The STOPLight

High-stakes poker at the "Not-Okay Corral"

I used to play poker. Penny-ante poker. I don't like to take big risks. My usual style is to "live and let live." I don't say much until someone crowds me really hard. I let people get by with a lot. But when I look around me, I see that many people don't play life the same way.

There are thousands of people in this country who play high-stakes poker with our kids. They use our kids in prostitution and pornography and make money off them. For these poker players, it's a game. The excitement of out-foxing the law, the power they hold over others, and the prospect of getting rich, are just too enticing to pass up.

Greedy men and women in large numbers play the odds. They speak eloquently to justify what they do. They assure the "loyalty" of their workers by brain-washing, violence and drugs. They use the media to portray their exploitation of others as glamorous and exciting. And they seem to be winning this high-stakes poker game.

Myths about prostitution and pornography are perpetuated under the guise of 'sexual freedom" and "First Amendment Rights." Their game is to dress up violence as "love." To portray prostitution as a "career choice." To dress up degradation as "fun." The sex industry in the United States is worth billions annually. And these poker players are laughing all the way to the bank. They feel they deserve praise for providing the public with every kind of sexual opportunity.

They are playing for high stakes. And most of us are too apathetic, distracted or intimidated to call their bluff.

Of course, they do have an act up their sleeve. They keep records of their many customers in high places who are willing to sell their souls in order to keep sex available. These customers often pretend to be compassionate towards youngsters. These customers make sure their access to sex is not jeopardized. Let's call a spade a spade—these kind of customers are deceitful and devious. In the long run, they are murderers. And the pimps who profit from the exploitation of others are careful to nurture this unholy alliance with customers.

Who loses in this poker game of sex without intimacy and money for sex? No surprise! It is the youth of this country. It is estimated that 375,000 juveniles are in prostitution full time in the US. Uninformed youngsters, abused and molested children, runaway and throw-away kids are all at risk of being swept into this game of "chance." The deck is stacked. The pimps, madams and customers hold the winning cards.

At least they have up to now. The more we learn about prostitution and its far-reaching effects, the more we realize how big a stake we really have in this poker game. We can no longer sit back and say, "it's not my problem." Prostitution preys on the young people we love. It invades our pocketbooks for increased taxes for police patrols, public healthcare costs, welfare payments, overbooked court dockets, crowded prisons and uncollected taxes on the billions of dollars "earned" annually in the sex industry.

Since we are all in this poker game called life, we need to up our ante. Each of us, with the cards we've been dealt, holds the power to affect change. We need to start by looking inward and asking ourselves, "How can I help?"

Parents must take the time and make the effort to communicate with their kids, to learn what is going on in their lives and in their schools. Teachers need to educate themselves to recognize the signs and behaviors of kids who are being abused at home or in prostitution. Law enforcement agents and peace officers need to know what their communities offer for helping runaways and kids arrested for involvement in prostitution. Providers of social services should have staff skilled in dealing with problems of sexual abuse and violence. Citizens need to aggressively support the provision of these services for youth.

Church people can choose to look reality in the face and become pioneers and leaders in ending the cycle of sexual abuse. They need to see that many of their own members are not only being abused but may be abusers. The business community as a whole must cease its demand for available sexual services to accommodate conventioneers and colleagues. Young people also must take an active role in ending the abuse of their peers. They can refuse pornographic materials, choose not to use drugs and avoid watching movies that portray violence and glamorize prostitution.

I wish I didn't have to play in this poker game, but the future of my children and my country are at stake. I can't afford the luxury of an "it's not my problem" attitude. The consequences are too severe.

If we each play the cards we've been dealt wisely, we can be assured that small wins will become big ones.

It's your move.

by Al Erickson, founder and acting director of the S.T.O.P. Committee. Al is the director of Grassroots Ministry Alliance, Inc. a nonprofit coalition of churches seeking to reroot in the inner city Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Editor's Note:

American fathers continue, either consciously or sub-consciously, to teach their sons that scoring sexually is the definition of a "redblooded" man. "Boys will be boys" is the attitude, as if no-one is being hurt by their "harmless fun."

The estimated number of sex customers (Johns) in the US annually is 20 million. That's a lot of fathers, sons, husbands and brothers who, by their use of people in prostitution, perpetuate sexual abuse against those who are already victims of violence— sexual, physical and emotional. And these victims—prostitutes—are all someone's daughters, sisters, friends, grandchildren, and, yes, brothers and sons..

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.