Shattered Dreams

Yesterday Dr. Mike Adams published an article entitled, "I Had a Dream". Normally Adams tends toward sarcasm, so I was surprised and touched by yesterday's piece.

As a university professor, Adams has had his share of pretty young women come through his classes. He recounted the tales of four of them, changing names and other identifying information, who took jobs in strip clubs. One seemed destined to be a lawyer, but after blowing her stash on the ubiquitous cocaine, getting pregnant by her boss, and getting fired for not wanting to abort the baby, she never achieved her dreams. Another discovered the hard way that "a single year in a topless bar can put a decade on a young woman's face". Still another was fired for gaining a few pounds. "[S]omewhere between the cocaine parties and the group sex, [she] lost her self-esteemand the desire to do anything with her life." Last was the woman who had hoped to make money for her doctorate but wasn't able to hold on to the money, like most of them, looks worn, and due to her experiences, "deeply resents every man with whom she works."

Dr. Adams ended his piece:

[M]ost young women who decide to strip are already equipped with low self-esteem
the first night they walk into that strip bar. When they finally decide to leave, they often walk out with STDs, drug addictions, a string of unwanted pregnancies and even lower self-esteem. But they never seem to walk out with the money.

But I have a dream that some day the so-called men who frequent these establishments will realize that that they are helping fund the destruction of these young women one dollar bill at a time. And I dream that they will come to see these women as someone’s lost sister or perhaps the estranged daughter of a friend.

I have a dream that some day we will judge them by the content of their character, not the revelation of their skin.

Some may argue that some women do make a success out of selling their bodies through posing in magazines, stripping, or "starring" in porn movies. These, however, are very, very few in number. Most are broken and washed up early. Used and discarded like mere objects, which tends to come from the objectification of women.

I've read a fair amount on this topic. Some women who go into such professions do, in fact, come from normal families. Most, however, come from highly dysfunctional homes where they really don't have a sense of their worth. Some of the stories I've followed are of young women conditioned through sexual abuse by step-fathers or boyfriends of their mothers to think that's all their bodies are for and that's all men really value. I've encouraged men who go to strip clubs to remember that the nubile young woman as a kid may have been raped by some sicko pervert, left crying and hurt, and to remember he's feeding into that perception of the roles of men and women.

Bottom line is that in the sex industry, women rarely are truly empowered. They may be lured into believing that, for a time. But it's just an illusion. In the end, most end up worn-out in appearance and lacking in skills and vitality. By supporting these industries, people are contributing to the devastation of young lives.

Why, you may ask, should anyone care? After all, they made their choice, and if they chose to be whores for a career that's on them. Well, the reason we should actually care is because, as I recall, the implicit answer to "Am I my brother's (or sister's) keeper?" was "Yes."

*Please check out "Sex Industry" on Word around the Net.