This PSA features stories voiced by actors.
Men As Peacemakers believes that violence, including sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, can be prevented, and that change begins with the individual, who can then be engaged to help create change in their relationships, communities, and society.
The way in which we were raised, our experiences, education, and most of all, our privilege, shapes the way in which we view the world around us, including what we believe to be normal and acceptable.
The first thing that you can do to help reduce the demand for commercial sex is begin to realize the many ways in which sexual exploitation has become normalized and glorified throughout our culture. Open your eyes and begin to see.
Start Seeing:
1. The hidden impact Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) has on the community. CSE disproportionately impacts people marginalized by race, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, age, and other forms of oppression. Don't let it be invisible.
2. The way commercial sexual exploitation is normalized and even supported in our everyday lives through social norms—like going to the strip club or viewing online porn.
3. The way women and children are objectified, degraded, and exploited in commercials, TV shows, movies, and music.
4. The way men are disproportionately valued compared to women and girls.
5. The way men's use of dominance, control, and violence is justified in your community.
6. The ways your community suggests that men have a right to purchase people used in commercial sexual exploitation.
Tools to Start Seeing:
Don't Buy Sex
This is the most basic thing you can commit to. Understand the inherent value in everyone and refuse to purchase sex in any form: pornography, strip clubs, prostituted women, children and people. Set a standard for other men in your life and confront exploitative behaviors when you witness them within your peer group.
Don't Buy Into the Ideologies that Create Demand for Exploitation
"Don't Buy It" also refers to the idea that in order to effectively combat Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and violence against women and children, we need to stop buying into false narratives about CSE and the cultural normalization of toxic masculinity.
Don't Buy into the idea that people used in commercial sexual exploitation are making "liberated" choices. For the vast majority of people being bought and sold for sex, exploitation is a result of a lack of safe choices. Speak out against the perpetuation of this myth in your community.
Don't Buy into the idea that men are supposed to be dominant, controlling, and exploitative toward women and children. Men can be loving, caring, and empathetic folks. We are more than the negative stereotype.
Look for opportunities to support definitions of masculinity that promote equality and kindness. Reject myths of masculinity promoting male dominance and sexual conquest.
Don't Buy Products That Market Women's and Children's Bodies as a Commodity
Use your dollars to "vote" for the kind of world you want to create.
Do not purchase products from companies that utilize sexually exploitative imagery and sexist advertising.
Commit to following these principles and supporting the movement to minimize the demand for commercial sex in any form.
Download a Copy of the Pledge. This version can be printed and distributed at meetings and events.
Partner with the Don't Buy It Project!
