413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

little partner pull a gun on me. I thought it was over. I realized how serious this shit is. I
stopped being out in the open, so flamboyant. (D40)
Other respondents felt they did not engage in direct competition with other pimps. One respondent
explained, “I really didn’t compete. We use another term. If you stay down, you come up. As long as you
pimp properly, you are entitled to have the things that these guys up here are having. They didn’t get it
overnight. It is going to take some work, by playing by the rules, not breaking the rules” (E2). Another
interviewee believed that pimps who compete are largely doing so to support drug habits or lavish
lifestyles: “The ones that were [competing], they had habits. Drinking, smoking, buying jewelry, cars and
rings. I wasn’t doing that. I was trying to open a business” (E10).
Whether or not respondents perceived themselves as in a competition with other pimps, there was one
general shared sentiment: as long as there are individuals selling sex, there will be individuals engaged in
pimping:
Respondent: You got to understand, there is always plenty of us. And newcomers
coming out getting their feet wet. It’s about what broad will choose who at the end of the
night.
Interviewer: How many competitors were making the same amount as you in your
home city
Respondent: I’ll be honest. I couldn’t give you a number on that, because if I said 100
I’d be lying. 1,000 would be lying. It’s so many. Dow Jones couldn’t keep up with that
stock. (G15)
Competition is an essential piece of the UCSE, both between employees and across businesses. From the
perspective of one respondent, there is “Always someone who wants to get the torch. Two or three fall, two
or three jump in line” (D4). While internal competition between employees produced a constant incentive
for employees to continue working (among other forces that compelled individuals to work in the sex
market), competition between pimps similarly encouraged respondents to expand and strengthen their
business. As one respondent explained regarding his relationship with other pimps, “It’s a game. They’ll
help you out, come down, have dinner. Then they try to steal your girl. You have to stay on top” (C5).
Networks and Associations of Pimps
Pimps help each other out a lot. That’s something that I learned. It was nothing for me
to give him $500 at a time and not want it back. Pimps believe in each other. Don’t ask
me why or how. You want to see the next pimp do good … If he know you don’t have a
ho, he know you need help. If you don’t have a ho, you’re not doing too good. (D13)
Relationships between pimps could also foster business growth and expansion. Full partnerships between
pimps were rare among respondents, but they did exist. One transgender respondent reported of his
partner, “He was my life partner. I was the administrative side, he was the physical side. He helped girls
and guys get ready. [He’d] map out on cell phones the best routes. He did most of the driving, sometimes
I’d drive. I managed websites and the phone. I’d send him info. From there, we made it more efficient. He
was the caretaker and got them where they needed to go” (G13). Another respondent explained, “I
partnered with the one guy who started me … because two brains are always better than one” (D7).
Beyond business partnerships, some respondents described the existence of a supportive pimp
community. As chapter 4 explored from the perspective of law enforcement, pimps sometimes network
with one another to maximize profits and minimize risk of law enforcement detection. To one respondent,
networks were born in part from the perceived isolation pimps experience as managers of an illegal
economy that exists apart from the drug trade. The respondent explained, “We see ourselves as outcasts.
We are not drug dealers, we can’t go to a drug dealer and say, ‘Hey, I’m down on my luck, give me this.’
We are our own community; we take care of our own. Teach [our own] … Some play by the rules, some
don’t” (E2). Another respondent reported a similar sentiment: a supportive community is produced by
pimps’ isolation from both the legal and illegal business worlds. He explained:
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