Help Others Restore Integrity Sex+Money DVD
Help Others Restore Integrity 6 minute read

Sex, Smut, and Slavery: One film unpacks it all

Last Updated: March 5, 2024

Nate was a pastor with dark a secret. Porn had been his secret obsession for years. But fantasy gave way to reality one night when he was on his way to lead a Christmas Eve candlelight service at his church. Standing on the street he saw a young woman in the rain, and after letting her in his car to give her a ride, she propositioned him. Nate says, “Her price happened to match the $20 bill I had in my pocket—the one that was supposed to go in the offering plate—and I said yes.”

He arrived at church that evening and led the service as planned, still drunk from the cocktail of guilt, shame, and self-hatred. Nate recalls, “The worst part about that night for me—worse than looking into the trusting face of my wife and kids and my parishioners and friends, there on the holiest of nights—worse than all of that was the knowledge that I was going to do it again.”

Sex+Money: A Film Where Porn and Prostitution Collide

Nate Larkin tells some of his story of sex addiction in Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth. His is one of dozens of stories of men and women who have been ensnared in the ugly cycle of buying and selling sex.

Starting in September 2009, a small group of friends, united by a love of photojournalism and a passion for social justice, traveled in a 32-foot motor home to over 30 states and conducted 75 interviews to uncover the truth about modern, domestic sex trafficking. What they discovered was more than statistics: they saw the human faces of shame, violence, and deceit.

Domestic Sex Trafficking by the Numbers

What shocks many people as they watch Sex+Money is how prevalent sex trafficking is in the United States.

Human trafficking, as a global problem, is the second largest form of organized crime (behind the sale of drugs). Globally speaking, most of human slavery is debt slavery. But in the United States, the trafficking of US kids is almost entirely for the purposes of sex.

Sex Trafficking is defined as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, or obtain a person for the purposes of making money from a commercial sex act. While there are about 18,000 sex slaves trafficked in and out of the country in a given year, there are anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 US children who are bought and sold for their bodies.

The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 13 to 14 years old, reports Dorchen A. Leidholdt of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. While cities like Atlanta and Dallas are hotspots for trafficking, the problem is ubiquitous, even in the small towns of middle America.

Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children states, “The only way not to find this problem in any city is simply not to look for it.”

The Girls

“Rape, I feel is one of the worst things that could ever happen,” says Sarah-Jo Sampson, one of the film’s journalists. “For that to be someone’s lifestyle—when someone else is getting paid for it—I think that would be one of the worst things in the world.”

Sex+Money captures the stories of several woman who used to live the nightmare. Many came from the foster system, abusive homes, or homes where there was severe neglect. Most are not just runaways; rather, they are “throwaway” kids—the vast majority (two-third) of runaways who are never reported to authorities.

The pimps then become their captors and their saviors. For some, it is a textbook case of abduction: girls are captured, repeatedly raped, and then told, “You’re hoe now. This is what hoes do,” until their spirit is crushed. For others, it is more a subtle and sinister kind of manipulation. The pimp becomes the girl’s “daddy,” lover, boyfriend, and defender, and over time, he slowly introduces her to a lifestyle of selling herself.

“The main problem is they’ve been abandoned,” says forensic psychologist Alexis Kennedy. “Their family has broken down, and they’ve run away from something, and they’ve run into the arms of these predatory pimps and people who use them and abuse them.” For many of them, they have already been sexually wounded and decided long ago that their worth was bound up in their bodies. Their whole psyche is bound up in abuse.

The Pimps

Anybody can control a woman’s body, but it takes a pimp to control her mind.”

– Derek Williams, former pimp, founder of Back to the Streets

When a pimp looks at a typical high school, he doesn’t see a place of education, he sees a buffet: so many young girls, so many of them ready to escape their terrible home lives.

These recruiters come in all shapes and sizes. Some are what the police call “tennis shoe pimps”: they don’t even own cars, but rather they turn to the Internet and local parties, malls, and schools to find their girls.

“When I had seven girls, none of my girls could come in with less than $500 a night,” says Derek Williams. That’s a cool $1 million a year. How much of that goes to the girls? “One hundred (percent) of the fund come to me—if you’re a real pimp. Dress ’em, feed ’em, keep ’em broke.”

The cycle of grooming a girl for prostitution is very similar to the psychological manipulation found in many cases of domestic violence. Sadly, even when the girls try to leave, five out of seven end up returning to their pimps. Girls are kept on a short leash of violence, drugs, manipulation, and false promises.

The Johns

Sex+Money takes viewers on a journey from the supply side (the girls) to the distribution side (the pimps) to the demand side (the johns). Simply put, “If men weren’t buying…there wouldn’t be this horrible epidemic we have in the United States,” says Lisa Smith of Shared Hope International.

Johns are doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and small town soccer coaches—the guy next door. After years of experimentation with pornography, these are men who are trying to recreate in the real world the excitement they feel watching porn. Sexual media has become a part of their character formation.

Of course, most men who see porn do not go out looking for prostitutes. Rather, those who get hooked by pornography are socialized by countless hours of erotic material to think that treating women like commodities is sexy. For some men, risk-taking becomes a part of the seduction, and finally it leads to engaging with prostitutes.

The Debate

Sex+Money highlights the debates that are tied to these issues. “So what if a certain segment of men are hooked on porn and become johns,” some argue. “Yes, sex trafficking is an evil, but don’t tie it to your moral crusade against porn.”

But in ever-widening circles, the film seeks to show that when sexual exploitation is normalized in culture through millions of mass media messages, we are, in a sense, training a generation of men and women who will cheapen sex just enough to think it can be bought and sold.

“What was pornography in the 70s is now mainstream television in this generation, and there are no limits,” says Dr. Alexis Kennedy. Pop music has also spread clear messages: “it’s hard out there for a pimp” and “b****es get what they deserve.”

Sex+Money even tackles some of the blurry lines between sex trafficking and other forms of prostitution. When a girl is coerced into prostitution at 13 and still “chooses” to be a prostitute at 23, is she still a victim of trafficking? Our legal definitions don’t always do justice to the brutal realities women are facing.

The Porn Stars

Sex+Money takes viewers behind the scenes to of one of the largest adult expos in the country. There porn producers and stars can meet with devoted fans to sell their wares. Viewers do not get the impression that the adult industry is a champion of sexual liberation, but is rather the mass marketing of abuse.

From the panties with the words “Sex Slave” printed on them to the interviews with spokespersons from “We Abuse Sluts,” the porn expo is a big-business meat market. As one porn star said, their fans don’t like the “regular stuff” anymore: guys love seeing a girl get “messed up,” verbally and physically abused. This is what gets them off.

The film makes the connections difficult to miss: Porn creates the thirst for commercial sex.

Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous, asks the critical question for law-makers around the subject of porn: “If I take you to New Jersey and pay you for sex, why is it a violation of federal law if I do that, but its not a violation of federal law if I take you to New Jersey, pay you for sex, but turn a camera on.”

The Film: Join the Movement

My overall impressions of Sex+Money are as follows.

  • Few films try to capture both the supply and demand side of sex slavery, but this film does it masterfully.
  • Please be aware: The entire film is about a heavy, adult subject, and it does not shy away from telling viewers the raw stories. On a few occasions you will see porn stars wearing very little clothing. You will hear stories of terrible physical abuse. While you will not hear sex acts described in vivid detail, the video is definitely meant for a mature audience.
  • Don’t stop with the film. Go to SexAndMoneyFilm.com to learn about how you can get involved.
  1. Hi there! Thiis post couldn’t be wrtten any better! Readng through this post reminds mee of mmy oldd room mate!
    He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him.

    Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you forr sharing!

  2. The 100,000 number is a MYTH. Stop using it.

    Myth #14: The Child Trafficking Myth: “It’s between 100,000 and 300,000 child sex slaves in the United States today,” Ashton Kutcher

    Claimed Source: End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Exploitation (ECPAT). 1996. Europe and North America Regional Profile (issued by the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm, Sweden, August 1996, p.70.) ECPAT does not have the original source work

    Fact: These numbers are “estimates” of individuals “at risk” youth. Actual risks for sex trafficking are far lower than expected.
    Total sex trafficking arrests (Jan. 2008-June 2010) 410 suspects and 460 victims, of which 248 are under age 18. [Duren Banks and Tracey Kyckelhahn (2011) “Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010. BJS.gov

    Followup source: Estes, Richard J. and Neil Alan Weiner, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico”, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2001, p.10 “A Cautionary Note: These estimates reported in Exhibit ES.2a reflect what we believe to the number of children in the United States ‘at risk’ of commercial sexual exploitation, i.e., children who because of their unique circumstances as runaways, thrownaways, victims of physical or sexual abuse, users of psychotropic drugs, members of sexual minority groups, illegally trafficked children, children who cross international borders in search of cheap drugs and sex, and other illicit fare, are at special risk of sexual exploitation. The numbers presented in these exhibits do not, therefore, reflect the actual number of cases of the CSEC in the United States but, rather, what we estimate to be the number of children ‘at risk’ of commercial sexual exploitation.”

    • TLB

      While I agree that we need to be careful about how we use statistics (and be extra careful to be as accurate as possible), in the reality of what this article is talking about does it really matter if it is 100,000 or 1? Any child being used in this way is wrong! If this movie/article saves one child from such a life, then it has been worthwhile.

    • It is worthwhile, yes. But talking about the number of children also raises awareness about the ubiquity of the problem: people are more alert to see it if they know it is common.

  3. Hey! I am writing an article for a women’s magazine about this very topic. Where can I pick up this movie or some more interaction with it?

    • You can order it from their website, I believe.

  4. ray

    thanks for your work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related in Help Others Restore Integrity

Editor's Picks

A woman on a podcast.

Help Others Restore Integrity

Dr. Lina Abujamra’s Thoughts on Sex and Shame

Lina Abujamra is a pediatric E.R. doctor. She’s now the founder of…

4 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A youth pastor speaking to a group.

Help Others Restore Integrity

“The Youth Pastor Did What?!” Talking About Porn in Church

Growing up, I was fortunate to have pastors who were not afraid…

3 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A woman looking for resources in the library.

Help Others Restore Integrity

The Best Porn Addiction Resources in 2024

When you tackle a problem as serious as porn addiction, you want…

7 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Image of Pastor Matt Chandler.

Help Others Restore Integrity

Matt Chandler on Accountability and Stepping Away From Ministry

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently sat down with Matt Chandler, pastor…

4 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A nativity scene.

Help Others Restore Integrity

5 Holiday Messages for Your Parish Bulletin

We all have our holiday traditions. Whether it’s decorating the tree, making…

6 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

An empty church sanctuary.

Help Others Restore Integrity

How Porn Affects Church Attendance

As time goes on, it seems like more and more Christians are…

6 minute read

Read Post

Related in Help Others Restore Integrity

A woman on a podcast.

Help Others Restore Integrity

Dr. Lina Abujamra’s Thoughts on Sex and Shame

Lina Abujamra is a pediatric E.R. doctor. She’s now the founder of…

Lina Abujamra is a pediatric E.R. doctor. She’s now the founder of Living with Power Ministries. She’s a popular Bible teacher, podcaster, and conference speaker. She’s also the author of several books. She provides medical…

4 minute read

0 comments

A youth pastor speaking to a group.

Help Others Restore Integrity

“The Youth Pastor Did What?!” Talking About Porn in Church

Growing up, I was fortunate to have pastors who were not afraid…

Growing up, I was fortunate to have pastors who were not afraid to mention the word “porn” or address the issue of sexual integrity head-on. This led to a safe environment in which I was…

3 minute read

0 comments

A woman looking for resources in the library.

Help Others Restore Integrity

The Best Porn Addiction Resources in 2024

When you tackle a problem as serious as porn addiction, you want…

When you tackle a problem as serious as porn addiction, you want to make sure you have the best resources available. Thankfully, it’s no longer difficult to find plenty of offline and online help. Still,…

7 minute read

0 comments

Image of Pastor Matt Chandler.

Help Others Restore Integrity

Matt Chandler on Accountability and Stepping Away From Ministry

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently sat down with Matt Chandler, pastor…

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently sat down with Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church and president of Acts 29. They talked with Pastor Matt about his recent leave of absence from ministry, what…

4 minute read

0 comments

A nativity scene.

Help Others Restore Integrity

5 Holiday Messages for Your Parish Bulletin

We all have our holiday traditions. Whether it’s decorating the tree, making…

We all have our holiday traditions. Whether it’s decorating the tree, making cookies, setting up our crèche scene, or hosting festive gatherings, our celebrating is a welcome time! But gift buying, family gatherings, and extra cooking…

6 minute read

0 comments

An empty church sanctuary.

Help Others Restore Integrity

How Porn Affects Church Attendance

As time goes on, it seems like more and more Christians are…

As time goes on, it seems like more and more Christians are watching porn. The average pew-sitter today is likely to have struggled with pornography at some point. And this struggle is also likely to…

6 minute read

0 comments