Men! Fight for Me: The Role of Authentic Masculinity in Ending Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking

My name is Brent Dowlen and welcome to another book review here at PurposeDrivenMen.com. Today we’re reviewing the book Men Fight For Me by Alan Smith and Jessica Midkiff. Um, right off the bat, let me tell you, if you’re looking for light reading. This isn’t the book for you. Now, that is not because it’s not a great book.

The book is incredibly well written. Um, but this book is gonna move you if you want light reading. This isn’t it. This book is gonna stir something in you and make you angry at some injustices that are going on in the world. Men Fight For Me was written by Alan Smith. Who is the director of Saving Innocence, which is a nonprofit over on the West coast that helps get women and children out of human trafficking, that that is their goal.

So, like I said, this book will make you angry because you are gonna come face-to-face with human trafficking in the most real and raw way.

Now a lot more people are aware of the degree of human trafficking by last year’s film. Sounds of Freedom by Angel Studios. Uh, so you already may be a little bit aware of this horrible truth that is a reality. However, as hard as sounds of freedom was to watch guys. This book is going to tear you up. If you are outraged by the film, then you haven’t, you won’t even believe how much this is gonna hit you.

So Allen Smith is the current CEO or Director of Saving Innocence and works with the federal government, the FBI, the state police to help fight human trafficking all over the country. Jessica, mid. Is one of the counselors at Saving Innocence. She works with survivors. She works with people coming out of human trafficking to help them reorient their life and deal with some of the mental damage besides the physical damage that has come through.

But Jessica’s also a survivor herself. Jessica was trafficked from the time she was very, very little. We’re talking like. Three, four or five guys, like she was sex trafficked by her own family and was sex trafficked. Well into her late teens. This book is going to tear you up. You’re going to come face to face because what they did was not only did they tell it from their side of the story, you’ll hear.

Lot accounts from other survivors from their experiences to help you get a grip on this, because a lot of people think of this really extreme, they’re kidnapping kids out of villages that nobody notices. But one of the survivors in the book was pulled right out at the Ivy League College here in the United States.

She wasn’t at risk. She had a loving family. Uh, attended mom and dad. And she got great grades and was doing very well and was lured in under the guise of a modeling contract and was trafficked for the next four years. This is just one of many stories that you’re going to find in this book. This book is so impactful that very wisely.

They actually put some appendixes in the back with steps you can take. I finished the book. I was so outraged. I was glad the appendixes were there because the first thing I did was email a dozen other podcasters I knew to help get them connected with saving innocence and these two people so that they could get them on their podcast and spread the word.

And then I messaged everybody I knew and sent out emails to my entire mailing list. This is not a book you can read and. Be unchanged. You’ll find out the truth that human trafficking is happening in every town in the country. It’s not just in big cities. It is not in some third world country. Human trafficking is, and sex trafficking specifically are at all time highs.

It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. That’s why sounds of freedom met so much resistance and it’s production because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry, it’s well over 25 billion a year worldwide. But this is happening every. Town in America. I live in Washington state, which I hate to say is actually one of the top five states in the United States for human trafficking, uh, sex trafficking and exploitive workers.

Uh, basically slave labor is very common here. It’s one of the worst places for it in the United States. This book is gonna stir you. So if you’re looking for an easy out, this isn’t it. If you’re looking to be moved and to come face to face with these realities and understand how to protect your children better, how to protect your loved ones better, understand what to watch out for in your communities.

Um, they, they recount a story about a minister who was getting ready for a big event in his church and stopped on the way home too. Have non-consensual relations with a sex trafficked woman. This is happening everywhere. This is not something you can escape. Now, I’ve gone through this book three times. I have the hard copy of the book.

I’ve actually had Alan and Jessica on my podcast both separately and together on a live stream as well as had Alan speak at one of my events before, and I think I’ve had him back on the podcast at least once since then, even. Uh, to cover the re-release. They redid the audiobook and went through and got all of the people who contributed stories to the book.

All the survivors tell their story in the audiobook firsthand, and so I, I had to, when Alan told, called me and told me how they had changed the product project, I had to check out the new audio book. And guys, this was hard. To to read the first time. I have two daughters. This was so hard to read The first time, it was even harder to listen to the audio book, but it is worth listening and knowing.

Stop being willfully ignorant and actually take action to stop these horrible things. Hearing these survivors talk about the ordeals, they went through the terrors, they went through one girl. Watch her captors burn a woman alive because they wanted to show all the other girls what would happen if you tried to get away.

And then they helped made her help barrier her. This is a dark, hideous, disgusting truth that exists in our world, and if you’re ready to get out of the shadows. And pay attention and come face to face with truth, then this book will absolutely change your life. If you’re not ready for it and you read it, it’s still going to change your life.

This book is a tremendous book. I highly recommend it, but it is not light reading, but it is truth that needs to be told and shared. So I hope that got helps you guys out. I absolutely recommend reading it, but be prepared. For this to change your life forever.