Atlanta, GA — Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith is currently working with CNN to produce a powerful documentary about human trafficking and the strip club culture. She says that sex trafficking and stripping are a lot more closely related than people may realize, and that strip clubs are often a breeding ground for sex traffickers.For the documentary, she interviewed several former strippers in Atlanta who were lured into sex trafficking. She commented, “I think the thing that caught me was that one of the ladies — a really bright young girl — the gateway to trafficking for her was stripping. As we know, here in Atlanta the strip culture is pretty prevalent.”
In a video blog posted on her Facebook page, she said:
I just finished my first day of shooting in Atlanta. I went to a wonderful facility called Well Spring and got to meet three really dynamic women who had been trafficked. I learned so much from them today and I really learned a lot about perception…
I missed that young women were perceiving stripping as a way of being independent and balling. I missed that. I think that has something to do with my age because I was just talking to my girlfriend and I was like, “Hey, when we were coming up stripping was the bottom.” The stripping culture was not glorified when I was growing up. If you were stripping there was a problem. You were on drugs or something was wrong. Where as today, that’s not it. Girls look at strippers and go, “Yo, I want that!”
I totally didn’t see it until I talked to this girl today and I was like, “Oh man, okay!” So I guess my eyes just got opened and you would’ve thought that I’d caught that. I guess that just went right over my head but it help me understand how to tackle, how to see some of those myths that need to be broken; that messaging that needs to be broken that it’s the gateway. And then still struggle with the idea that a women still has to have her choice. That’s tough. That’s tough. I mean quite a dilemma in my own mind in this. It’s some things I have to reconcile with my own understanding. Yeah, and that was my day. I’m learning, I’m learning as I go.
Watch The Video Below:
The CNN documentary has not yet announced an air date or the name of the documentary, but reportedly it will air sometime this summer.
To follow Jada on Facebook, visit:
www.facebook.com/jada