Travesty in Dallas

"A strip club owner is calling for 10,000 strippers to come to Dallas for the Super Bowl…He'll hire all the strippers he can 'get his hands on'." The female newscaster had a giggle in her voice, pleased with the pun, or perhaps the nonconformity of the story. I sat in my car, horrified. When did this become funny? An industry of exploitation built on human trafficking, dehumanization, and objectification is not a joke.

"A strip club owner is calling for 10,000 strippers to come to Dallas for the Super Bowl…He'll hire all the strippers he can 'get his hands on'." The female newscaster had a giggle in her voice, pleased with the pun, or perhaps the nonconformity of the story. I sat in my car, horrified. When did this become funny? An industry of exploitation built on human trafficking, dehumanization, and objectification is not a joke.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, mostly-male travelers are already swarming in for pre-game partying with their friends and with strangers. And, as the strip club owner called for, the sex trade workers have come: exotic dancers, prostitutes (adults and children, male and female), foreigners who came to America for opportunities but were forced into slavery by violent pimps. Some new "entrepreneurs" have naively come, hitchhiking to Dallas in hopes of making quick cash. Others come in vans driven by those who control them, as they travel from event to event, never staying long enough in one city to escape.

For strippers, the lifestyle often leads to prostitution, STD's, abortion, children out of wedlock, violence, abuse, drug use, shame, emotional scarring, and more. For the clients, strip clubs can go hand in hand with increased pornography use, intimacy issues, sexual promiscuity, dissatisfaction with their wives, adultery, use of prostitutes, and a whole host of other problems.

I know, I know. Not all exotic dancers are prostitutes; not all are coerced. While many are high school dropouts, we've all heard of the "smart and ambitious" woman who's paying her way through college or the good mother just trying to supporting her kids. Some argue that women should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies. But whenever there's a lack of clarity from an earthly perspective, we can always trust the heavenly one.

The Bible reminds us that these women (and men) are made in the image of God. It calls us to stand up for those who can't fight for themselves. It teaches us that sex was created by God for marriage, that it is good and pure and satisfying within that commitment. It tells us not to lust after others, and that sexual temptation is a door that the enemy uses to take people down. Not a laughing matter.

If you haven't read Gail Seidel's fantastic blog about human trafficking earlier this week, go check it out now. She lists resources and advocacy groups, as well as ways you can help. Many churches have recovery ministries. The sex-worker ministry Triple X church, will be in Dallas during the game. Many people just need a way out. Most need replacement job skills, education and a paycheck. Some need housing. Others need protection from their pimps. All of them, just like all of us, need to know that grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient. The resurrection power is strong enough to create a new life for them. There is freedom, and that's not joke.