Red Light Districts

A&E's Red-Light Districts is the best documentary I've seen on the global issue of prostitution and the sex industry. And it really is a big issue, BIG. Here's A&E's official description of the program:

A two-hour special that looks at prostitution around the world. Explores Israel's underground adult world, run by the Russian mafia; Japan's $1000-a-night Geisha girls; and Nevada's Mustang Ranch. Then, peek behind closed doors at Moscow's elite "Beauty Queen" club, Los Angeles's booming sex-for-sale business, and the sex industry in Thailand, Miami, and Cuba.

The documentary also includes Amsterdam's blantant yet legal display of women in windows (think of a Victoria's Secret front window display but with real women) where men peruse like they're window shopping on Rodeo Drive. Then there's the atrocious "drive and pick" that mostly hosts transvestites from other countries where cars park into these "stable-like" spaces to do their dirty work. And yes, they were actually compared to horse stables! The appauling cherry on top was the interview with a government official who acknowledged how these activities stimulated the economy. But honestly, what good is money in the bank when it can't buy these women peaceful sleep and self-esteem?

Another interesting angle the documentary covered was prostitute advocacy groups like International Comittee for Prostitute Rights (ICPR) who fight for more healthy and safe arrangements for prostitutes. The ICPR thinks that legalizing prostitution world-wide will better protect prostitutes. Can legalized prostitution protect them from nightmares and a haunted past? Although, I applaud their helping spirit I think that legalization is the wrong way to go about solving the problem. We need to go to the root of the matter: sin. You can't fix a broken spirit and a hurting soul with a band-aid and a box of condoms. The Bible says, " Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." And these women (and men) are prime targets for the enemy of our souls. Providing education and quality jobs for the disadvantaged is a start but we've got to back it up with attending to their spiritual needs, offering them true hope.

The state of the global sex insustry is sad beyond compare! So what are we going to do? I don't have any easy 10-step answers, but I do know that we have to do something--and quick! I want to travel around the world documenting this tradegic reality and helping those involved by working to stop human trafficking and showcasing documentaries that counter the allure of the sex industry. As a journalist, this is part of my calling and God willing, I'll get to do a formal investigation and study on this when the right opportunity arises.

Search your heart and ask God how you can help. The first step may not be as momumental as you'd like it be, but telling a friend, writing a blog, doing some research or donating some money is of great worth. Especially to the women who prostitute themselves and long for a better life for their families.

I'll leave you with this one comment from the documentary that really stuck with me, that Thailand's economic growth was esstentially "built on backs of these women." So let's go out there and remind the world that mankind's true freedom and saving grace is "built on the back of Jesus".