After being sex trafficked at 14 and managing to flee that life, Jennifer Gaines has devoted her life to helping women in the identical situation.
Her true story might be performed as a play, “The Survivor Story Highlight,” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, on the E.M. Pearson Theater at Concordia University in St. Paul.
The play might be performed by several actresses portraying Gaines at different points in her life.
“It’s my story,” she said in an interview Sunday. “It’s the way it happened, a few of the things that happened to me, the way it affected me, and the way I got out.”
The play also highlights the continuing need for more human trafficking prevention and victim-survivor services, she said.
“We would like people to grasp the vulnerabilities that put children prone to trafficking, the barriers that prevent victims from getting out of the life, the hurdles that keep survivors trapped long-term, and the reality that all of us have a hope and future that’s price protecting,” Gaines said. “For ladies who’ve passed through this, we wish them to know that they should not alone. For every body — we’re all priceless and our price never changes regardless of what happens to us. This can be a true story of how I used to be trafficked right here within the Twin Cities.”
She partnered with C.A.S.T. — Residents Against Sex Trafficking — to write down the play, which had its debut performance last 12 months.
The play will help Minnesotans understand how sex trafficking can occur in their very own backyards, she said.
“I went to an excellent school. I had an excellent family. And it still happened to me,” Gaines said. “It’s all really good for people to grasp how hard it’s to get out (once someone has been sex trafficked). What number of barriers you’re facing and wish to beat. It’s not a alternative. No one chooses this. There are some misconceptions that girls select this.”
People erroneously think that girls who’ve been sex trafficked can “just get a job” to get out of the life, she said. “It’s not that easy. How are you going to get a job when you might have no work skills, no education, no ID and are under the facility and control of a trafficker?”
As well as, since addiction and trafficking often go hand-in-hand, that makes it even tougher to depart, Gaines said. For help, the National Human Trafficking Hotline will be reached at 888-373-7888.
Gaines is founder and director of JCS Affective Sober Living. Her homes are unique, she said, because they’re sober homes for ladies who’ve been sexually exploited. Before opening them, Gaines worked for Breaking Free, a survivor-led nonprofit that works with women who’ve been involved in prostitution or victims of sex trafficking.
To see the play
Tickets are $10 for the play on Tuesday, July 18, and will be purchased at forged.breezechms.com/form/survivorstoryspotlight2023