Studying the ELCA's message on
Commercial Sexual Exploitation

This resource will help you lead a study of the ELCA’s message on commercial sexual exploitation. This handout will give you ideas for introducing the message perhaps in a bulletin insert or announcement or by making an announcement yourself. It will give you a list of resources as well as study questions and activities for a close study of the message. Before you begin, read this handout carefully and plan which activities you will use for each segment. You may want to spend more than one session studying the message.

Define the terms
What is commercial sexual exploitation? In this message, it refers to businesses built on the exchange of some sexual activity for money or another form of remuneration (clothing, housing, or food, for example).

What is pornography? See endnote 2 of the message, and the American Lutheran Church's Statement on Pornography.

What is the system of sexual exploitation? See endnote 3 of the message.

Commercial sexual exploitation:

• ruins relationships;

• exploits the vulnerable;

• represents an abuse of sexuality; and

• fosters an environment in which women and children are abused.

• Raise awareness of something that is hidden from view;

• Expose the evil;

• Combat misperceptions and apathy; and

• Give reason to fight the system.

• Journal of Lutheran Ethics, an online journal published by the Division for Church in Society's Department for Studies, has posted a listing of online resources.
• ASK (Adults Saving Kids, at www.a-stop.org) publishes a newsletter and sells educational materials.
• Your local law enforcement agency may be willing to send someone to speak to a group about prostitution in your community.

STUDYING THE MESSAGE

Questions for introduction
(Page 1 of the message)

• Who might be harmed and how while participating in the activities named in the second paragraph? How do you see the industry affecting your life?

• The last paragraph tells us that "Love born of faith in Jesus Christ calls us all to attend to, discuss, resist, and reject the system of sexual exploitation." How would you say love calls us to action? What actions can we take to resist and reject the system of sexual exploitation?

Activity
Bring some examples of commercial sexual exploitation to discuss. Print out the titles of spam e-mail, find an advertisement in which women or youth are sexualized, or bring an article about international sex tourism from one of the organizations listed on the resources page in Journal of Lutheran Ethics.

Questions for "The System of Sexual Exploitation"
(Pages 2 & 3 of the message)

• What do you find surprising about these two pages?

• The message says that the product of the system is sex. In your own words, what is wrong with making sex a product (as opposed to a gift that two freely consenting and committed adults give to one another)?

• Name some ways in which commercial sexual exploitation is glamorized.

Activity
Look at Web sites, or the phone book under "escort services," or find a free city paper and look in the back for ads for strip clubs and escort services, or play a tape of a talk show where the sex system is discussed. Analyze what messages are being sent about the system of sexual exploitation.

Questions for "A Tangled Web"
(Pages 4-6 of the message)

• For each of the sins described in this section, think of a concrete example of the behavior that is named (or use one of the examples provided), and then give a positive example from your experience that counters the sin (e.g., under "persons dominate women and youth," the sinful behavior might be that pimps threaten women, and the counter might be that equal partners in a sexual relationship have no need to threaten each other).

• Which of these behaviors do you think best characterizes the system of sexual exploitation? Why?

• Do you see any of these behaviors in your own life?

Activity
In this segment, you might want to show a video or read a story in which someone talks about her or his experience in the system of sexual exploitation. ASK (Adults Saving Kids) sells a video called "The Reality Is," in which a woman describes her life in prostitution. Other organizations listed as resources in Journal of Lutheran Ethics feature personal stories you can print and read.

Questions for "Arenas for Action"
(Pages 6-10 of the message)

• Do you see yourself in the list of complicity on page 6 of the message? What do you think is the most difficult problem in fighting this system?

• Where do you see commercial sexual exploitation in the world around you?

• What are your distinct gifts to fight the system?

Activity
This section could be a session by itself. Leaders can assign homework beforehand, and ask participants in advance to research materials and information in each of the areas described by the message.