Not to long ago Demi and Ashton started a foundation called DNA. In their words “We founded DNA to eradicate child sex slavery and human trafficking worldwide.” I have followed Ashton and Demi on Twitter for a while now and it has been evident that they are passionate about the issue of sex slavery, specifically with kids.
This past week they did a huge push for their foundation with the “real men don’t buy girls” videos. They are video’s of celebrity men doing humorous things to show that they are real men. Sean Penn is ironing a grilled cheese sandwich and the tag line is “real men know how to use an iron. Real men don’t buy girls.” There is a number of these videos that they launched this week, one of them is embedded below.
I have heard about the push back on these videos. People saying that they are skirting the issue and are using humor to share about the idea of male macho-ness and less to about the issue of child sex trafficking. I heard about this push back from a friend who forwarded me an article. Then after reading the article I watched some interviews with them on. On CNN Ashton and Demi were asked the question “how do you feel about the push back?”
The answer they gave is the same answer as I am going to give now. They saw a need and they did something. They used their power, fame and money to spread news about an issue that they bleed for. They are sharing it to the people that they have influence over. Specifically young men, single or married who see buying a girl for sex as a sport, or as the cultural norm. Sure these adds are funny, they are silly, but they stick. That is one thing that Ashton and Demi are good at, pushing something that sticks.
Ashton was the first to get to 1 million Twitter followers and was crowned the king of twitter (whatever that means). They know their audience, they know their followers. They know their followers are not the same followers as IJM, or Not For Sale, so they put out something that would connect with them.
To be honest, I am a bit pissed at the push back. Why can’t we work together? If you care about these issues, wouldn’t you be happy that someone like them is bringing such awareness to it? They link to approx.. 200 different organizations on their site, they are not trying to take over the world, they are just doing what they are passionate about. Are we jealous that they are so big now, even though they are so new and young? Even more, are we jealous or feel that they are not legit because they are actors? Or are they disqualified because they make movies about promiscuous sex and then are talking about these issues of sex slavery? To my knowledge Ashton and Demi are not followers of Jesus, but my hope is that these issues change them, that it cuts them so deep that it changes what they make movies about and what movies they endorse.
I am taking their side on this one. I am glad that they are reaching a demographic of people about this issue that are probably totally ignorant to the problem? A demographic of people who wouldn’t listen to me, or a preacher or missionary for that matter. I am glad that they have taken their steps to do justice.
