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I know, I know, we don’t go to the movies for moral inspiration. We go to enjoy a good story, to escape, to feel, to laugh, and for the most part that’s exactly what I did during the movie “Date Night” recently. Unfortunately, Tina Fey crossed a line and ruined my date night. 

“Work the pole like a runaway,” Tina Fey says in a scene in a strip club. I winced, remembering that 1 in 3 runaways in America are recruited by a sex trafficker within 48 hours of becoming homeless. At the end of the movie (during the outtakes) Tina Fey adds, “work that pole like a Russian Immigrant,” solidifying the fact that she is poking fun at victims of sex trafficking.

How do I know this? Well the term “runaway” obviously implies a child, especially in this context. And lets remember why runaways often end up in vulnerable situations; many are trying to escape domestic or sexual abuse in their homes. According to U.S. federal law anyone less than 18 years of age engaged in commercial sexual exploitation is considered a victim of “domestic minor sex trafficking.” Tragically, the average age of entrance into the “sex industry” in America is 13. Many are lured into commercial sexual exploitation through coercion and violence and are beaten if they aren’t making “customers” happy. Here are 2 quotes from young American victims of sex trafficking.

“When I went to clubs, I had to tell people I fell off stage because I had so many bruises in my ribs, face and legs.  He would watch me or have me watched by someone else to make sure that I was working and not trying to run away.”

“He would decide what I ate, how my hair would look, and what I wore. I felt like a slave. I wanted to be loved. That’s what I was searching for. I wanted someone who would always be there for me because I never, ever had this.”

So yes, Tina Fey, you accurately revealed the fact that runaways are found in strip clubs. You also correctly pointed out that Russian immigrants are exploited there as well (often due to fraudulent claims made by criminals offering legitimate jobs in hotels, hair salons or elsewhere.) Moreover, as everyone knows, the exploitation of sex trafficking victims goes far beyond dancing in strip clubs into forced prostitution.

Tina Fey, shame on you for making a joke at the expense of women and girls who are beaten, drugged, enslaved and raped for another’s profit. That’s like making a joke about victims in Auschwitz, Sudanese women suffering in Darfur, or victims of genocide in the Cambodian killing fields. Make no mistake, sex trafficking and the violence associated with it is as vile as any other human rights atrocity this world has ever seen. Pleading ignorance is not an option here. You and your writers knew, at least in part, what you were joking about.

Sex trafficking is grim reality, not comedy.