a river in egypt?

it is—by and large— men who buy women.
women are trafficked into the sex industry to serve a minority of men.

the above is a quote from stopthetraffik's action pack - it's quite stark isn't it. no qualifications, no justifications, no attempts to contextualise. simply the brutal truth. this is about men and women. it's been about men and women from the start.

your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you

please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that i may live because of you

look here is my virgin daughter and this man's concubine; let me bring them out now, humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!

jephthah said 'and it will be that whatever comes out to meet me...I will offer it up as a burnt offering'....when jephthah came to his house at mizpah, there was his daughter...and he carried out his vow....

i know. uncomfortable isn't it? trouble is that i think this discussion is so uncomfortable that most people don't want to have it. because the details of the traffiking of women is so grim, because we don't want to think that the stories of these men and women have anything to do with our own identities as men and women, because it's about our deepest fissure, at the core of our being.

but, their story is our story and our denial is their prison.