Advocate for sex-trafficked individuals and former prostituted woman, Jennifer Gaines, spoke at this year’s Global Social Responsibility Conference on its final day.

Gaines, who was involved in prostitution for 28 years, spoke on behalf of an organization called Breaking Free, a Minnesota-based non-profit who help about 500 individuals per year escape sexual exploitation through advocacy, housing, education and other services.

After introducing her organization and talking about the work that they do around the state, Gaines shared some statistics that exemplify the prevalence of sex trafficking in Minnesota and around the world.

“Human trafficking is the second fastest-growing black market crime on the planet, second only to drugs,” said Gaines. “The United Nations estimates that approximately 27 million people are being trafficked around the world at any given time. 80 percent of those are women and children.”

She said that each month in Minnesota, at least 213 girls are sold for sex at an average of five times per day on the Web. Of the more than 500 people Breaking Free helped last year, 100 percent were below the poverty line, 69 percent were women of color, and 90 percent were in need of safe housing. One of the barriers to escape for sexually exploited individuals is finding safe housing.

“Domestic violence shelters will only accept you f you were in a domestic violence situation,” said Gaines. She said that even a victim of sex trafficking who is beaten will not be accepted by most domestic violence shelters because they lack training to help women in those situations.

Gaines called human trafficking the “modern day slavery”, and compared ads advertising slaves in the 1800’s to ads on Backpage, the second largest classified ad listing service on the internet after Craigslist. The site contains an adult services section, which Gaines said is a common way for sex traffickers to advertise individuals, despite the company’s official policy against illegal services such as prostitution.

“Just as easily as you can order Jimmy John’s, you can order one of these girls,” said Gaines. “That’s slavery. Nobody should be bought or sold.”

Gaines explained that most people get involved in prostitution at a young age, with the average age of entry being 12-14 years old. She said that of the 450,000 children that run away in the United States every year, 1 in 3 will be lured into sex trafficking within 36-48 hours.

“That’s what happened to me,” said Gaines. “I ran away from home after I had a fight with my mom. Within 48 hours I was recruited.”

Gaines explained that there is three-stage process to sexual exploitation: recruitment, initiation and enslavement. She explained this process by using her own story as an example.

“The way [recruitment] happened for me was: the man who recruited me was very handsome and charming-everybody liked him,” said Gaines. “He brought me to bars so I felt very grown up. He brought me shopping and bought me clothes that made me feel all important. Then he brought me around other women in prostitution (keep in mind I was in love with him by now) and told me that he thought those women are strong women.” Gaines explained that these initial brainwashing techniques are common in recruiting individuals to prostitution.

Because of Gaines’s unwillingness to engage in prostitution, even after her recruiter’s attempts to convince her to, Gaines was introduced to the second stage of sex trafficking, initiation.

“Initiation can happen a few different ways,” said Gaines. “[My recruiter] tricked me.” Gaines shared how her recruiter told her that he owed someone an amount of money that he didn’t have, and that he would be killed if he didn’t settle the debt soon. He convinced her that sleeping with four of his friends, who he said would pay him the amount he needed, was the only way to save his life.

“When it was all over, he gave me a lot of praise,” said Gaines. “All the praise made me feel like he really loved me, which is what I really wanted-to be loved.” Gaines said that third stage, enslavement, followed after her initiation.

“I started asking questions,” said Gaines. “When I started asking too many questions, that’s when the explosion of violence happened, and then I knew to stop asking questions.”

Gaines said recruiters will usually go for young, unsupervised individuals and said some common places for initial recruitment are malls, libraries, busses, and Facebook.

“Facebook is the number one place where traffickers are at today,” said Gaines.

Gaines discussed the typical image many people have in their heads of sexually exploited women; images of women in chains with their mouths covered. She explained that bonds that keep individuals in the cycle of sexual exploitation are not as overt, bus just as powerful.

“At Breaking Free, we see women with invisible chains,” said Gaines. “Things like shame, addiction, the threat of violence and the trauma bond with the trafficker.” Gaines explained the trauma bond as a fear-based devotion that the exploited often develops towards the trafficker.

Gaines concluded by discussing the Safe Harbor Law, which states that nobody under 18 years old can be criminalized for prostitution, but will be treated as a victim. The law changed the age from 16 years old. Gaines, with Breaking Free, are currently advocating for the decriminalization of prostitution for all individuals.

Chelsea Palmer, an SCSU student attending the seminar, reacted to Gaines’s presentation.

“It was really detailed and overwhelming,” said Palmer. “It makes me feel better to know there’s an organization like this in Minnesota. All the facts are really hard to hear-they’re so big.” Palmer said she was surprised by the fact that 85 percent of individuals in prostitution start when they are minors.

“It makes sense they would get manipulated into it as children,” said Palmer. “It helps to understand why it’s so tough for people to get out.”