413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Chapter 5
Identity, Entry, and Risks of Pimping
Introduction and Review of the Literature
Researchers who examine the commercial sex economy have largely focused on the experiences and
perspectives of the individuals directly involved in commercial sex transactions. This research has
encompassed understanding the experiences of sex workers and trafficked individuals engaged in the
underground commercial sex industry. In addition, studies have emphasized the experiences of
stakeholders involved in extricating individuals from trafficking situations, prosecuting their perpetrators,
and providing social services to support successful integration into legal employment.
For a number of reasons, there is little first-hand research that looks directly at the experiences of the
facilitators of the underground commercial sex economy, such as pimps and traffickers, and the details of
how they structure their underground markets (Weitzer 2009). Pimps and traffickers form a notoriously
difficult population to reach because of the criminal nature of their work. Heckathorn (1997) defines a
“hidden population” as a population where public knowledge of its existence is dangerous and threatening
to its survival, largely due to the illegal nature of its membership activities. As a result, researchers have
found it easier to gain access to stakeholders, formerly trafficked individuals receiving social services, and
sex workers. Even though access to formerly trafficked individuals is still very difficult, given the safety
and ethical constraints of researching vulnerable populations, limited research has been possible by
partnering with service organizations that serve this population (Brennan 2005). Researchers of
prostitution have also found access through service providers, law enforcement, and fieldwork.
Additionally, many researchers have discovered significant changes in the presence and roles of
facilitators in the commercial sex economy. In many cases, researchers who focused on the experiences of
sex workers have discovered that they work independently without the aid of a pimp or facilitator
(Murphy and Venkatesh 2006; Norton-Hawk 2004; Thukral and Ditmore 2003; Weitzer 2009). Sex
workers often engage in contract-based relations with locations that facilitate commercial sex, such as
massage parlors or spas, or work independently. The traditional conception of a third-party pimp, often
male, who controls the activities and finances of a sex worker does not ring true in all situations of
commercial sex (Weitzer 2009). As a result, some studies that focus on the experience of sex workers
eliminate any discussion of third-party facilitators in favor of an emphasis on the new methods for
commercial sex transactions, such as independent sex work through the Internet or contract-based
participation in a business-based brothel.
As a result of methodological challenges and the inconsistent presence of pimping in underground
commercial sex, there are few studies that directly examine data observed, retrieved, and confirmed by
the pimps and traffickers themselves in commercial sex. The lack of research that explores how facilitators
of the UCSE operate means valuable information regarding the way underground commercial sex markets
are created and managed is missing. The few studies that do directly interview or observe pimps and
traffickers usually contain small sample sizes, ranging from 4 in Levitt and Venkatesh’s (2007) two-year
ethnography of prostitution in Chicago to 25 in Raphael and Myers-Powell’s (2010) interviews with expimps.
Much of the information that exists on the extent and structure of the underground commercial
sex economy comes secondhand from trafficked individuals, sex workers, law enforcement officials, and
other stakeholders. The information gleaned from secondary sources has played a significant role in
shaping the existing knowledge on how pimps and traffickers facilitate the transaction of commercial sex.
The following three chapters present data collected through interviews with 73 individuals that have been
charged, convicted, and incarcerated for crimes related to compelling prostitution or earning proceeds by
engaging in a business relationship with individuals who were paid by customers to have sex. Chapter 5
explores respondents’ entry into the commercial sex market and views on the market’s associated risks.
Chapter 5 concludes with a summary of respondent observations regarding perceived changes in law
enforcement attention, the facilitation of sex work, and its impact. Chapter 6 explores the structures and
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