A special thank you to our podcast guest, Britney Higgs on “Breaking the Cycle of Trafficking; Why Men Must Lead the Fight”
Why Men Must Lead the Fight Against Exploitation and Sex Trafficking
There’s a war happening all around us—quiet, hidden, and too often ignored. This war is not fought with guns or governments. It’s fought in hotel rooms, in browser tabs, in broken families, and in hearts that never learned how to love or be loved. This is the war for human dignity, and the battlefield is the body. And in a fight this significant, men have a unique and powerful role to play—which is why men must lead the fight, not with force, but with courage, integrity, and love.
Every year, hundreds of thousands are trafficked in the United States alone—most of them women and children. But the real story isn’t just about rescue operations or legislation. It’s about what happens after rescue. It’s about what healing really looks like. And it’s about how you and I are either helping to stop the cycle… or unknowingly keeping it alive.
Let’s be honest: you don’t get trafficked because your life is thriving. Almost every survivor’s story begins the same way—with abuse, neglect, or exploitation at a young age. Long before they’re taken, they’re trained to believe a lie: your body is here for someone else’s pleasure.
And that lie doesn’t just come from traffickers. It’s in the air we breathe.
The Culture We’ve Built
We live in a culture where bodies are bought and sold every second—through pornography, hookup apps, OnlyFans, and casual conversations that reduce people to performance and pleasure. We’ve normalized consumption and objectification, and in doing so, we’ve created an ecosystem where exploitation isn’t an exception… it’s an expectation.
Every click, every scroll, every compromise—whether we realize it or not—feeds a demand. And where there’s demand, there will always be supply.
So what’s the answer?
It’s a battle that starts with manhood.
Why Men Must lead the fight against exploitation
To reach the root of trafficking, we must go deeper than the traffickers themselves. The issue begins in the hearts of men. That’s why men must lead the fight—not just against trafficking, but against the culture that makes it possible.
Men have been handed a counterfeit version of masculinity—one that equates manhood with dominance, sex, and silence. But real masculinity protects. It nurtures. It heals. When a man commits to sexual integrity, he’s not just changing his own life—he’s dismantling an entire cultural engine built on exploitation.
Imagine a world where girls are never trafficked because the men around them never let it happen—not through violence, but through presence. Through fatherhood, accountability, and honoring the women in their lives (refusing to see them as consumable).
The Long Road to Freedom
Most people think freedom happens at the moment of rescue. It doesn’t. Rescue is just the beginning.
Aftercare—particularly in the first 90 days—is the critical window where true healing begins. And healing doesn’t just mean a roof and a meal. It means restoring the body, mind, and spirit. This rebuilding trust and helping someone dream again when all they’ve known is survival.
We need more places like that. We need homes and programs and people that are willing to sit in the ashes with survivors and say, You are not what’s been done to you.
But we also need to create a world where fewer people ever have to be rescued in the first place.
Becoming Beacons of Light
Don’t think you need to start a nonprofit to fight trafficking. All you need to start with your own story.
Start by acknowledging what’s been broken in you. Heal the wounds that make it hard to see others clearly. Talk about the things you’re afraid to talk about. Teach your children what love really is. Surround yourself with people who value purity—not as a badge of pride, but as a path to freedom.
If you’re a parent, you are on the front lines. If you’re a husband, a teacher, a pastor, a coach—you’re already positioned to fight. But it won’t look like Hollywood. It will look like repentance. Through prayer, discipleship, and choosing integrity when no one else is looking.
And that’s the kind of fight that changes everything.
If we want real change, men must lead the fight—starting in their homes, churches, and communities. When men step into their God-given role as protectors and nurturers, the cycle of exploitation begins to break.
The Upside-Down Kingdom
In God’s economy, nothing is wasted. Not your pain, your past, or the things you wish had never happened. If you’ve been abused, addicted, exploited, or silenced—hear this:
You are not broken beyond repair, you are not dirty, and you are not alone.
There is a God who redeems. Who resurrects. Who heals. He does not just want to use you—He wants to make you whole.
And when He does, your story becomes a weapon against the darkness.
So What Now?
Start where you are. Heal what’s in front of you. Raise children who know the difference between love and lust. Speak up when the world tells you to stay silent. And link arms with the people already doing the work.
The war isn’t over.
Because there are still girls in captivity who believe they have nothing left to give.
There’s still a culture that confuses exploitation with empowerment.
The world is still aching for the real love of the Father.
And because the way we win this war… is by healing the hearts that started it.
