Escaping the Devil's Bedroom

The Sexualization of American Culture

The Oscar-winning song of 2006 was "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp." That same year, Rolling Stone magazine featured Snoop Dog as 'America's Most Loveable Pimp'. He arrived at the MTV awards 3 years earlier accompanied by two women on leashes called "Delicious" and "Cream." The article quotes him saying, "If you really a pimp, you should be able to get two bitches to walk on a leash with you down the red carpet and be yo ho's for the night. And when I did it, it really was pimpin'."

We might dismiss hip hop artists like Snoop Dog as irrelevant to a girl's self-esteem, but as far away as Amsterdam, American hip hop musicians are influencing youth and their sexual norms. Willem Heemskerk, manger of the Scarlet Cord, a ministry in Amsterdam's central red light district, says the hip-hop scene has played significant role in the disintegration of boundaries surrounding sexuality for Dutch teens. The Scarlet Cord estimates that more than 2,000 girls under 18 are prostituted in the Netherlands. The ministry's nationwide prevention program for high school girls helps them learn to listen to media messages, and grasp the underlying lyrics of the music they jive to.

Here are some popular lyrics that sexualize or degrade women,

"Don'tcha wish your girlfirend was hot like me?"- Pussycat Dolls, 2005

"I tell the hos all the time, Bitch get in my car"- 50 Cent, 2005

"Ho shake your ass"- Ying Yang Twins, 2003

American culture glorifies unrestrained sex and is normalizing commercial sexual exploitation, says Lisa Thompson, the Salvation Army's Liason for the Abolition of Sexual Trafficking. "We're like frogs in the pot," Lisa says. "The water keeps getting hotter and hotter, and we keep sitting there."

(Read more about the Sexualization of American Culture in Chapter 6 of my book)

Lisa recently recommended this new book: "Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids" by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne. Here's a brief summary:

Thong panties, padded bras, and risqué Halloween costumes for young girls. T-shirts that boast "Chick Magnet" for toddler boys. Sexy content on almost every television channel, as well as in books, movies, video games, and even cartoons. Hot young pop stars wearing provocative clothing and dancing suggestively while singing songs with sexual and sometimes violent lyrics. These prod­ucts are marketed aggressively to our children; these stars are held up for our young daughters to emulate-and for our sons to see as desirable females. Without the emotional sophistication to understand what they are doing and seeing, kids are getting into increasing trouble emotionally and socially; some even engage in pre­cocious sexual behavior.
....

May God give us eyes to see the sexualization of our culture and wisdom and energy to challenge these messages. As I wrote at the end of this chapter, equally important, can we find opportunities to voice appreciation for positive messages in the media about sexuality? Options for challenging or praising messages may include writing a letter or email to a clothing company, celebrity, TV or radio station, website or magazine.

Pray or consider how you or your church could offer mentors and role models in your community for girls and boys who need to hear about healthy relationships and sexuality.

"Your mother was a prostitute, you'll only ever be a prostitute"

My friend Sarah loves befriending prostituted women in the Red light district of Calcutta, India. Over a year ago she became friends with a young woman named Pinky whose mother had also been a prostitute. Pinky accepted Sarah's invitation to hand stitch old saris into beautiful handmade blankets, which Sarah then sold to raise awareness of women stuck in the Red LIght District. I've been praying with Sarah for Pinky for over a year.

Although Pinky was eager to work on the blankets, the label of prostitute had been ingrained completely into her body and being. And when Protiva, a dishonest manager of the blanket project, told Pinky, "Your mother was a prostitute, you'll only ever be a prostitute," she believed her.

Last week, Sarah's prayers for Pinky's healing of this lie were answered. Pinky and 2 other women watched the Jesus film in Sarah's flat (apartment) for the first time. Sarah writes:

"At the end they were very quiet. Then Pinky, in English, said: 'I feel like I want to follow that Jesus.'

"The same evening, Smriti was scheduled to visit. Smriti is a Christian Bengali woman who spent the last 12 years working with the children of sex-workers in Sonagachi redlight district.  She walked into my flat at just the right time. Pinky had begun to cry...All of this time, she had been confused. Since he'd been told by a so-called Christian woman that she'd never be anything better than a prostitute, she hought Jesus was thinking the same thing.  She kept talking about the part in the Jesus film when the prostitute came to Jesus and washed his feet.  She said that the- Jesus- in- the- movie was different from what she had always thought He would be like.

Sarah prayed over Pinky that night: "I got to speak God's heart for her over her life—that God loved HER so much, and singled her out to be the reason why I could not get Kolkata [Caclcutta] out of my thoughts. 

"He is the shepherd that leaves his flock to go after HER. I got to rebuke the lies that had been spoken over her and I got to BELIEVE that, in Jesus' name, those lies no longer have the power to wound Pinky.  Jesus LOVES her, forgives her, wants to heal her, and wants her to walk joyfully in a new life.

Last weekend Pinky participated in a Bible Study at Sarah's flat with several other women. Sarah asks, "Continue to pray for Pinky by name. Pray that now that Christ has begun a healing work in her life, His Word would now come in and fill her with new words about who she is in Christ."

Our simple prayers from half way around the world can help undo binding lies and change a life like Pinky's.

Prayer for Victims of Sex Trafficking

The Salvation Army and the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking invite you to join with them in observing the 3rd annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for Victims of Sexual Trafficking. You can join the observance by organizing workplace and church-based events for prayer and fasting on behalf of those sexually exploited and/or trafficked into the commercial sex industry. To register your participation and obtain free prayer guides (in English or Spanish) register on-line at The Salvation Army NHQ's Anti-Trafficking Pages. Russian and French translations of the prayer guides are also available (on-line only). Other resources that can be found on-line include flyers, sample sermons, Bible studies, an intercessory prayer walk guide, and a church bulletin insert.

We hope you will join with us in lifting petitions to God to free the captives, end exploitation, and to equip the Church to serve, prevent, rescue and restore.

Abolition!

-Lisa Thompson