nonfiction
Tourist
By Marie Rogers
I’ m a self-proclaimed“ people watcher.” I especially love to observe and learn in unfamiliar cultures. I’ m typically more interested in analyzing the similarities and differences in a place rather than shopping or engaging in a tourist attraction. But every once in a while when traveling, I enjoy fully embracing my tourist status. I was able to immerse as a tourist last year in Kusadasi, Turkey – a port city near the ancient ruins of Ephesus. I was in the area for a conference, and a group of us escaped for an afternoon of shopping. We walked through the streets lined with shops and were frequently enticed by shopkeepers to purchase their unique merchandise.
A conversation I had with one shopkeeper revealed that five to six cruise ships dock at the port each day during the peek of tourist season. When I commented on how successful his business must be, he readily agreed.
As we were perusing all the jewelry, pottery, and fabric, suddenly another kind of business emerged – SEX. It’ s a lucrative industry throughout the world and even in Ephesus the tourists have an option to buy its product – PEOPLE.
Sex tourism is a growing industry. Criminals are smart and in areas where tourism drives an economy they see demand. There are people who travel to foreign destinations in order to have a secret sex-vacation, spending their time buying and using children, women, or men. And the suppliers’ greed gets to a point where they wish for every tourist to desire their product. While an American colleague of mine who lives in Bangkok was running errands one afternoon, he was stopped in the middle of the street and handed a list of children available for purchase. Another friend was in a hotel lobby in China and was offered a menu of women.
Wait. Don’ t get too comfortable. Sex tourism is not an“ over there” issue. I can tell similar stories that have happened in none other than the United States of America.
Major sporting events are hot spots for sex tourism. The World Cup, Olympics, and Super Bowl draw in thousands of spectators and tourists. Just as shopkeepers stock up their supply rooms for the increase of demand, so do those who traffick human beings and sell them as sex slaves.
Children are often innocent victims of the sex industry.“ Maria is... prostituted by her aunt. Maria is obliged to sell her body exclusively to foreign tourists in Costa Rica; she only works mornings, as she has to attend school in the afternoon. Maria is in fifth grade”( from the U. S. Department of Justice: Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section).
How Can We Respond?
The roots of the tree need to be cut out. If we only chop away branches or even take a chain saw to the trunk, the roots still exist. But what if we cut out the roots and planted new life-giving trees?
There are many root causes to sex tourism and slavery: poverty, greed, corruption, broken relationships, violence, abuse, addiction, and … you get the picture. New trees need to be planted … a tree that’ s a functioning family unit, one that gives us permission for full disclosure in our church communities and leads to redemption, one that loves unconditionally and walks along side people struggling with addictions, one that puts aside our own selfish desires and ends poverty, one that allows every person to have clean drinking water and food. I’ m not saying these trees don’ t exist, but I know we need to plant more and cut out the roots of the ruined ones.
Together, as a community, we can do this. There’ s an abolitionist movement happening today. Join us.
Artwork by Ryan Hanberry
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