413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Street and Internet
Despite an increase in the number of individuals posting online advertisements, the demand for the street
underground commercial sex market in Atlanta is still very high and extremely profitable. Many major
interstates come through Atlanta (e.g. I-75, I-85, and I-285), and it is considered one of the biggest cities
in the Southeast. Law enforcement noted that street-level prostitution is generally run by African
American pimps and occurs along specific tracks within more densely urban areas, particularly the Fulton
Industrial area. As one law enforcement officer noted, “You’ve got your major rappers from Atlanta come
down to Fulton Industrial and shoot videos in the neighborhoods, on the streets, with the girls, and with
the pimps and then pay $1,000 for the girls to come in and have sex with them.”
Individuals who work the streets are often looking to supplement their street work with either online
advertisements or chat lines. More pimps are starting to advertise their “employees” online, and in an
effort to recruit new employees, escort agencies and pimps are placing job postings online and reaching
out to women who are working independently:
Craigslist used to have it under adult jobs, now it’s gigs. You’ll have out there say,
“looking for girls to party with between the ages of 18 and 23,” “looking to join a team for
escorting.” You’ll have your escort agencies doing that. You’ll have your individual pimps
doing that. And you’ll even have your bottoms that are advertising up that on their girl for
girl section, and once a girl calls up, then they recruit them into it. Or the pimp’ll just go
through Backpage themselves and call girls who are listed as independent. I don’t think
they even look if they’re independent or not, I just think they look if they’re cute and then
they start hollering at them on the phone like, “Hey, you need to choose up. Whatever.
You know call me on the phone.” (Atlanta Law Enforcement Official)
Similar to other study sites, prices charged on the street, which are per sex act, are different than the
prices charged online, which are per time period. The typical pricing structure on the street is $50 to $100
for oral sex and $75 to $150 for “full service.” However, drug-addicted sex workers charge as little as $10
for oral sex and $50 for “full service.” Online, sex workers charge from $60 to $100 for 15 minutes and
from $250 to $300 per hour for dates. One law enforcement officer noted, “The younger the girl, the
higher the price—so you could have a girl at 18 that’s going to charge $450 an hour or $350 an hour and
that’s kind of funny, as you see them get older into their 30s, unless they have a specialty, you’re going to
see them at maybe $150 an hour or something like that.”
Due to the downturn in the economy, law enforcement has noticed more and more discounts and specials
being offered to the johns:
Respondent 1: I think there are a lot more discounts.
Interviewer: So you’re seeing a lot more discounts here as well We heard about
discounts in Dallas.
Respondent 1: Discounts for gas. Two for one specials, early bird specials, military
specials, and for veterans.
Respondent 2: Yeah. Veteran’s day.
Respondent 1: Just wait for it though, they’ll start doing it for law enforcement.
Respondent 2: They say they do that already. I’m just saying. (Atlanta Law
Enforcement Officials)
Although most transactions occur in hotels and motels, law enforcement stated there is a high use of “date
houses,” which are either vacant houses or rented rooms in private homes used for prostitution. One local
law enforcement officer explained the concept of a date house: “Private citizens who are looking to rent
out the front room of their house. They’ll have a mattress in their front room and you have to pay $5 to get
through the door and usually they’ll make the trick pay that.”
Unlike the trend in other study sites, law enforcement has seen little gang involvement in the UCSE in the
Atlanta metro area. Pimping in Atlanta resembles the “old school” pimping in which there are rules that
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