Rethink Resources

I think I might make this a series of topics with so much to say about racism and the sex trade. The ideas roll out of my head fast. I disagree with those who suggest that all youth are at risk for being in the sex trade. Clearly youth of color are more at risk because of increased poverty. Or I could talk about how youth of color experiences in the sex trade are more difficult because people offer less money and expect more for that money.

For right now though I want to address a common misconception that most pimps are men of color. This myth is encouraged in a number of ways. Law enforcement officers make constant references to men of color as pimps when illustrating stories or arrests in their presentations on the issue and rarely point out arrest photos those who are white. It didn’t help when a few handfuls of men of color made home movies of their meetings and opinions or were featured in films.

Mass media produced rap and hip hop music (as opposed to underground or conscious hip hop) present men of color as pimps. Some youth workers then follow up that reinforcement by talking about mass media produced rap and the street based pimp game to the exclusion of all the other ways youth are involved. Sometimes even youth themselves believe that most pimps are men of color.

But it’s not true. Most pimps are white men and women.

How do I know this? First let’s clarify what the law considers to be pimping. In most states where the act of pimping is illegal, it’s defined as receiving money that was earned in part or in whole through an act of prostitution. Sometimes it includes forcing or arranging acts of prostitution - although I know of several states where this is considered pandering instead.

Now when we consider all of the families who prostitute their kids (as reported consistently in the media), all the escort services across the country, all of the exotic dance services or strip clubs (that have fairly constant behind the scenes sex for money exchanges, benefiting or arranged by the house), all the massage service fronts, all the unorganized arrangements of “have sex with my friend and I’ll get the money”, all of the street based prostitution in communities across the country and so much more: most of the people who own the legal and underground businesses and arrange it are white.

Most of these individuals would never call themselves pimps. But they are doing the same thing that the guy who brags about being a pimp does. There’s a lot of money to be made from the sex trade. So many businesses like hotels, nightclubs, newspapers that charge far more for “erotic service” ads benefit from the sex trade as well.

But the ones who end up in with booking photos in media reports are men of color mostly, reinforcing racist stereotypes and convincing youth and adults alike that to prevent or intervene in youth involvement in the sex trade means to educate them about the tactics of what one very small group of individuals do and call pimping.

It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a comprehensive study found that most of the arrests for pimping (even the ones that don’t make the papers) were of men of color. It’s been documented that most drug users are white while most arrests and convictions for drug possession are of people of color. Arrests often reflect law enforcement strategy rather than accurately determine the numbers of those breaking the law.

I’ve been happy to find some media reports that published photos of white people charged with pimping and made sure to highlight them here. Offering more balance is one place to start but we really do need to actively talk about the racism that permeates and structures this whole discussion of youth in the sex trade.