I read an interesting story recently.
Distilling out many details, it went like this: A man stood at a whiteboard and wrote five sentences.
#1 John beat Mary.
Active voice – clear about who did what to whom.
#2 Mary was beaten by John.
Do you see it? We’ve shifted to passive voice, and now Mary is the focus. John’s almost an afterthought.
#3 Mary was beaten.
#4 Mary was battered.
John has completely disappeared. We’re ignoring the criminal. It’s completely about Mary.
#5 Mary was a battered woman.
The transformation’s complete. No criminal, and, even worse – Mary’s identity has become what was done to her by John in the first sentence.
None of this is intentional. I believe it’s a well-meaning effort to express empathy, but it also demonstrates another clear principle.
Words matter.
I’ll bet you can guess where I’m going with this.
Trafficked child.
Consider the impact of that label on a child’s sense of identity. Imagine carrying that baggage, the amount of effort required to erase the inner stigma of being a “trafficked child?”
What if we phrased it differently?
Criminals imprisoned our kids in brothels.
Men – also criminals – abused our kids.
Those actions say a good deal about the actions of criminals, but nothing about the identity of our kids.
These kids already have an identity: CHILDREN CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE. They are our neighbors, whom Jesus invited us to love.
I don’t want to engage in criticizing others or parsing the words of those who only try to help. I know too well the difficulty of describing the issue without moving down the list of the five sentences in the story. But of one thing I am certain.
I will do my very best to never, ever refer again to trafficked children.