413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Figure 6.1 Recruitment Venues
Neighborhoods and Social Networks
Prior research indicates that pimps recruit women through home neighborhoods and personal networks,
such as through the friends of the individuals they pimped or friends of family members (Bales and Lize
2005; Hughes 2000). The use of personal networks and relationships can often be the most effective
recruitment method (Bales and Lize 2005). Interviews with pimps corroborated these findings; 43
percent of respondents recruited new employees through their social network, while 38 percent of
respondents recruited in their home neighborhoods. One female pimp explained how she often found
women in her neighborhood to pimp and would engage them in conversation: “I would ask, ‘Well, would
you like to make some money If you want to make some money, I’ll show you how to make some money’”
(D17). Another pimp explained that he would seek women in his neighborhood because he could
anticipate their economic needs: “In our neighborhood, everyone is looking for a dollar. They don’t have
two parents at home, and mom can’t support them or they got kicked out at an early age” (E5). Personal
networks or neighborhood affiliations could afford pimps prior knowledge about individuals and open up
opportunities to exert social pressures.
Clubs or Bars
Clubs provide a concrete space for pimps to engage women. Thirty percent of respondents reported
recruiting new employees at clubs or bars. One pimp explained his process for meeting women at clubs:
Sometimes I just go to clubs. If I go to a strip club or normal club, I just sit back and prey
on girls that prey on me. Some girls go to clubs to catch somebody who has money [to]
buy them drinks, [act] flashy. If I go to a strip club, I throw some money on a certain girl.
I just kick it with her, ask if she wants to get some food and get something to eat. I have it
on my mind how I’m going to approach it, what I do.” (G12)
As pimps sometimes targeted certain neighborhoods assuming that residents might be more susceptible
to pressure from a pimp, one respondent indicated that pimps target specific clubs based on their
assumptions about the attendees. He stated, “If you’re looking for turnouts, go to the bottom of the barrel
clubs” (D18). Clubs also provide an environment where an individual’s inhibitions might be lowered
through alcohol or drug consumption, which affords the pimp the opportunity to sell his “business idea”
to women in more vulnerable mental and physical states.
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