Massive Study Concludes Pimping Ain't Easy, But It Is Kinda Evil
LatestNew research out today claims to offer a window into the massive, murky world of the underground commercial sex economy in eight major American cities, relying on interviews with 250 law enforcement officials, sex workers, and pimps. And, like one might expect, this unprecedented peek inside shows that there’s huge amounts of money to be made — and spent — in the sex industry.
“Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities” isn’t perfect; the cities researchers examine include Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Seattle, San Diego, and Washington, DC, which means that major population centers like New York City, Houston, Boston, LA, and Chicago don’t play into this study’s findings. In almost all of the metro areas examined, sex work is becoming rarer, but less risky and more efficient, enabled by Craigslist, Backpage, and social media.
When we get into the economics of entering or leaving sex work, the narrative gets less dry and more dicey. Researchers found that the prostitutes they interviewed for this report make, on average, $150 per hour. Most are women, and most work for pimps who make anywhere from $5,000 to $35,000 per week, much of which goes to covering travel and hotel expenses. Many women who enter the world of underground commercial sex work do so because they were ushered in by a friend or family member. The report noted that pimps say they prefer white women because they fetch higher prices and are “easier to control” than women of other races, that they steer clear of underage women in order to avoid law enforcement scrutiny. And once they’re in, women don’t typically want to stay long; the report describes “high turnover” in the industry. Which is where coercion from pimps comes in.