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Our friends at the National Center On Sex Exploitation (NCOSE) recently conducted a great webinar by Lisa Thompson called “The Truth About Sex Trafficking”. Check it out here if you are so inclined.

A couple of the major points from the Federal Human Trafficking Report in 2017:

• Sex trafficking is 20x more prevalent than labor trafficking
• 56% of sex trafficking is solely the trafficking of children
• 15% is solely the trafficking of adults
• 84% is internet-based commercial sexual exploitation

According to Ms. Thompson, and I couldn’t agree more, “pornography is sex trafficking”. As she so eloquently states, “there is great fluidity between sexually oriented businesses and the victims can be exploited in multiple ways – stripping, camming, porn videos, prostitution.”

Porn viewers and consumers are absolutely contributing to the enormous demand in the sex industry, making it a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. Many interviews with trafficking victims tell harrowing tales of being used to produce the porn, being groomed by the exposure to porn and being asked to replicate acts someone has seen in porn and been fantasizing about.

Porn and sex trafficking are inextricably linked, and these statistics and stories tell the brutal facts. In our ebook, Porn Slaves, (available to download here) we discuss further the correlation between the pornography industry and human trafficking.

While we often think of the victims as a girl or boy from some far-off land, more than likely they are a local kid, or woman or man who is being exploited. These folks really could be the girl or boy next door.

These predators prey on the weakness and brokenness of the individual using violence, drugs and alcohol, coercion and psychological abuse to keep them “earning” for them. I would never say that 100% of those in the commercial sex industry are trafficked, because that is not true. Some do choose this life; however, it is ALWAYS trafficking when they are a kid, and everyone in the industry suffers. Did you know the average age of death in the commercial sex trade is 34 years old?

Pray for an end to the demand side, pray for these poor souls suffering these atrocities and pray for our friends at NCOSE and our work here at Integrity Restored. This is a battle we must keep fighting…

In Christ’s mercy and hope,

Jim O’Day

Executive Director