A perfect example

 CBS Mornings was just interviewing a person about sex trafficking.   A young woman, whose name I missed, was speaking about this subject that she is working to eradicate.  It is personal for her, as she grew up experiencing the foster care system, a system filled with children at high risk of being drawn into the sex trafficking trade.  This person is a hero, doing the work of angels, speaking up about a deeply important issue.  We need more people like her, doing this work.  

This person is young enough that there is still something she has not yet grasped fully.  When I heard her say that the men who pay for trafficked girls are often unaware how young these girls actually are, I wasn't surprised.   She still has enough optimism to think many of those who are paying for trafficked humans would stop supporting this illegal and inhumane industry if they understood the truth about how children end up in this industry.  She believes some of the men paying for trafficked sex don't realize how young these girls really are.  It was disturbing to hear her express this belief, but it is a common mistake made by those fighting traffickers, and I do not blame this young person for believing this.  She is a hero for a cause that she herself is still growing to understand.  

I was briefly entertaining the idea of sending CBS Mornings a request for this person's contact information, when Tony Dokoupil said exactly what I know this hero doesn't understand, yet:  these men paying for trafficked victims know exactly how young these victims are.  These "johns" are not going to be part of any solution, because they want to fuck children who are being malformed by childhood sexualization.  They act like they don't know, just like that "rescuer" guy in "The Sound of Freedom," who tells Caviezel's character he had once paid for sex, and didn't know the girl was only fourteen.  These men know.  These men are the problem.  Thay are the very men who are so hung up on that foundational tenet of patriarchy, "the younger, the better."  

This young hero who is working to eradicate sex trafficking is not at all a bad person.  She is doing what needs to be done, and I am so thankful she is fighting this fight.  The goodness and decency in her heart is priceless. One day, she will be better at realizing how men who desire to fuck young damaged girls, men like Marc Maron, are very good at grooming everyone around them to view them as unknowing, unaware, good-hearted men, instead of the predators they really are.

I am typing this on the fly, but tonight when I am back home, I will find this young hero's contact info, because I do want to follow her work.  She is fighting for children like I once was, and I am thankful for her, and all those like her. 

And I am thankful Tony Dokoupil spoke the truth.