Bras, Slacktivism and the Sex Trade
Last week I debated quite a long time about posting a blog that had to do with bra shopping, not realizing that two days later women would be broadcasting the color of their bras to all their friends, family and colleagues on Facebook, in an attempt to raise awareness for breast cancer. This raised a few eyebrows and hopefully a few dollars for the cause, but ultimately, I think, it was just a lighthearted event that will soon be forgotten.
In our society it is very easy to get involved in slacktivism, that according to NPR's Shereen Maragi, is "virtual activism with no real results." It's a valid concern. Many of us have causes that we support (at least with a mouse click) on our social pages like Facebook and My Space. But do we do anything but provide lip service to these causes?
Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. I know this because my daughter, Aleah, has been sending me information about it. This summer Aleah is hoping to find an internship with an organization that deals with sex trafficking as part of her Global Studies degree at ASU.
Several days ago I watched a video that she sent me, "The Day Our God Died" about girls in a brothel in India (http://www.hulu.com/watch/69769/global-voices-the-day-my-god-died). I found it very disturbing. Not only for the girls caught in this nightmare, but also that my daughter is interested in getting involved.
It's one thing to click on a cause to show interest on Facebook. It's quite another to send your daughter. I find myself dealing with fear. Fear of my daughter getting involved; of dealing with men and women who are making a lot of money off these girls and have no reason to want to change; who won't appreciate an idealistic American coming in and poking her nose in their business. It could get ugly. I want my daughter a million miles away from it, safe at home, eating dinner with the family.
When I mentioned my concerns to Aleah, she assured me, "Mom, I'm too old." I did not find that comforting. I did not find it comforting that the average age of girls in the sex trade is 14, so my daughter, at 21, feels she is safe. I look at her and think, "You're not too old. You're not too old to get into trouble or to walk into danger. You're not too old to get your heart broken."
In his book, Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus talks about the dangers of raising children to be so safe that they find nothing appealing about following Christianity. "We raise our children in the cocoon of domesticated faith and wonder why they run as far as they can to find adventure." Rather, McManus contends, "if our children are going to walk away from Christ, we need to raise them in such a way that they understand to walk away from Jesus is to walk away from a life of faith, risk and adventure, and to choose a life that is boring, mundane and ordinary."
I don't know exactly how it happened, but I realize my husband and I raised our daughter to be a risk-taker and to follow God wherever He takes her. Today, I'm wondering, WHAT WERE WE THINKING!? Boring, mundane and ordinary is looking pretty good right now! But Aleah is not content to merely talk about making a difference in this world. She's not content to click on causes on Facebook, to be involved in slacktivism. She wants to get personally involved.
So while Aleah is doing her research, I am watching my daughter become a woman who I admire and want to emulate - compassionate, beautiful, adventurous, and called by God. And today it frightens me.