413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Respondent: Right. I got a friend, he is here for the same thing I am, we got caught at
same time but different types of women, but he got 15 years to life. White girl. It was his
girlfriend. The girl I was caught with was my brother’s little cousin. She was 14. (E13)
The respondent quoted above was sentenced to three years in prison.
Despite differing rationales, the majority of pimps expressed a preference to employ white women. While
respondents might state a preference for a particular race, they also reported that they employed women
of all races. In many cases, their reported preferences did not align with the race of the women they
primarily employed.
Age
I had a lot of respect for the game. If a girl was under 18, she wasn’t going to work for
me. (G3)
Speculation exists over whether there are significant age differences between sex workers who have pimps
and sex workers who work independently. Norton-Hawk’s (2004) comparison of independent and pimpfacilitated
sex workers found that the individuals in her sample who had pimps had earlier average ages of
first commercial sex activity. May, Harocopos, and Hough’s (2000) study provided statements from
respondents discussing how younger sex workers are more likely to be pimped than older ones. Neither of
these studies, however, systematically confirms nor refutes claims over the minor status of pimped or
independent sex workers.
Law enforcement in multiple cities observed that minors involved in sex work are frequently pimpcontrolled
and pimps in this study observed that a growing number of women engaging in prostitution are
minors. As one 36-year-old pimp stated, “Almost everyone I knew who came into that lifestyle came into
it as a youngster. Or someone manipulated them” (D10). However, the majority of respondents reported
that they did not attempt to recruit underage women. One offender, who worked in the UCSE for over 15
years, explained that vulnerability leads minors to initially engage in sex work:
Now a 15-year-old girl runs away from home. She knows she can’t get a job, nobody will
hire her … She has only one thing to offer, and that’s sex. And she knows this. She’s in the
street, she’s got to eat, and she’s got to survive. I know girls that have sex with men for
something to eat and a place to stay. She goes on the track and does some prostituting to
make some money, if the dope boy doesn’t get to her first. Nine times out of ten, the dope
boy will get her and get a hotel room and call his friends. They’ll all have sex with her and
then they’ll get tired of her and she’s back on the street. Then she’s on the street, girls ask
who she’s with, she says she’s by herself. Then a guy picks her up, asks who her pimp is.
She says she’s by herself. Then he does what he wants with her, because she doesn’t have
any protection. It is best for a woman, if she’s working the track, to be with a pimp. If
she’s 15 and working and ain’t with nobody, my ladies will tell her, “Get someone, we
don’t want you down here. Because you’re too young and we don’t want the heat.” You
have some ladies that have kids [that are] 15 years old. And most of the cars stopping
want her because she looks young. (G7)
For respondents who knowingly recruited younger women, their reasons varied. Some pimps recruited
younger women based on their marketability. One respondent explained, “As a rule, most men would
prefer a younger looking girl than an older looking girl” (G7). At the same time, respondents reported that
clients had different preferences: “Some guys want a woman who is 50 years old because she knows
everything; some want a 13-year-old girl” (G7). Pimps also noted that younger women could be easier to
manage. A 20-year-old pimp explained that younger women were less likely to have already worked with
another pimp, and thus did not carry expectations or assumptions about the way a pimp would or should
run the business: “I don’t really like people who is used to someone else. If I chose to get somebody, it
would be somebody new who hasn’t really done it before. So I don’t have to worry about them being used
to someone else” (E13). A 45-year-old pimp reasoned that young women were more ambitious, would
work harder to earn money, and would not burn out after a couple years at the job:
160