Charles Brammall on being a chaplain in the entertainment industry
Our evangelistic and pastoral relationship with the adult industry (a vexed one) was never planned. I was asking Artarmon shopkeepers if we could put up posters for SPLAT (the Artarman Community church Kids Club) in their windows. I was putting one up in the window of the florist we had gotten to know when a well-dressed accountant-looking lady came downstairs from her first-floor business and expressed interest.
We chatted for a while about SPLAT and the need for fun, safe things during school holidays for parents to send their kids to. She said, “Some of my team upstairs have got primary school kids- they might be interested. Come upstairs, and I’ll introduce you, and you can give them some flyers.” So I went up with her and, to my surprise, was ushered into a “Green Room” with half a dozen ladies sitting around in lingerie and various states of undress, having their morning tea. She was their madam.
This was a great difficulty, as someone might have seen me go in, and I was a local Anglican Minister with a wife and kids at the local school. It would obviously be highly inappropriate for me to be seen. So I stayed a very short while and chatted briefly about Jesus and our chaplaincy. As I was leaving, I found out from the Madam that there were seven other brothels in Artarmon! Five of these are in the industrial area on the other side of Gore Hill Freeway.
I certainly didn’t know this, and nor do most Artarmon people, I suspect. Although sadly, I guess some people at least knew, as these businesses were generating enough business to stay open. And also to have half a dozen ladies on shift at eleven in the morning! Tragic. The madam asked me if I would like to visit some of the other establishments as well, and she could introduce me.
This was obviously impossible, so I politely declined. But in a way, it was sad. After all, the LORD made sex workers in His image for relationship with Him. He gave up His only child to die in their place so He could forgive and save them, adopt them as His loved, forgiven children and give them new life. Salvation is not industry-specific. Nor is it ethic specific. These ladies were no less deserving of His protection and love. Jesus ministered to and shared the Gospel with prostitutes, and may even have been accused of sexual immorality- we don’t know.
I sought counsel from my elders, Advisory Council, and my wife. They, of course, agreed that I should definitely not visit, but maybe we should aim for a lady to somehow deliver them invitations to church and evangelistic events? Or drop in coffees, Christmas cards, or small care packs for them? After all, we can’thold back the Word of life from these ladies (and their male colleagues). Jeremiah laments in 20:9, one of my two favourite verses:
“And if I say ‘I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name’, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain (it).”
As I mused and prayed about this issue, I naively thought I was the only one who saw the need, and foolishly felt a little like Elijah, who said to God in 1 Kings 19:14-18:
“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts… but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left…”
But thankfully, he was wrong, and God said to him
“I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
That is, God has always been cleverly reaching sex workers in a variety of ways and places without me and our ministry! Because of His irresistible grace, we are not indispensable. I had no reason to doubt God, or worry. Rahab aligned herself with God’s people, as Hebrews 11:31 says:
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”
As did Mary Magdalene. Even here in the Antipodes, St John’s Anglican Church in Darlinghurst had a drop in centre on William St Woolloomooloo in the days when prostitutes cruised the footpath waiting to be picked up. The centre was right at the place where they walked up and down. What a blessing! Vine Anglican Church in Surry Hills did a similar thing- a refreshment tent during Mardi Gras for LGBTQIA+ people, where they care for and befriend people and pray for opportunities to chat with them about the Son.
As well as this, a married lady in a previous church of mine was a sex worker who came to Christ. She left the industry, keeps in touch with her old colleagues, and prays for opportunities to raise Jesus with them. Rev Tom Henderson Brooks has written a helpful article- “Gutsy Compassion” from the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Barton ACT. And, Anne Lim’s Jan 18th 2018 Eternity News article “I Came Back to God While Running a Brothel” is fascinating.
Also the 2013 book “I Heart Sex Workers: A Christian Response to People in the Sex Trade” by Lia Claire Scholl. An exciting ministry to sex workers exists in Toowoomba Qld called “City Women Toowoomba’s Rahab Ministry”. King’s Cross Anglican Church in London also has a weekly drop-in centre for prostitutes. Jesus’ witnesses are alive and well in the sex industry. He says to the apostles in Acts 1:8
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (and in sex workplaces).
Tragically, many of these ladies have to live two lives. None of them live in Artarmon because they couldn’t risk running into their clients in Artarmon streets. They live in the outer Western Suburbs, Waterloo/Redfern, South West Sydney, Wollongong or the Central Coast. They had “work names”, and often their husbands or boyfriends didn’t know what they did. Very rarely did their children know. They could never come and visit church in Artarmon as they were fearful of running into their clients there. I don’t know if this was a justified fear, but at the very least it told me that they may have had Christian (or at least church going) clients before. This broke my heart. And I must admit, angered me.
You hear anecdotally that some sex workers are in the industry because they love sex (or at least that’s one of the reasons). I haven’t met them. In my experience, many (if not almost all) of these ladies abhor men and despise them. They are vituperative about them as they have been damaged by them – sexually, physically, verbally, emotionally and financially – by male relatives, and as a result have substance addiction, which’s why they have to do sex work.
Also, they have low incomes and are deeply unhappy, especially in their relationships (if they are in lasting ones, which is rare). Many more than the general population have Mental health issues- and some have suicidal ideation. University of Sydney’s Matilda Centre’s “Comorbidity Guidelines” state that:
“… sex workers are at increased risk of experiencing both AOD (Alcohol and other drug treatments and programs) and mental health conditions. Previous international studies from the UK and US have estimated that among people who use AOD, a history of sex work ranges between 31 – 51% of women… Sex workers in Australia who inject drugs are also more likely to start using AOD at a younger age and have more AOD-related problems.
Among sex workers… There is also evidence of… high rates of depression, psychosis, anxiety, suicide attempts, and mental health treatment… Compared to licensed brothel workers and private operators, people who engage in illegal sex work are four times more likely to present with mental health problems in Australia, and these increased rates of mental health problems are associated with more adverse experiences prior to entering the industry. Trauma exposure is almost universal among Australian sex workers (99%) with estimates of violence against sex workers ranging between 45-75%. A higher incidence of violence has also been found among street-based sex workers compared with other types of sex workers (e.g., indoor)”
Please pray for female, male, and child sex workers, that this part of the “entertainment” industry, these dear ones for whom Jesus died, would meet and put their trust in Him, the only one they can ultimately trust. And become His siblings through His death and resurrection.
Vignette – UNSW
The questionable sexual ethic at NIDA (and I imagine other acting schools) was also at work at UNSW next door, where I studied Film, TV and Theatre.
I was in a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, playing Demetrius, one of the young lovers. It just so happened that my copy of the script was old, hardback, and edited by a “Rev” someone. So the lovely (gay) Director (whom I subsequently interviewed at his home for an assessment) coined the moniker “The Censor” for me. The cast and crew thought this was hilarious and adopted it. In one scene, I was required (wearing pajamas) to fall on top of my love interest, Helena, and land between her legs. I told the Director I would prefer not to do it if that was okay- is there another way we could “block” (work out the movement of) the scene? This brought good-natured jeers and taunts from him and the cast and crew and reinforced my identity as “The Censor”
There was another committed Christian in the cast, a lovely girl, and she and I were the only ones who changed into our costumes in the theatre’s dressing room. Everyone else stripped off (often to nothing) and got dressed in the green room (common room). Not a good environment for a young, healthy, heterosexual male. I struggled with this, sometimes unsuccessfully, to my shame. I have repented and been forgiven. The “after party” was my first experience of such a thing and was quite a sordid affair, complete with men dancing on tables in leopard skin G strings.