413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Figure 5.5 Family Member Involvement
As referenced above, interviewees who were introduced to sex work through the experiences of family
members sometimes felt their engagement in the underground commercial sex economy occurred
through passive exposure, rather than active choice: “I was born into it. My mom is a ho” (D3). Other
individuals shared similar childhood experiences: “The community I grew up in was full of prostitutes. My
mom was a prostitute. I had a sister who was an erotic dancer and another was a prostitute out of three
sisters” (E3). A respondent explained how childhood experience informed his understanding of how to
engage with women and the way he treated his employees:
When I grew up, my daddy had women around. I took people I knew. I didn’t do it exactly
how they did it, I rearranged it. The people I grew up around were starving the women,
beating them, mistreating them. I got my grandma and I got three daughters and three
sons. I know what it’s like. If it was my daughter, I wouldn’t knock her for doing it. I
would say, “Don’t piss your man off, he could beat you, mistreat you.” I try not to do to
them [my employees] what I wouldn’t do to my child. (G12)
For some offenders, prostitution was normalized during childhood as a basic means to earn an income,
rather than a criminal act or moral transgression. In turn, exposure to prostitution during childhood
informed the way some pimps interpreted sex work and its associated economy. A 45-year-old African
American male explained the impact of conversations with his aunt at a young age:
At age five and six and seven, I seen it because my auntie was a ho. I’ve seen men come
and go all the time, didn’t know. One night, I saw and asked. She said, “The clothes on
your back, the apartment, this is how I pay the rent.” I had nothing but love for my
auntie, that’s what made me fall in love with a working woman. Then my sister and my
momma did it. It’s been in the family. My uncle and father were pimps. (D5)
Family involvement in the underground sex market impacted offender perceptions of sex work. As the
quote above illustrates, some respondents observed important women in their lives openly engage in sex
work; prostitution was not a hidden trade, but rather a job that provided families with economic support
that seemed otherwise unavailable. Neighborhood contexts throughout childhood also influenced
offender impressions of sex work and eventual entry into the sex economy.
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