Sold a Dream: The Cultural Narrative of Pimps and Prostitutes

The terms “pimp” and “prostitute” or “hoe/heaux/whore/304” in mainstream culture have very definitive and generalized meanings. The term pimp itself is one that has been deeply associated with Black “street culture and hip hop/rap music” (Davis, 2014).  This is most often seen as a misrepresentation of Black manhood, one that is tied to hyper-masculinity and dominance. “This is seen in the strength of pimp culture, sexist rhetoric and homophobic street culture often reflecting micro-systems of power and dominance within Black communities that are not granted to Black men through white patriarchy” (Johnson, 2021). 

This aggressiveness and dominance over “hoes” have been tied with the flaunting of wealth, power, control, possessing beauty, and having access to the best and the newest, being revered for sexual and intellectual prowess (Davis, 2014). “U.S.-based pimp-controlled sex trafficking often situates a male trafficker at the top of its hierarchy, followed by a “bottom” or the street term used to describe female victims of sex trafficking who are the most loyal to their trafficker/pimp and transition into a trafficking coconspirator role” (Henderson & Rhodes, 2022). Here is where the prostitute and the pimp overlap, as those in the role of bottom, still subordinate to the pimp, are placed in a role of control over the other individuals in the “family” that are being prostituted. In pimp-controlled human trafficking, this looks like making an exploited individual now a partner in exploitation, blurring the line between victim and perpetrator (Crocker, 2016). 

Culturally, prostitutes are seen as dirty, disposable and deserving of the violence they experience because of the work that they do. There is a predisposed perception that a prostitute cannot be raped because of the false belief consent is given if they are selling sex. One Canadian study showed that those engaged in the sex trade were seen as “women overcome by sexual depravity and enslaved into immoral behavior” (Grittner & Walsh, 2020). On the other hand, prostitution is also glamorized, seen as a way to make easy money, and get rich quick (Cimino, 2019).  In contrast to the pimp, who is powerful and praised, the prostitute is disempowered, and treated with a sense of disgust. Current pro sex work discussion centers around empowered sexuality and choice, which seems to be a desire to change the cultural perspective of who a prostitute is seen as (Fermin, 2018). Yet, individuals being trafficked in prostitution are stuck at a juxtaposition within this narrative, as being controlled and exploited, which is in contrast to the empowered sex worker who voluntarily choses to engage in prostitution (Moran & Farley, 2019).    

The question that arises from this discussion is that ‘does pimping and prostitution fulfill the promises  it makes to the individuals engaged in it?’ Culture has glamorized certain aspects of “the game” or “the life” while ignoring the violence, risks and how, for trafficked individuals, many were sold a dream that ended in a nightmarish world of exploitation and a loss of power and choice (Henderson et al, 2022; Cimino, 2019). It also ignores the societal constructs that have influenced the creation of the pimp, such as poverty, racism, and a lack of opportunities (Davis, 2014).  It is easy to polarize on this issue between villains and victims, and to ignore the complicated narratives of pimps and prostitutes. This is not said to minimize the harm that human traffickers do, but to point out this is not such a clear-cut story. At the same time, to claim there is choice in the sex industry, to some degree, also dissociates the glamour from the violence and oppressive systems it is built upon that allow individuals with power to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of others who do not have the same privilege or opportunities (Herrington, 2018). 

Claiming that consensual sex work is divorced from this dynamic is trying to say that consent overcomes oppression. The level of consent for an individual in the sex industry is seen, for some researchers, as not a good measuring tool for whether it is voluntary or not. Consent is a complicated concept when it comes to how human traffickers can manipulate their victims to appear as if they are performing these acts of their own free will and choice (Herrington, 2018). When we say someone has a choice, yet do not acknowledge the so many barriers to individuals who want to leave “the life,” we are ignoring the real cultural system at play outside of the sensationalized stories that are told. We are forgetting that choice is a complicated story, one about power, opportunity, access to resources for basic needs, providing for those needs, and systems of oppression that want to keep individuals tied to certain roles in our society (Cimino, 2019).     

References

• Cimino, Andrea N. (2019). “Uncovering Intentions to Exit Prostitution: Findings from a Qualitative Study.”  Victims & Offenders, 14 (5): 606-624.  DOI: 10.1080/15564886.2019.1628144. 

• Crocker, S. (2016). “Stripping agency from top to bottom: The need for a sentencing guideline safety valve for bottoms prosecuted under the federal sex trafficking statutes.” Northwestern University Law Review, 111: 753. 

• Davis, Holly. 2014. “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy? The Lives of Pimps Involved in Street Prostitution in the United States of America.” The University of Edinburgh, thesis submission.

• Fermin, Lyndsey. 2018. “Prostitution, Procurement, and Power: Sex workers’ perceptions of pimps and madams.” The University of Texas at San Antonio, thesis. 

• Grittner, A. L., & Walsh, C. A. (2020). The Role of Social Stigma in the Lives of Female-Identified Sex Workers: A Scoping Review. Sexuality & Culture, 24(5), 1653-1682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09707-7. 

• Henderson, Angie C. and Shea M. Rhodes. 2022. “Got Sold a Dream and It Turned into a Nightmare”: The Victim-Offender Overlap in Commercial Sexual Exploitation.” Journal of Human Trafficking, DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2021.2019530. 

• Herrington, Rachel L. & Patricia McEachern (2018) “Breaking Her Spirit” Through Objectification, Fragmentation, and Consumption: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Domestic Sex Trafficking, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 27:6, 598-611, DOI: 10.1080/10926771.2017.1420723.

• Johnson, Adeerya. 2021. "Dirty South Feminism: The Girlies Got Somethin’ to Say Too! 

• Southern Hip-Hop Women, Fighting Respectability, Talking Mess, and Twerking Up the Dirty South." Religions 12(11): 1030-1043. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111030. 

• Moran, Rachel, and Melissa Farley. 2019. "Consent, coercion, and culpability: is prostitution stigmatized work or an exploitive and violent practice rooted in sex, race, and class inequality?." Archives of sexual behavior 48 (7): 1947-1953.