Pimp

Name	Pimp
Caption	Statue of a young 19th century prostitute with her pimp
Type	Criminal
Employment field	Brothels, prostitution, street prostitution
Related occupation	Prostitute, gigolo, mama-san, madam

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects a portion of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing (or in some cases monopolizing) a location where she may engage clients. A woman who runs a brothel is known as a madam rather than a pimp.

Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next. Pimps may punish johns for physical abuse or failure to pay, advertise services to potential clients without alerting police, and enforce exclusive rights to 'turf' where their prostitutes may advertise/operate with less competition. Where prostitution is outlawed (many places), sex workers have decreased incentive to report abuse for fear of self-incrimination, and increased motivation to seek any physical protection from clients and law enforcement that a pimp might provide.

The pimp-prostitute relationship can be abusive and possessive, with the pimp/madam using techniques such as psychological intimidation, manipulation, physical force, and sexual assault to control his/her prostitutes. In the United States of America, pimps can be arrested and charged with pandering and are legally known as procurers.

Etymology

The word pimp first appeared in English in 1607 in a Thomas Middleton play entitled Your Five Gallants. It is believed to have stemmed from the French infinitive pimper meaning to dress up elegantly and from the present participle pimpant meaning alluring in dress seductive. Pimp used as a verb, meaning to act as a pimp, first appeared in 1636 in Massinger's book, The Bashful Lover. A pimp can also mean "a despicable person". The term can also be applied to a person who is considered a ladies' man.

The verb "pimping" came up in the early 17th century. In medical contexts, the verb also means "to ask (a student) a question for the purpose of testing his knowledge". In the US military, the verb can be used to express a superior reminding a subordinate of a task that the subordinate forgot to accomplish.

Business of pimping

Pimping is sometimes operated like a business. The pimp may have a bottom girl who serves as office manager, keeping the pimp apprised of law-enforcement activity and collecting money from the prostitutes. Pimps recognize a hierarchy among themselves. The least respected, or newer pimps, are the "popcorn pimps" and "wannabes". A pimp who uses violence and intimidation to control his prostitutes is called a "Jonas pimp", while those who use psychological trickery to deceive younger prostitutes into becoming hooked into the system are called "finesse pimps". An important part of the business is obtaining and maintaining a selection of prostitutes. Losing one's prostitute to another pimp is known as being "peeled". Informing a pimp that one of his prostitutes has switched pimps is a professional courtesy, and any attempt to respond to this courtesy with violence will quickly get the violent pimp labeled a "Gorilla" or "Godzilla". Prostitutes who move between pimps often are labeled as a "Choosey Susie". In addition, a prostitute may "bounce" from pimp to pimp without paying the "pimp moving" tax.

A large percentage of pimps in the United States are also documented gang members, which causes concerns for police agencies in jurisdictions where prostitution is a significant problem. Pimping rivals narcotic sales as a major source of funding for many gangs, this is particularly true with African American gangs. Gangs need money to survive, and money equates to power and respect. While selling drugs may be lucrative for a gang, this activity often carries significant risk as stiff legal penalties and harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws exist. However, with pimping, gang members still make money while the prostitutes themselves bear the majority of the risk. Pimping has several benefits to the gang that the pimp belongs to. These benefits include it helps the gang recruit new members because the gang has women available for sex and the money brought in by prostitution allows gang members to buy cars, clothes and weapons, all of which help to recruit younger members into the gang by increasing the reputation of the gang in the local gang subculture. The presence of gangs (and weapons and drugs) is a virtual guarantee when prostitutes are present, which is why many law enforcement agencies advocate taking an aggressive stance against prostitutes. Many vice units work to ascertain if the prostitute they have arrested has a pimp, and if so they pressure them to provide information about their pimp and the gang involved. This information can then be used to go after the more serious and violent offenders.

The pimp business has an internal structure - built around violence - for dealing with rule breakers. For example, pimps have been known to employ a "pimp stick", which is two coat hangers wrapped together, in order to subdue unruly prostitutes. The tattoo will often be the pimp's street or even his likeness. The mark might be as discreet as ankle tattoo, or blatant as a neck tattoo, or large scale font across the prostitute's lower back, thigh, chest, or buttocks.

Technological change and the obsolescence of pimps

Since the Internet became widely available, it has become the preferred medium for prostitution. Prostitutes increasingly use websites to solicit sexual encounters. In turn, pimps have used these sites to broker their women.

But the use of the Internet for prostitution as well as other changes in the sex industry have resulted in the disintermediation of prostitution, allowing prostitutes to deal with clients directly. This has rendered pimps largely superfluous, at least in the United States. In 2011, Wired reported that of 11 pimps working out of midtown Manhattan in 1999, all were out of work within four years.

Notable pimps

Fillmore Slim

Iceberg Slim

Don "Magic" Juan

See also

American Pimp, a 1999 documentary by the Hughes Brothers consisting of first person interviews with people involved in the pimping lifestyle in the U.S.

Case C-268/99 Jany [2001] ECR I-8615, on free movement of workers in the European Union

Pimp tenure, a form of feudal land tenure

References

External links

U.S. DOJ guide to street prostitution

Pimp Anthropology, radio show from This American Life featuring an interview with a former pimp.

Jody Raphael and Brenda Myers-Powell, From Victims to Victimizers: Interviews with 25 Ex-Pimps in Chicago, The Family Law Center Report, September 2010

Category:Occupations Pimp