From Trafficking Victim to Advocate: Kelley’s Journey of Triumph and Transformation

When I first met Kelley, her smile and energetic disposition lit up the room. I would not have guessed her past. Her enthusiasm and zeal for life is contagious and inspiring. I’m certain you’ll find her message insightful. practical and full of hope.

It’s safe to say we are living in strange times, and sanity of mind is a hard thing to come by these days. Up is down, left is right, evil is good, good is evil, and we’re just trapped in the whirlwind of it all. But I’ll begin by posing this question: are we actually trapped or were we intentionally placed here for such a time as this? To speak truth louder than the lies and to shine forth a light in the darkness. To shake things up. To disturb things. To flip some tables. To raise up a generation who will not be silenced. A generation who will lead in boldness and power, authenticity and humility. A generation built by confrontation, having learned to stand in the face of opposition and fear. I believe wholeheartedly that we are called to just that, and if you’re reading this, I’ve got a feeling you do too.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kelley Frenchko-Gordon, and I was born and raised in Southwest Florida. Even as a little girl I loved reading books while lying in the grass, singing at the top of my lungs, and dancing by myself in the rain. Funny people were my favorite and music quite literally lived in my soul. Life then was innocent.

That is, until I realized the place I called home was different than the other kids and there was violence within the walls that were meant to keep me safe. Drugs and alcohol flowed freely through the doors that should’ve locked them out. It was early on that I understood the dysfunction of my reality. But I couldn’t have predicted I would eventually become a trafficking victim.

I’ll never forget the time in my life that all innocence was stolen. How it quickly turned into a storm brewing, gaining speed and strength, growing in intensity and danger. We had a family television, right there in our living room, that opened the door to the world of sexuality, beckoning an unsuspecting and unprotected little girl to come and play. 

Pornography Link

I can honestly say everything changed when I watched pornography for the first time. Even the way I began looking at women, no longer a person of value, but rather an object of sexual gratification. It was in my nightly private rendezvous with people who should’ve been appalled at my joining that I first believed the lie: WOMEN WERE CREATED FOR SEX.

This honest belief led to a life of open sexuality, one that would keep me bound for more than twenty years. During that time, I experienced being drugged, raped, and videotaped. I was sixteen years old when I found out that the pornography videos were made and were circulating in my community. The story wasn’t that I was a trafficking victim. Instead, I was dubbed the “whore.”

Life went on, and I married into domestic violence, enduring eight years of secret abuse. When all of that ended, I turned towards the path that raised me. Drugs became my way of life, along with excessive drinking, and routine partying. That lifestyle quickly led to prostitution. After all, it was easy for me to enter back into the world I had become so familiar with. Only this time, I manipulated it for gain. My gain. No longer the innocent little girl, but the woman who made her body a god.

I first believed the lie that women were created for sex when I saw pornography. This belief led to a life of open sexuality. ~ Kelley Frenchko-Gordon #traffickingvictim #fightthenewdrug From Trafficking Victim to Advocate: Kelley’s… Share on X

I’ve now been clean and sober thirteen years. I am married to Joseph, a man I never even hoped for, and we have two beautiful daughters. The dreams from the little girl I used to be have come to pass, with each sunrise bringing a renewed thankfulness. I often look back on the life I lived with a changed perspective, as if seeing with a different set of eyes.

I no longer think of myself as a trafficking victim; I’m a survivor and advocate.

Talk About Hard Things

My mission is to shed light on and bring conversation to the hard things. The sensitive subjects surrounding sex, drugs, rape, abuse, suicide, and the like. I believe there is a great responsibility placed on adults to talk about the things I wish I would have known about when I was younger. To be for them what I needed. In speaking with people of all ages, I have learned it’s easier and more comfortable to sweep things under the rug. To not go there. But coming from a place of experience, we must go there. We have to. Because the truth is: our children are.

We need to prepare our youth for what they will be or already have been exposed to. We want to keep them from becoming trafficking victims or any other type of victim. We must be a place of safety for them, allowing them into our lives and diving headfirst into theirs. Going all in…with no fear or turning back.

What We Can Do

• Discuss the importance of boundaries, how to set them, and how to keep them. Explain that boundaries are healthy, and we should respect others’ boundaries just as we expect others to respect ours. When youth understand peer pressure and manipulation, they are empowered to resist it and say “no.”

• Instill confidence in them and encourage them to stick to their boundaries. Remind them of their future and explain how each decision they make now will affect the days to come.

• Ask challenging questions and open up conversations about red flags and the difference between healthy and unhealthy behaviors in relationships. You are raising awareness of verbal, sexual, and physical abuse.

Again, I’ll say, our children must be prepared. It is necessary that we prepare them for the real world, releasing with them strength and assurance. Because I know now what I didn’t know then. And I know who I needed.

You are exactly who your child needs.

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