[Part I] Calling All Men to Action: Let’s End Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking! – S02. E25.

Content Warning: discussion of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, abuse and child abuse

In this episode, Laura speaks with Alan Smyth, Executive Director for Saving Innocence and co-author of the book ‘Men! Fight for Me: The Role of Authentic Masculinity in Ending Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking’. Alan has been on the front lines of caring for child victims of trafficking for six years through his role with Saving Innocence in LA. He calls his perspective a “backstage pass” to the horrors of trafficking and from that position realized that men need a specific call to action for their part in fighting trafficking. That realization led to his book, co-authored with Jessica Midkiff, herself a trafficking survivor.

Laura and Alan explore the hard realities of how trafficking happens and how it happens right here in our own neighborhoods. They discuss necessary steps to take in addressing the issue and Alan shares how his book seeks specifically to move men to action. The term ‘authentic masculinity’ defines a more positive and less toxic version of masculinity than one popularly upheld and how reaching men on that level is part of the work he is called to. 

“If we’re not willing to step into it, and we’re not willing to look at it closely and deal with it, it’s going to continue to be the fastest growing crime in the world… and that’s just unacceptable.” Alan Smyth