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<\/a><\/p>\nAs perhaps many of you know, human trafficking is one of the issues I am most passionate about,\u00a0and have had the chance to study it extensively over several years, both in the United States and India as part of my doctoral research. My research has largely been a phenomenology in human trafficking aftercare modalities, which will now be merged into my dissertation tentatively titled: Is Everything<\/em> Okay? A Theology Of Shalom In Human Trafficking Aftercare.<\/p>\n Trafficking, of course, has become a front-page cause in the Evangelical Christian world (what Ruth Graham calls\u00a0\u201cChristian Cause C\u00e9l\u00e8bre\u201d in this informative piece<\/a>). This has resulted in both net-positives as well as some negatives, something I hope my dissertation will speak to on both counts.<\/p>\n The largest deficiency of the\u00a0Christian anti-trafficking movement is an all too basic one: the cause grew so quickly and became so popular, that many individuals and even Christian organizations are now trying to work within an issue they don\u2019t fully understand<\/em>, and are trying to help people they don\u2019t understand<\/em>. No mission can succeed if you don\u2019t\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0listen to, and get to know\u00a0the people you\u2019re supposedly<\/em> helping. And that\u2019s what must change in the Christian anti-trafficking world. (Case in point: imagine becoming a missionary to India if you didn\u2019t speak Hindi, never studied Indian culture, never met anyone from India, and the only information you had came from watching a couple PBS episodes on India or from listening to one, single, Indian guest speaker at a conference? That\u2019s not how it works\u2013 but sadly is how ground-level missiology is often done by well-meaning but unprepared activists.) Not only is this unhelpful, in many cases I\u2019ve seen it\u00a0actively harming<\/em> survivors.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t to broad-brush everyone. In the course of my research I found some Christian organizations who had a great philosophy and were doing an outstanding job. I also found Christian organizations that had near unlimited funding, yet had a 100% fail rate and couldn\u2019t figure out why. Others were well intentioned, but working within a trafficking narrative derived from stereotypes about trafficking and the sex industry<\/em>\u00a0(they are not<\/span> synonymous- voluntary work in the sex industry\u00a0and work via force, fraud, or coercion are different<\/em>), and hyped-up media programs, rather than\u00a0listening to the real-life voices of workers from within the sex industry\u00a0and trafficking victims. Too often, in my experience, many Christian anti-trafficking activists haven\u2019t spoken or listened to a single survivor of trafficking beyond those survivors who travel speaking and selling books\u2013 and this, I believe, is the achilles heel of the movement.<\/p>\n In light of that, I have invited a survivor of human trafficking to\u00a0dialogue\u00a0here on the blog, so the larger Christian trafficking community can glean from her wisdom\u2013 and perhaps begin a new era of listening and learning. Meg Munoz is the founder of Abeni<\/a> in Orange County, California. Abeni<\/a>\u00a0exists to \u201ccreate a safe, confidential place for those working in the Orange County sex trades, as well as those being domestically sex trafficked.\u201d <\/span>Meg worked independently in the adult entertainment industry for several years before being trafficked, so her time in the industry encapsulates a wide variety of experiences.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0She\u00a0is also a personal friend of mine, and I\u2019m honored that she\u2019d take the time to sit down for some public dialogue together.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s post will be part of a series I will be doing with Meg. Next week I will release a full-length interview where you\u2019ll get to hear more of her inspiring story, and I will do a 3rd post (if there\u2019s reader interest\/participation) where I ask her your questions. Just use the contact form in the menu bar, type your subject line\u00a0\u201cQuestions For Meg\u201d and I\u2019ll select a handful of audience questions for the third part of our discussion.<\/em><\/p>\n The first question I\u2019ve posed to Meg\u00a0is below. She has been kind enough to include links for further reference; if you are a Christian trafficking activist, please bookmark this post and set aside the time to read the resources she has been kind enough to compile\u00a0for you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n BLC: <\/strong>\u201cThere seem to be a growing number of Christians, and a growing amount of Christian nonprofit organizations, focused on the issue of human trafficking. In my experience, far too many of these activists have never even sat down and had a discussion with a trafficking victim (or someone voluntarily working in the sex industry), which I find very concerning. If you could gather all of them into a single room, what would you tell them?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meg:\u00a0<\/strong>Here\u2019s what I\u2019d like to tell them:<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/titsandsass.com\/category\/activism<\/a>)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Heart-Sex-Workers-Christian-Response\/dp\/0827216629<\/a>)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here: \u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/transformation\/nadia-van-der-linde\/nothing-about-us-without-us-reversing-power-dynamics-of-philanthr<\/a>)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/redumbrellaproject.org\/advocate\/nyhtic\/<\/a>\u00a0and here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.vice.com\/read\/sex-workers-and-the-city-0000550-v22n1<\/a>)<\/p>\n (READ EVERY WORD OF THIS:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.canadianwomen.org\/blog\/%E2%80%9Crescue%E2%80%9D-harmful-anti-trafficking-efforts<\/a>)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.citypaper.com\/news\/mobtownbeat\/bcp-unintended-consequences-how-making-sex-trafficking-a-felony-might-hurt-sex-slaves-20150317-story.html#page=1<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0https:\/\/love146.org\/anti-trafficking-fail\/<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/jezebel.com\/sex-workers-project-asks-msnbc-to-pull-show-on-sex-slav-1717782506<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2014\/09\/is-one-of-the-most-cited-statistics-about-sex-work-wrong\/379662\/<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2014\/12\/alaskas-prostitution-law-isnt-working\/383818\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n (For further reading, visit here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/beyondslavery\/anne-elizabeth-moore\/from-brothel-to-sweatshop-questions-on-labour-trafficking-in-camb<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u00a0\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n (This is part 1 of a multi-part interview. You can find part 2 (Meg\u2019s Story)\u00a0here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n You can also follow him on Facebook<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n
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\nDr. Benjamin L. Corey is a two-time graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and holds his doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also the author of the new book, Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith, which is available wherever good books\u00a0are sold. www.Unafraid-book.com<\/a><\/p>\n