What forms does commercial sexual exploitation take?
In addition to the trafficking of women and children for sexual use, commercial sexual exploitation includes the businesses of prostitution, pornography, and stripping.

Who are the victims of commercial sexual exploitation?
There are those who believe CSE is a victimless crime, but the ELCA’s message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation reminds us that "the system of sexual exploitation manifests social sin, reflecting a structure of evil that shapes and snares persons, and to which personal attitudes, decisions, and acts contribute." It goes on to say that because, "[p]ersons become objects to be used for the benefit of others[, the] system of sexual exploitation denies the human dignity bestowed by God upon all people." Therefore, we are all in one way or another victimized by CSE as one becomes objectified for the use and gratification of the other through practices and degradations that make us all (women and men) less free within God’s gift of human sexuality than we were created to be.

Why is commercial sexual exploitation a growing problem?
As human beings, we have not always been taught to know and honor our sexuality as a gift from God. As Christians, we do not always teach nor do we always understand our sexuality as being one more way in which we are created in the image of God. We have often been misinformed; we have perhaps been too circumspect, leaving backroom conversations, Hollywood, and modern literature to teach us about our sexuality.

Another reason CSE continues to grow is that there is a great deal of money to be made in the businesses of CSE. Current conservative estimates suggest that $12 billion are exchanged annually, making CSE a bigger business than professional football, basketball, and baseball combined. In the United States, revenue from pornography is higher than the revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC combined ($6.2 billion)

What this means is that there are plenty of people making big money from commercial sexual exploitation. It is not unusual for mainstream corporations to have a CSE element among their offerings, particularly selling pornographic videos in pay-per-view markets.

How is the number of children involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) growing?
In this hemisphere, tens of thousands of Mexican, Canadian, and American children and youths become victims of juvenile pornography, prostitution, and trafficking each year. "Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North America today. It is the nation's least recognized epidemic," said Richard J. Estes, a University of Pennsylvania professor of social work and the primary author of the significant 2001 (revised in 2002) report, The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

"The largest of these groups are runaway, thrown away, and other homeless American children who use 'survival sex' to acquire food, shelter, clothing, and other things needed to survive on America's streets," Estes said. "These children are solicited for sex repeatedly by men, many of whom are married and have children of their own. Like other groups of sexually exploited persons, street children are exposed to violence, drug abuse, rape, and, sometimes, even murder at the hands of the pimps, 'customers,' and traffickers that make up their world."

Estes also reported that some U.S. children engage in commercial sex while living at home. "The majority of these children trade sex for money or for more expensive clothes and other consumer goods. Most of the 'customers' of these children are members of their own junior and senior high school peer groups," he said. Many of these children live in secure middle-class homes, and few parents are aware of their children's involvement in pornography or prostitution. This group also includes American youths who cross into Canada or Mexico in pursuit of cheaper drugs, alcohol and sex. Mexican authorities report that border towns are little more than "cantinas for America's youth," Estes said.

Why is Women of the ELCA involved?
We are women who share a legacy of caring about what happens to other women and children. Our history shows our commitment to supporting and assisting women and girls in crisis. That is why, at the 2005 Triennial Convention of Women of the ELCA, we adopted four resolves, one of which calls for the churchwide expression of Women of the ELCA to provide information and promote resources that assist women in combating commercial sexual exploitation both domestically and globally.

How can Women of the ELCA units and synodical organizations become involved?
The first suggestion we make is for women to encourage their congregations to read and discuss the ELCA’s message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, adopted by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on November 11, 2001. Another resource we encourage all congregations to use is our downloadable "Day Full of Light" resource. We have also prepared a downloadable fact sheet that can help stimulate discussion and bring this issue to each congregation’s attention.

There is more than one opportunity for participation and influence and we strongly encourage every unit and each synodical organization to incorporate global and larger societal responses as well as local, more congregationally based approaches to curb the growth of commercial sexual exploitation.

The large and growing number of pornography shops, escort services, and phone sex services should be addressed—these establishments should not be in anyone’s neighborhood. At this time, we encourage each congregational unit to become involved in the larger societal aspects of CSE by having someone from within their unit or congregation sign up for updates in the area of CSE at the ELCA’s advocacy Web site (www.elca.org/advocacy/).

We also invite you to visit Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s Web site on Trafficking Initiative (www.lirs.org/what/children/tcibackground.htm) to see what is being done in this critical area by this Lutheran organization.

As we move further into this 2005–2008 triennium, we will be adding additional suggestions, new tools, and a larger number of links to organizations as we continue to address the issue of CSE.