The abolitionist

International | Salvation Army's Lisa Thompson takes on sex trafficking, mutilation, and bling in a growing worldwide campaign | Priya Abraham

Ask Lisa Thompson what really makes her angry, and she will say: "Snoop Dogg and Hugh Hefner and Bling Bling Barbie Dolls." When the gangster rapper appeared in an Orbit chewing gum TV commercial, Thompson vowed never to buy the brand. "They're all part of the example of how American culture is accepting the commodification of women and girls," she said.

If Thompson is sensitive about the cheapening of women, it's because she spends working days—and nights—tracking the worldwide spread of the problem. In Sri Lanka, a huge billboard advertises a shop reading simply "Bling." In rural Sierra Leone, Thompson spied a village elder wearing a 50 Cent shirt, what she calls "the almost transcendence and omnipresence of pimp subculture in the world."