D.C. Massage Parlor

Here is another piece of news sent to me from Polaris Project.  If you'd like to receive these updates, you can do so at  http://act.polarisproject.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=2986.

"A downtown Washington D.C. business has shut down after nearly a year of operation, Change.org reports.

Sky Spa presented itself as a massage parlor. According to a suit brought by the District government, however, the joint functioned as a locus of prostitution. Polaris Project has alleged that it was part of a national network for trafficking Asian women into prostitution, .

Most recently local activists launched a campaign on Change.org asking the business's landlord, Jerry Schaeffer, to shut down the operation and refuse to rent to other such operations in the future.
The so-called spa had the vibe of a place offering something more than just rub-downs. Windows were blacked out, customers were monitored with security cameras, it operated seven days a week until 2 a.m. and catered only to men.
Spas of this sort have a record of "reopen[ing] at the same location under a different name," said Dan Brooks, the activist who created the campaign for grassroots organization DC Stop Modern Slavery."

 When I saw that this article was about a D.C. locale, I first wondered if I had ever heard of Sky Spa.  Then upon realizing that I've never heard of Sky Spa, I thought to myself, "Of course I've never heard of it, I'm a guy.  I don't frequent spas."

Now, I know that some men do frequent spas on occasion.  There's certainly nothing 'unmanly' about receiving a massage or something or another (I really have no idea what other things someone can pay for in a spa), but I hope that I'm not alone in questioning the validity of a spa that only provides for male customers.  Please, someone correct me if there's nothing suspicious in that.  But this Sky Spa place went a number of steps further in blacking out the windows, monitoring the clients on video cameras, and staying open until 3 a.m.  I can't imagine desperately wanting a massage that early in the morning/late at night.  I struggle maintaining faith in humanity when I read that this place was allowed to operate for even a year.  Did it really take that long for people to figure out that this wasn't a normal spa?

Because I've never heard of the place I did a Google search to look it up.  The district isn't the biggest city in the country, so not much is far away from me, but being in the northwest section of D.C. on Massachusetts Avenue, Sky Spa's location on the corner of Connecticut and Rhode Island Northwest is fairly close.  Given my question above, I question whether I should start going to spas that are nearby to help out in discovering these places faster.  Even without giving it much thought I fear that I don't have the courage.  But more discomforting is whether or not I actually care enough to risk myself for the sake of others.  I think that perhaps many people, if they are honest, would come to the same uncomfortable thought.  Do we actually care enough to spend a significant amount of money or to risk ourselves or to 'waste' a few hours of our time to help other human beings who may be held in various forms of captivity?  Without doubt this is a level of selfishness that requires some serious reflection, to deal with it and hopefully conquer it, because my dignity in the image of God can only be maintained if the dignity of others is upheld.

What most strikes at my heart when I looked up the location of Sky Spa, though, are the advertisements I saw on the page that came up when I clicked on Sky Spa.  Sky Spa is listed on the website of a little organization named Spa Hunters.  I had doubts about an organization that would title itself Spa Hunters, as if spas would need to be hunted out from the depths of obscurity and create an underground network of secret spas.  The explanation at the bottom of the page is that it is often hard in metropolitan areas to know which spas are 'worthwhile.'  Taking a quick glance on the page with Sky Spa's information on it, I know exactly what these spa hunters mean by 'worthwhile.' 

A friend of mine who was working with me in the library as I'm typing up this blog entry looked over at me while I was looking disgustedly at the page, and she remarked, "John John, are you looking at porn????!!!!"  Seriously, little else could be concluded from all the advertisements on the Spa Hunter page.  Young Asian women were displayed with very little clothing on, often with the head of the woman cut-off so that you could only see her breasts and mid-section, as the picture advertisement for the other spas advertising.  And these pictures would flash back and forth with words like, "We know how to make you feel GOOD!" and assurances that the spa is open late or 24/7.  One advertisement even claims to be a Swedish spa but with a picture of an Asian woman pushing together her breasts. 

Advertisements like those must work or the spas would stop using them.  The unfortunate truth is that many Asian spas and massage parlors are known to be places of prostitution where you can get a whole lot more than a massage.  These spas aren't even bothering to try and cover that fact up, they are blatantly advertising it as the reason to choose that particular spa, as the reason why that spa is worthwhile.  And when advertising such as this is so successful and widespread, how am I, one person, supposed to change the culture that makes these places of Asian trafficking well-established?

I have no answer to that question.  And because I have no answer I am left feeling depressed at the moment.  But I choose to remain steadfast in my hope that with God I can make a difference, I will make a difference; and that you all reading this can make a difference, will make a difference.

Maryland Case

Polaris Project recently forwarded this news article about a Maryland case of human trafficking.  

'Linthicum, MD -

LINTHICUM, MD (CNN) - A Maryland was been charged with human trafficking when a teenager's mother alerted the police after reading text messages from her daughter.

"The 19 year-old wanted out from New Jersey, and wasn't being allowed to do so," said officer Justin Mulcahy.

That's when Janesha Harris began texting her mom.

"That's amazing that she had that kind of family support," said Joy Lepola

Court documents detail how Harris was warned by the other girls that leaving was not that  easy.

"They got involved in this, they're lured in, whether it's through money or lifestyle and there's also drugs and alcohol involved," Mulcahy said. "There comes a point where they do want out, and we have had cases in the past where they've been held against their will, as in this particular case."

Harris said 26 year-old Edward Perkins told her he operated an escort business and that she could make "mad" money. She also explained how he supplied her with alcohol and drugs.

"It appears that the adult male was using BackPage.com as a sort of a front for prostitution," Mulcahy said.

Harris told police that Perkins photographed her in erotic positions and then posted the photos on BackPage.com.

Court records indicate Perkins also listed the prices for certain services and a phone number for clients to call. Those clients would then be steered to a hotel where they would meet up with the girls.

"I can't say that every hotel property has this kind of problem, but certainly there are significant problems within many hotels where women and girls are being exploited on a regular basis, and their pimps are operating unchecked," Mulcahy said.'

Though I live in D.C., I've never heard of Linthicum, Maryland before.  I looked it up and found out that it's very near Baltimore.  I suppose that I'm not surprised: cities are the focal point of trafficking operations.  But reading this story about a suburb that I have never heard of, though I have lived in this area for a couple of years, only confirms for me that this terrible evil does indeed go on all around us.

I can't say that reading a lot of stories and books about human trafficking has desensitized me at all to stories like that of Janesha Harris.  All I can say is thank God she had the opportunity to contact her family, and thank God she had family to still care for her.

What's Up with the City-scape Background?

When I was thinking about what the appearance of this blog should be I instantly thought of using a picture of extreme poverty or someone in chains.  But as I started putting everything together, I realized that throwing up a picture of extreme poverty (most likely associated with Africa, South America, or India) or of someone in chains would only distance us from the reality of this issue.  Too often when the word 'slavery' comes up in conversation our minds jump immediately to the past, to some other country, or perhaps maybe of the people that are homeless that we often pass by on the streets, we effectively allow ourselves not to become too closely involved because we think that slavery and trafficking are not happening all around us or that we aren't directly affected.

The truth is that we are directly involved.  I chose a city-scape background at night because, to me, nothing better elucidates the reality of slavery in this country.  Street-walkers (prostitutes) and strippers line our cities' streets at night, and our general response is to condemn the 'pawns' on moral grounds.  And while we believe that we are taking the high-road we ignore the fact that many massage parlors in our cities are places harboring trafficked slaves, and many restaurants as well (yes, restaurants).  Nor do we put much effort in smoking out the hidden but not-so-hidden brothels in our cities or eliminating the root social causes that allow pimps or self-named businessmen/women to turn a huge profit in these various areas of trafficking. 

Calling pimps 'businessmen/women' is probably much more accurate.  Many people are sucked into slavery because they are smoothly tricked into it with the promise of a better future.  Many people become addicted to drugs that they eventually can't pay for, and then are forced to pay back the dealers with their bodies (and forget about paying back debts and then leaving.  Drug addiction is very serious and though many leave their submission, many return because they cannot handle the withdrawal).  Many that are in slavery are scared to escape because the police, given our social climate and our laws, punish the prostitutes and enslaved themselves rather than unraveling the pimp's control.  Many are promised higher salaries in busy industries like restaurants and massage parlors, salaries that gradually become a myth but there's no time to find another job and quitting without prospects would only lead to homelessness.

All of this happens in our downtowns.  Downtown Boston, Oakland, D.C., Detroit, New York, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle.  You name the city and the chances are nearly 100% that some form of trafficking/slavery is going on right under your nose.  In fact, if you reside in a town, not a city, there's still a good chance that some form of trafficking/slavery is going on under your nose.  There are 27 million slaves in the world.  That number could not become so large if trafficking were not so lucrative, and because trafficking is so lucrative it is also very widespread. 

So, I hope that when you see this city-scape background that it will help you carry the image around with you in your daily life.  When you find yourself in the city or in a fairly busy downtown area, remember this blog and ask yourself, "What's going on here that I don't know about?  Can I live with myself knowing that people's human dignity may be totally erased just a few feet away and I'm not doing anything about it?" 

Porn Stars: Used and Abused Part II

When we allow real-life human beings to "make a living" in pornography, we allow them to be less than fully human, 2/3rds human.  Because as soon as they are full human beings like us we feel a pang of guilt that we don't want to do deal with.  So we reduce to porn stars to slightly less than human.

There are a number of unfortunate consequences of this fact: 1) We tend to reduce anyone who acts like a porn star as slightly less than human, as more and more of an object; 2) As a result of watching pornography, we generally develop a taste for more marginal sexual activity; 3) We secretly seek out people whom we can use as objects to submit to our desire for marginal sexual activity; 4) Our relationships with almost all people of the opposite sex (or whatever sex we are attracted to) are disturbed and corrupted.

Given my faith, I find it extremely regretful that I know the course of these events first-hand.  But I also see some hope.  Because I have personal experience with the inner process sparked by watching pornography I am not one of those strict Christians who condemn pornography on principle without having any understanding or empathy for those who are trapped in the system; in connection with my faith, I am able to analyze more readily how damaging pornography is on my relationships with others and with myself.  So I know that pornography will, eventually, drag us through all four of those listed consequences. 

And what is the issue, really, of experiencing any of those four consequences?  Well, even if we stop at consequence # 1, we all hopefully can see how close we are to using people for our own enjoyment without any consideration of their enjoyment, without any thought to a reciprocal relationship where the Other's needs are as dignified as our own.  Already we are on the path to slavery.  Already we can start to get inside the heads of those people who get a kick out of paying $50 to a pimp to enter a room where a young girl or boy is kept 24/7 to do exactly what the client wants.  The second we don't look at another human being with full respect and dignity we are already on the path to justifying objectifying others for our own benefit and only our own benefit.  And that is exactly what we do with porn stars.

We objectify, even if only slightly, porn stars regardless of whether or not they voluntarily choose or enjoy to do what they do.  Of course I want to ask whether it's appropriate to objectify anyone whether they "enjoy" to be made an object or not.  My faith tells me that no one is an object and even if someone thinks they enjoy being made an object with the sole purpose of satisfying someone else they are not living fully into the life that they are given, the life of a true and dignified human being.

But do porn stars willingly do what they do?  For the vast majority of porn stars the answer is no.  Many porn stars join the industry to make a quick buck.  Others join the industry because they are told that it will be their best chance at making a living.  Those who join to make a quick buck are generally sucked in because whenever they return to "the real world" they find that it is much easier to be told what to do, to be used for a little while, to make money than to work 40, 50, or 60 hour weeks doing something "respectable."  I think of the movie Shawshank Redemption.  If nothing else the movie shows us that people who spend many years in prison often find it difficult, or perhaps impossible, to return to life outside the prison--no longer do they have someone telling them what to do every second of the day, they don't have meals prepared for them, and now they have to be concerned about developing relationships and doing a job well.  Porn stars are much like people who have been in prison for awhile.  If at any point a porn star tries to leave the industry they will find it very difficult, it's much easier to submit oneself entirely to another and still "make a living."

Or let's compare porn stars to those who are actually held in brothels.  If a pimp can addict his/her whores to cocaine or some other drug, then if the whore escapes they'll find themselves desperate to be under the pimp's control again for easy access to the drug.  They're addicted and can't get over the withdrawal.  Or the whore is so used, abused, and disturbed that they cannot function properly in society, get frightened, and again return to the pimp.  Porn stars are only different by degree, not by kind.  Porn stars are used, abused, and taught to submit to the point that "normal" life is no longer possible.  They are objectified to the point that only if someone objectifies them can they feel any self-worth.  Forget about working in a typical work-place because their self-worth has been reduced to living as an object, which does not occur nearly as regularly in a typical work-place, and the porn star can no longer operate needing to worry about how they will live on their own.

The parallels between porn stars and sex-slaves are really greater than we think, certainly greater than we'd like to think.  And the path from pornography to using or wanting to use sex-slaves is much shorter than we'd like to think.  The changes in our mental, spiritual, and emotional attitudes toward people are generally slight enough to go unnoticed, but one cannot watch pornography for any significant amount of time and escape from the inevitable desire and/or need to objectify others.  Many of us will feel guilty when we use others for our enjoyment.  Some of us will then try hard to stay away from pornography, but some will simply push through that guilt and become animals in which all we will do is desire to use and abuse so that we can feel good. 

If you watch pornography you are not innocent.  We cannot rationalize our habit by saying that we aren't harming anyone or that the porn stars enjoy what they are doing.  All we do when we watch pornography, when we allow the existence of pornography even, is subtly giving credence to another much more lucrative trade: sex-slavery, human trafficking. 

Porn Stars: Used and Abused Part I

The Church often avoids being transparent.  By this I mean that while the leaders of the church, and the people sitting in the pews, often lambaste things like pornography without admitting that they themselves participate in some way in supporting pornography, without admitting that we who strive toward holiness are still a broken people.  I will not make that same mistake.  I have had a long and torturous history with pornography.  Most young males do.  But that is no excuse.  I was exposed to pornography at an early age before I had developed enough of a conscience to know that it was not the best thing for me, and then it became a drug to me, an addiction that I could not and cannot easily rid myself of.  But that is no excuse, either.

You see, my own personal history with pornography has helped me see first-hand that it does, indeed, have disastrous consequences on the lives of all those involved, the porn stars and the audience.  Now, first of all, I should respond to a common objection many people raise when "those holy religious folk" condemn pornography: the objection that the porn stars do what they do because they like it.  After all, it is a profession of choice.  I suppose that if we consider being a professional athlete as a profession, as an occupation, as a job, then so, too, can pornography be a legitimate form of work.  Both do what they like.  Sure, but in that case I want to call into question the profession-ality of sports as well.  Look at the root of that word, profession, and you'll clearly see that the root is profess.  That's the same word that religious folk use: we profess Christ and profess that we are Christians.  To profess something is to say that it forms the very core of your being.  When a person professes Christ that means the love of and for Christ is at the heart of all they do and all they are.  What does it say about a person if they profess to sports or sex?  Essentially, that the core of their being is sex or a game.  Plus, they are now getting paid for what should be a special part of life rather than an industrialized economic source (I'll get more into this in part II).

The issue, then, is that porn stars, whether they actually like what they do or not, have "voluntarily" reduced their self-worth to a person who has sex.  Even if we are avowed Darwinists and believe that we are simply another animal, can we not see that there is a lot more to life than sex?  If at the core of my being I say that I am a person who has sex, my relations to other people are basically reduced to how much I want to have sex with them and vice versa.  I would then find little enjoyment in life if I weren't having sex.

The question of whether or not porn stars actually like what they do, as well as the implications of our watching pornography, will be the subject of discussion in my Part II, but for now I'd like to say that regardless of their enjoyment of starring in pornography, they are no longer truly human.  If we believe in God, then they are certainly not truly human.  God has created us to enjoy so much more than one little part of our being.  And if we don't believe in God and only believe in the human spirit and will, then the person who stars in pornography is still forced to ignore some fundamental elements of animal life, namely family and community.  Very few beings in the animal kingdom without developing and relying on a deep sense of family and community built on trust.  If one cannot trust another, the herd falls apart.  If a group of wild dogs go to feed in a field they have to trust that there will be one on the lookout that will warn the others.  How can anyone develop that trust if at the core of their being they are sex machines? concerned only with personal enjoyment? or perhaps concerned only with getting others to appreciate them?

A part of what gives life to, well, life itself is missing from pornography.  The porn star must look at themselves as someone who has sex.  And yet, all people are fundamentally much more than that.  The community of life is fundamentally much more than that.  As a lead-in, we the audience of pornography get enjoyment out of seeing the porn star merely as a person who has sex.  In fact, in many ways we have to view them that way, much like the American slaveholders didn't want the slaves to become Christian because then they would have to see them as a person that shouldn't be enslaved...

The relationship between porn stars and African slaves is far deeper than we might like to think.  At the heart of the matter, we do not view porn stars as real people.  In a number of ways the porn stars themselves do not look at themselves as real people.  They are merely people who have sex.  The second we see them as more than that, we start feeling a little guilty.  When we plow through that guilt is when we start running into serious problems in who we are as people.  For the sake of the many who make a living being 2/3rds of a person, can we really allow pornography to continue?

"Look at Him Go"

As I was out riding in the city the other day, I passed a mother holding the hand of her young son on the sidewalk.  Of course, I was on the street, I'd rather endanger myself than pedestrians.  But as I rode by, the mother said to her son, "Look at him go!"  And the young son replied, "Wooow..." 

I wish I could say that I was riding fast at that moment, but I don't think I was.  I think the son was just truly fascinated by seeing someone dressed up in biking clothes go riding by.  The thought that my riding can elicit such an excited response for anyone greatly encouraged me.  Of course, neither the mother nor the son know why I am spending so much time on the road biking around, but my hope and prayer is that my riding can cause the same excited response out of many others, whether through reading this blog, talking to me before and during the trip, or just seeing me with my advertisements as I ride across the country.

I am very grateful to that mother and son because not only was I encouraged to keep riding but I also came to a realization.  Never in my career as a student has someone said, "Look at him go..."  My ride, this cause, are far more important and inspirational than anything I may do as a student.  And what I do as a student has infinitely more meaning because of what I'm doing to fight human trafficking.  I have taken some time off from this blog to visit with my family and to catch up on my work.  My family is worthwhile, clearly, but I can honestly say that I will not fall behind on providing all my faithful readers with new posts at least twice a week from now on.  I simply cannot rationalize putting so much time into my work anymore just to get an A- instead of a B.  27 million slaves in the world is serious. 

So please, don't be a stranger.  Come back often.  At least once a week I will post on some current issue or statistic concerning trafficking so that you can be better informed about trafficking in our world, in our country, and perhaps even in your local communities. 

Donations

Many people have asked me how to send in checks to Polaris Project that will go toward my effort to raise $5,000.00 for human trafficking.  First of all, the fundraising website with Polaris Project can be found on the left-hand side of this website.  Click on it and you can donate by credit card to Polaris Project.

If you really really want to write a check, the information can also be found on the left-hand side of this homepage.  I will set up a separate page for fundraising information so that future questioners will have their answers readily available. 

Thank you to everyone who has already donated or has asked me how to make a donation!