Kathi Hardy
Survivor of Prostitution; Founder, Freedom From Exploitation; Educator; Advocate; Mentor
Kathi Hardy joined the military after a childhood of abuse, including sexual assault at the age of five. Addicted to drugs and alcohol for 25 years, she entered prostitution to support her addiction, which ultimately cost her her son, home, and long-term job. Ms. Hardy was homeless for three and a half years. She has been sober since 1993 and today is a dedicated and well-respected advocate, mentor, and educator. In 2002, she founded Freedom from Exploitation to serve people involved in prostitution, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation, by providing them with peer support, group counseling, and diversion/first offender programming.
“Laws should reflect that no one is worth throwing away. There’s a war going on between good and evil. Normalizing the sex industry is on the side of evil. It justifies rape just because someone is getting paid for it. I was raped 12 times at knife and gunpoint and it had nothing to do with not getting paid. Violence happens because of people’s mental instability and sex addiction. It is necessary to fight the demand and the money that drives it.”