413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Multiple factors related to neighborhood context could influence interviewees’ choice to engage in
pimping. Limited opportunities for legal work—coupled with the prevalence of extralegal economies—
were important contextual considerations raised in offender interviews.
Mentorship
Pimps can also be encouraged to enter the underground sex market through mentorship by other pimps.
Thirteen respondents (18 percent) entered the commercial sex market after being influenced or mentored
by a pimp. For some respondents, this mentoring relationship started when they expressed curiosity
about a friend or family member’s wealth or work. As one pimp described, the financial gains associated
with pimping are often highly visible and can be compelling to observers:
I had a friend and I went over his house one day. The phone rang, in walked seven girls,
one by one. They were all different shapes, sizes, and races. They all dropped money on
the table and went into a room. We were in a nice two-bedroom condo. Girls had sleeping
bags in a room. Upscale community, it was nice. When I saw that, my mind started
spinning. [My friend] showed me the track. (D18)
While pimps sometimes sought out mentors because of their interest in the lifestyle, mentors often
encouraged new pimps to engage in their work without provocation. Mentors might comment on a
mentee’s innate ability or personal suitability for the work. One 35-year-old interviewee explained that his
mentor actively encouraged him to pimp:
Someone I already knew was doing it. All the girls seeing him at the club became his
clients. We started gigolo-ing with him … He gave me the game. Just talking. I was selling
drugs all my life. When I got in with him he told me how to do it. He said I was already a
player and had it in my blood. (G12)
Gang connections also sometimes linked new pimps with mentors who were already involved in the
business. A respondent reported “I deal with a lot of Crips. I would take them and teach them what I
know. They would try and do what I do, and more females would come” (C8). Once engaged in sex work,
pimps still sought guidance from individuals they respected within their field. One respondent explained
that “Different pimps have different guys they look up to. We are our own community so we always take
care of one another” (E2).
Recruitment by Women
She asked, “Will you be my pimp” I said, “I ain’t no pimp, but I’ll look out for you
though.” (D4)
Respondents also reported that women asked them to act as pimps. Eighteen respondents (25 percent)
reported that they first pimped in response to a request or encouragement from a female friend or
intimate partner. Law enforcement officials interviewed for this study also reported that women
sometimes recruit men to pimp (see chapter 4). As a result, some respondents saw their entry into the sex
economy as passive and compliant: “It kind of fell in my lap, hanging around a certain area. A prostitute
came and gave me some money one day, and asked if she could come with me. I told her yeah. I was doing
it ever since” (E2).
Pimps believed they were approached by women who felt a pimp could offer them some measure of
protection or company. One 20-year-old interviewee described the day he was first approached by a
young woman who had observed his interactions with members of an opposing gang:
One day I was leaving football practice, and my school was right there on the blade. This
girl I go to school with approaches me and says, “You know. I’m from your neck of the
woods, I see how you handle these dudes. I’ve been doing this since before junior high
and I think you got something in you.” She was 13 or 14 [years old]. (E11)
In some cases, interviewees felt misled or tricked by the woman who first recruited them:
I’m staying in places … Trying to do everything right. I meet this young lady, she’s a
prostitute. I’m a nice guy. She said I need someone to watch my back. I said ok. Watching
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