"In a “savior” narrative, rescuing men who raid brothels, bust down doors, beat the “bad guys,” or slay the dragon are central. Rescuing a trafficking victim (or a princess locked in a tower) is less about the victim and more about men showcasing their manhood and warrior prowess. Conversely, women are portrayed as weak, helpless, and in desperate need of men to save and protect them...

Victim/survivors, and all women, deserve more than short-lived, feel-good acts of chivalry or performative rescue missions. We need men to radically step out of their comfort zone and use their existing relationships and platforms to promote resistance and build long-term solutions..."

See post on CBE International's blog HERE.

Edited 2/16/18

Dear John,

​I am very glad you are here. I’m not just saying that, I truly mean it. This class today has the potential to change your life. We wouldn’t spend eight hours of our personal time with you on a Saturday if we didn’t believe in you and your capacity for change.

I can assume most of you are coming into this class with a lot of shame because your secret was exposed and your pictures were posted in the paper.

Hopefully, through this class, your guilt will transition from a place of feeling bad only because you got caught, to a place that drives you to be better, because you now have the full knowledge of what you have done to another human being and will have no desire to inflict such deep hurt again.

Shame comes from internal and external sources. When shame speaks, it tells you that you are worthless, incapable of loving and being loved, a bad person, and will never be able to change. I will tell you now that none of those messages are true about you.

Guilt, on the other hand, is an important emotion. When you feel guilt, it means you have violated your own internal values and morals. Hopefully you know at your core that it was wrong to use a woman for your consumption and disposal, and that women deserve better than that- to be treated with dignity, respect, and humanity.

Guilt is what motivates us to change and make right what was wrong. Guilt can drive us to be better.

By now, you have probably discovered that your choices do not only impact you. They impact the women you purchased, your partner, your children, your friends, your employers, co-workers, the entire community, and people who you don’t know and will never meet.

Our culture feeds you the lie that pornography, prostitution, and the sex industry are harmless and people choose to do this. We’re going to share the unsanitized truth with you today.

The differences between rape and exploiting someone in the sex trade are insignificant. Buying a human being’s body in this way is both sexual violence and slavery. However, it is more socially acceptable because as a man, you have been conditioned to believe that a certain class of women should be available to serve you whenever you want, however you want. This is what we call “entitlement.”

I guarantee you will have some deeply-held beliefs and attitudes challenged today. The content today is likely to be uncomfortable for you, and that’s okay. This is how we grow. If you feel uncomfortable simply listening to women's experiences, imagine living them. Tap into the discomfort you feel and use it as a first step in making a positive change.

I know what discomfort feels like. I work with the women you have abused and purchased. I listen to the degrading things you say and do to them day after day. As advocates and counselors, we carry these stories with us.

You don’t get to see what we see. You only see the facade that you pay to be displayed for you. You pay for her to smile and act as if she enjoys whatever vile fantasy your project onto her body.

​You may have already discovered that some women are more convincing actresses than others. She doesn’t like it. And deep down you know that too, because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t see the need to pay her in the first place. Your payment is the form of coercion.

Never confuse or call what you did to her, "sex." That was not sex, it was masturbation. Her body is simply the method you used. And it's not "harmless." It's not "a good time." And it sure as hell is not "okay." 

You don’t see the pain, the tears, the bruises, the emotional scars, the fear, the rage, the destruction, or the lifelong trauma. You also don’t see how brilliant, thoughtful, passionate, articulate, intelligent, opinionated, empathetic, strong, skilled, humorous, and resilient these women are. They are amazing people. But none of that mattered to you. The only thing that mattered to you was getting off. In that moment, you didn't care about anyone but yourself. 

Many of the survivors we work with deal with Post-Traumatic Stress all their lives. They have nightmares, they can’t sleep, they are terrified, they feel they have lost control, they feel unsafe, they are constantly hyper-vigilant and plagued with anxiety, they have trouble forming healthy relationships, they develop mental health issues, they try to numb and cope through substances, and they live with endless shame because of what you have done.

That shame should not be theirs. Your actions created the lifelong burden that survivors are forced to carry. Let me remind you that this was all preventable, had you made a non-exploitative choice.

You may realize the women that are prostituted may refer to you “Johns.” Do you know why they call you “John?” John is probably the most generic, common name out there. This is symbolic of how they see you- generic, common, and like every other man they’ve ever met.

These women see a world where men, all men, are only capable of merciless sadism- because that has been their experience time and time again. Can you blame her for thinking that? Every time you abuse her, you reinforce this message and continue to shape her worldview. 

Throughout the day, you will be hearing directly from the women we have served who have been trafficked in this area. These women have written very raw and personal letters to you. We will read these letters throughout the day. Though we can’t convey their voice or emotion behind what they wrote, you will find that most of these letters are a plea- begging you to stop taking pleasure from their pain.

But this is really a plea on behalf of all women. This is personal to every one of us. Why? Because all women live in this world- a world that says we are not human and we are sellable commodities and sex objects. A world that says you can get away with rape with impunity. That for just the right price, or just enough coercion acceptable under the law- meaning acceptable to other men- you feel entitled to use us.

It hurts all women… simply to know that your degradation, humiliation, and sexual cruelty brutalized on our bodies are central to your arousal.

It hurts for me to simply be up here knowing that you believe this about women. If men can justify hurting one woman, or one group of women who you deem unworthy of your respect, than you can justify hurting any woman.

​Your personal closeness, intimacy, care, proximity, or relationships to particular women does not protect them. So, you may not be able to justify hurting women you claim you care about, but guess who can? All the other men in this room. They don’t care about your wife, your sister, your best friend, your daughter, or any other woman who means the most to you because she isn’t “theirs.” The woman you care most about means nothing to the other men in this room.

The group of particular women you want to protect are the same group other men want to exploit. The group of women you want to exploit are the same group of women that other men want to protect. So, this really means all women are unprotected, all women can be exploited, and any woman can be your whore if you just say the word.

When the worth of a woman is determined by individual men, this subjective standard means no woman will ever universally be respected. The justifications you use are the same justifications other men use. Your circumstances are not unique, special, or more complex. You are not more “deserving” of a human sex toy because of any pain, loneliness, or hurt you have experienced. Women are not your property, not your possession, not your punching bag, and not a canvas to display your fragile masculinity onto to feel big and powerful.

You are all responsible for this. But you no longer need to play a role in her pain. You can be part of the solution.

If you hadn’t realized it already, you will find that there is a cost to consuming porn and there is a cost to exploiting women in the sex industry. The cost I’m talking about is not the monetary price you pay. The cost I’m talking about is women’s lives.

Today you get to decide: is it really worth it to you? Are your few moments of selfish pleasure worth destroying another human life?

What you gain from today is entirely up to you. It is up to you to look up, break the denial, truly listen, and engage both your heart and mind with our speakers and the testimonies of the women who have been deliberately silenced.

We’re not buying the lies and ultimately, we hope you decide today that you won’t either.

You are a person who has all the potential to become someone you admire, someone you are proud of, and someone of character and integrity.

You have the opportunity to make a decision for yourself and only you can decide what kind of person you want to become from here on.

Today, if you so choose, you can begin a journey towards truth, empathy, reconciliation, and reconnection to the humanity of others and the humanity in yourself.

That is why today, we’re not going to define you by what you did. You decide your future, and what kind of man you want to become...

Starting now.  

​-Rebecca