is one of many voices helping to speak against the lie that people are defined by their circumstances and experiences. Reader, your job and your role are not your identity. I am more than the sum of my actions. For victims of sex trafficking, it is especially devastating when all of society is echoing the lies told to them by their pimps, "clients", and previous abusers: you are a prostitute. A slut. A whore. You are worth only what twenty minutes of abuse can earn. You are unworthy of love or respect. You deserve your suffering. These are evil lies, but what disturbs me even more is that people seem more inclined to clutch or spit these lies when viewing minority groups. Whether it is Cambodian women who are trafficked into Thailand or Moldovian women into Italy or Thai women into America or even foster care children in Los Angeles--it seems that there is always a group of people to whom it is more "acceptable" that fate be cruel and ruthless.
Our capacity for prejudice is astonishing, but the good news is that the Gospel counters with greater astonishment. We are called to regard those who suffer as people with equal value to us. Even more astonishingly, God tells us to give them preference. To respond to their plight as if it is Christ Himself who suffers. To love that much is incomprehensible, but I am walking in that direction.
