How can men oppose sex trafficking? It’s easy: respect women (part I)

As a man working in the anti-trafficking movement, I see fellow men playing three roles in the world of sex trafficking: men who are pimps, men who are johns (I am a speaker at our local “John School”), and men who are anti-trafficking activists.  It is no wonder, that at a recent conference a woman named Wiveca Holst–an incredible Swedish woman’s rights activist who I admire a great deal–said to me with kind honesty, “no offense, but I don’t trust you.”  Without a shred of malice, she went on to explain how her years of experience working with male activists in the women’s rights movements have been checkered with a mix of well-meaning men making honest mistakes, men with outright poor intentions, and the occasional man who actually respected her as an equal.

Wiveca went on to explain how the single most impactful event in the Swedish anti-trafficking movement was in 1994 when the Social Democratic Women successfully lobbied for a party list that alternated between male and female candidates for Sweden’s largest party, the Social Democrats.   This precedent spread to other parties, and today Sweden’s parliament is 47% women, the most gender-equal in the world.  It is no wonder that the country has implemented breakthrough legislative policies that stamp out human trafficking while also protecting women’s rights.

If you are serious about protecting women, Wiveca said, give women equal power and they will do just fine.  While I wish there were a way to quickly accomplish the same effect in the United States (since we vote for specific candidates instead of a party list, it is harder to enforce equality) the clearly positive impact this empowerment has had on the human trafficking situation in Sweden hammered home the important point that Wiveca left me with: women don’t need men who are willing to help them, they need men who are willing to follow them.

Men should be involved in the fight against sex trafficking, but they shouldn’t feel as though they need to lead it, or try to be a “rescuer” like some Liam Neeson character with a gun.  The best thing a man can do to stop sex trafficking is to respect every woman in his life as an equal.   If there is once piece of advice I could give to men who are interested in contributing their skills to the important fight against human trafficking it would be this: talk less, listen more.  (Says the guy writing a blog!)