Human Trafficking and Theology
This past fall, JRLC Statewide Organizer Alison Killeen, wrote an article for the ELCA's Journal of Lutheran Ethics about Body Theology and Human Trafficking. Below is an excerpt from the article that was published. Click here to read the full article.
When we apply an embodied theology to the life of a victim of human trafficking, we need a kind of analysis that will blend rationality of the mind with the logic of the senses. Often people's perceptions of crimes such as human trafficking lead them to blame the victim, getting caught up in universalistic notions of what must be right and wrong. Yet the work of black feminist ethicist Traci West encourages us to pull away from using universalistic logic alone in measuring such situations:
This ethical work requires a visceral recognition of the meaning of body invasion, body assault, and body-demeaning speech, for women and the whole of society. Knowledge that we acquire through our bodily perceptions must not be discounted in ethics, for it is a crucial source of moral knowledge.
Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a human being, and forcing her or him into sexual exploitation, labor, or other forms of servitude.6 Contrary to popular belief, the crossing of a border is not necessary for an individual to be trafficked; rather, what is necessary is the exploitation of one's body against his or her will, under threat of violence, punishment, or deportation.
In many cases, the trafficker recruits vulnerable young women who are already distanced from their family life or perhaps have already run away from home.7 By preying on those who are already isolated, the trafficker takes advantage of the lack of a safety net in the individuals' life, such that the victim may feel s/he has no choice but to continue under the power of her trafficker. Among violent crimes, that of human trafficking is often invisible, with victims named instead as prostitutes and therefore as perpetrators of a crime, instead of seen as powerless within a system of oppression easily hidden beyond the reaches of law enforcement.
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