Pimps’ Views of Their Work and Measures of Their Success

• In Event: Third-Party Sex Work and Pimps in the Age of Anti-Trafficking

Abstract

This study examines how 71 male pimps, who actively manage sex workers for a percentage of their earnings, describe their work and various measures of their success. The term, pimp, was used to refer to those who received a percentage of the earnings from sex workers in exchange for scheduling and negotiating with clients, arranging for the location of the sex work, the transportation to the location, and the protection of sex workers. A purposive sample of men was recruited from advertisements placed in the survey, escort, and massage sections of Backpage that sought managers of adult erotic services. The interviews took place between April and June of 2013 and 2014 in a public tea establishment in Chicago, and between April and June of 2013 in a private conference room on a university campus in Atlanta. Interviews were conducted in person, presented as conversations with a set of open-ended questions that focused on how they ran their business. The research provides a description of the wide diversity of staff, rules and earnings that characterize internet-solicited prostitution.

Authors

• Mary A. Finn, Michigan State University

• Loretta J. Stalans, Loyola University Chicago