Abstract
There is a lack of contributions in sex trafficking the academic literature from Christian evangelical leaders despite their prominence in global counter-trafficking activism. Given that the academic literature influences professional and pedagogical discourse, the lack of evangelical Christian representation could diminish the complexity of trafficking discourses, limit balanced views of the flaws and strengths of evangelical counter-trafficking, and limit the opportunities for academia to understand and address problematic areas in evangelical counter-trafficking through an emic understanding of evangelical paradigms. Using a phenomenological lens to engage evangelical Christian pastors (n = 17) in the midwestern United States, this study examined the meaning faith leaders attach to counter-trafficking initiatives. Four themes emerged: (1) God cares about survivors of sex trafficking, giving Christians a moral obligation to intervene; (2) God, the Christian, and the survivor all have essential roles in tackling sex trafficking as part of helping humanity; (3) congregations’ faith-inspired but imperfect efforts to help an imperfect and complex world create many complexities; and (4) managing complexity involves applying the truths that underpin the Christian worldview, namely that God is good and people are valuable. These findings underscore the need to create an inclusive knowledge-producing forum that allows for a pragmatic exchange of ideas to expand the discourse between multiple counter trafficking actors.
Highlights
Sex trafficking has gained a place in the global discourse as the crime everyone loves to hate (Bernstein 2018)
Many sectors are involved in addressing human trafficking, including law enforcement (Levy and Vandenberg 2016), social service providers (Gerassi and Nichols 2018), and spiritual and religious groups (United States Department of State 2020)
Due to the moral and legal ambiguities involved in defining and criminalizing ‘sex trafficking’ and the powerful implications of these for the social and legal censorship/protection of women’s sexual rights, several different positions have arisen regarding sex trafficking. These positions are usually encased within three broad narratives that all lay claim to a form of feminist reasoning: (i) sex trafficking is a “myth” promulgated by those who seek to censor women’s bodies and regulate their morality (e.g., Kempadoo 2012; Sanghera 2012); (ii) sex trafficking is an existent injustice resulting from patriarchy and other forms of gender, class, and race-based oppression which must be abolished (e.g., Bryant-Davis and Tummala-Narra 2017; Farley 2006); (iii) sex trafficking is distinct from sex work, the conflation of which combined with carceral feminism results in harm to sex workers especially and trafficked individuals (e.g., Cojacaru 2016; Gerassi and Nichols 2018)
Summary
Sex trafficking has gained a place in the global discourse as the crime everyone loves to hate (Bernstein 2018). Due to the moral and legal ambiguities involved in defining and criminalizing ‘sex trafficking’ and the powerful implications of these for the social and legal censorship/protection of women’s sexual rights, several different positions have arisen regarding sex trafficking. These positions are usually encased within three broad narratives that all lay claim to a form of feminist reasoning: (i) sex trafficking is a “myth” promulgated by those who seek to censor women’s bodies and regulate their morality (e.g., Kempadoo 2012; Sanghera 2012); (ii) sex trafficking is an existent injustice resulting from patriarchy and other forms of gender-, class-, and race-based oppression which must be abolished (e.g., Bryant-Davis and Tummala-Narra 2017; Farley 2006); (iii) sex trafficking is distinct from sex work, the conflation of which combined with carceral feminism results in harm to sex workers especially and trafficked individuals (e.g., Cojacaru 2016; Gerassi and Nichols 2018). Each broad narrative takes differing stances regarding agency, danger, pleasure, and power regarding women’s sexual rights
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