UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press
By Ken Camp
Stephanie Henry — a survivor of childhood sexual abuse — became a stripper when she saw her body as a “commodity” that could provide relief from financial desperation. Today, she devotes her life to combating human trafficking and attitudes that objectify girls and women.
“I am doing this so I can heal, too,” Henry recently told a group of professionals and volunteers who work with teenagers.
Trafficking treats girls and women as commodities when they are forced or coerced into renting out their bodies, often for diminishing returns the more “used” they are, she notes.
Henry, who leads the Activism for Empowerment Foundation, has worked to combat trafficking in Kenya, Nigeria and Cambodia. But she emphasizes trafficking occurs in American communities as well.
That places a heavy responsibility on the faith community, she said.
“Churches are where people often go for help. Every single solitary church should go through trafficking education,” she insists.
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