Christmas is a season to share gifts that will flavor your heart.
At Christmas, the flavors we usually think of belong to goodies like cookies, fudge, candy canes and hot chocolate. But today, I want to flavor your heart with 2 gifts of goodness that DA:NCE personally attended: the 2024 Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation(CESE) Summit(sponsored by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation) in Washington DC and the Dance for Life(DFL)gala in Salt Lake City. Use the links that I share below as gifts to educate yourselves and be inspired by what they do. Notice the goodness.
“This CESE leadership gathering brought together over 600 movement leaders and advocates from 15 countries to discuss ‘The Great Collision: Emerging Tech, Sexual Exploitation, and the Ongoing Pursuit of Dignity.’ The energy was palpable as leaders, survivors and experts convened in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The CESE Summit focused on the intersection between Emerging Tech and Sexual Exploitation. With rapid developments in AI ushering in a technological revolution of epic proportions, it was imperative that all organizations proactively steer and shape this revolution.” With that gathering in mind, watch this video describing the event and let me share takeaways from several sessions that I attended(quotes from the conference have italics):
-As protectors of children, how did the culture allow children to be exposed to adult sexual content when it’s clearly harmful? An ethical failure is why we are here.
-When children are turned into someone else’s needs(sexual or financial), there is suffering. We are already in the woods, not an open field.
-“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things”
-Exploiting kids provides cheap profits
-Children are exposed to risks while companies make money
-We need to put the best interests of kids in the center of what we do; their safety is the priority
-Life purpose comes by giving your life for others
-We need to adapt laws so that we have accountability outcomes that produce excellence in humans, not dehumanization
-The best conversations come from a foundation of love: Not feeling good(if we use them for sexual abuse) but doing good(protecting their innocence)
“The more people that walk on a road, it comes into existence”
At this gathering, a few of the distinguished speakers were Elizabeth Smart (kidnapped as a child and sexually abused), parent advocate John DeMay (who lost his son to suicide due to social media bullying), Chris McKenna(Protect Young Eyes), Clay Olsen(Fight the New Drug), Dawn Hawkins(CEO of NCOSE), Facebook Whistleblower Frances Hagen, Dr. John Foubert (pornography researcher), Ballet after Dark, Kristen Jensen(Defend Young Minds) and Dr. Lisa Strohman (Digital Citizen Academy).
According to Dr. Strohman’s Digital Citizen Academy, 70% of kids have encountered pornography, 55% have encountered cyber-bullying, 20% have been sexually victimized but only 1 in 10 children tell their parents? A reminder: all forms of sexual abuse overlap and reinforce each other even though we don’t often understand that in the dance classroom. There is sexual exposure in adult costumes, choreography and music in children’s dance but that is connected to the internet, media and porn industries. Sexual abuse goes beyond the dance industry. That means that children experience hypersexualization inside and outside the dance studio because of cultural norms. To bring you up to speed on the latest concerns by experts, read a December 2024 Amicus brief about the damage of porn exposure for children. Please share this important document with friends.
Now onto the next gift to flavor your heart: Dance for Life(DFL).
Rich and I flew to Salt Lake City in September 2024 to meet founder Kristin Barlow. We opted to be a sponsor for several events put on by DFL. It was a privilege. The DFL mission is to bring awareness to suicide and its root causes, implement preventive programs and events, eliminate the stigma of mental health and increase access to mental health resources through dance and the performing arts.
“Dance for Life was initiated in July 2018 when director Kristin Barlow heard of another suicide in her community and was alarmed by the growing rate of suicides in Utah. Determined to do something about it, she took her experience of 27 years in the dance industry in both California and Utah to launch the first Dance for Life Suicide Prevention & Awareness Event during National Suicide Prevention Month September 2018 with overwhelming support from the dance community including amazing dance talent Sophia Lucia of Dance Moms fame. With the media’s help and support, the movement is growing with additional dance programs incorporated during 2019 to help with mental health through the therapeutic benefits of dance and anti-bullying self-esteem programs. We continue to grow programs in hopes to prevent any child, teen or adult to reach the point of no return and to have joy in their day-to-day lives. Dance for Life received its 501(c)3 non-profit status in August 2019 and moved its national headquarters in 2022 to central Florida to expand programs nationwide. Kristin believes dance can be used for a greater good by uniting the dance world & giving all the opportunity to receive the therapeutic benefits of dance to help strengthen society – individuals and families.”
It was a gift of goodness to sponsor DFL; what a wonderful flavor to share with you!
This Christmas I hope that you enjoy cookies, fudge, candy canes and hot chocolate around the Christmas tree along with the gifts of goodness that flavor my heart: the CESE Summit and Dance For Life. I hope that they flavor yours as well.
