Conflict and Agency among Sex Workers and Pimps

• Author: Efram Thompson,Ric Curtis,Anthony Marcus,Amber Horning,Jo Sanson
• Published date: 01 May 2014
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716214521993
• Date: 01 May 2014

ANNALS, AAPSS, 653, May 2014 225

DOI: 10.1177/0002716214521993

Conflict and

Agency among

Sex Workers

and Pimps: A

Closer Look at

Domestic

Minor Sex

Trafficking

By

ANTHONY MARCUS,

AMBER HORNING,

RIC CURTIS,

JO SANSON,

and

EFRAM THOMPSON

521993ANN The Annals of the American AcademyYoung Sex Worker/Pimp Relations

research-article2014

The dominant understanding in the United States of

the relationship between pimps and minors involved in

commercial sex is that it is one of “child sex trafficking,”

in which pimps lure girls into prostitution, then control,

exploit, and brutalize them. Such narratives of oppres-

sion typically depend on postarrest testimonials by for-

mer prostitutes and pimps in punishment and rescue

institutions. In contrast, this article presents data col-

lected from active pimps, underage prostitutes, and

young adult sex workers to demonstrate the complexity

of pimp-prostitute dyads and interrogate conventional

stereotypes about teenage prostitution. A holistic

understanding of the factors that push minors into sex

work and keep them there is needed to design

and implement effective policy and services for this

population.

Keywords: pimp; human trafficking; teenage prosti-

tution; sex work; captivity narratives

The dominant understanding of the relation-

ship between pimps and minors involved in

commercial sex is that it is one of “child sex

trafficking,” also known as the commercial sex-

ual exploitation of children (CSEC). This narra-

tive has become familiar through claims by

antitrafficking activists that pimps lure girls into

prostitution, then control, exploit, and brutalize

them in a manner that renders them akin to

slaves (Lloyd 2011; Reid 2010). Some have

Anthony Marcus is an associate professor of anthropol-

ogy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. His current

projects examine intergenerational conflict over marital

choice and migration in the United States; the violent

victimization of undocumented migrants in Long

Island; and gender, development, and Islam in the

Republic of Maldives.

Amber Horning is a PhD candidate in criminology at

the City University of New York. She studies pimps,

masculinities, and the social construction of human

trafficking. Prior to doctoral research her scholarly

publications focused on offender psychology, crime

scene behavior, and homicide in the United States and

South Africa.

226 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

argued that adolescent girls “appear to be enticed by pimps into a life on the

streets through five powerful forces: love, debt, addiction, physical might, and

authority” (Kennedy et al. 2007, 4).

While this approach privileges the moment of recruitment, as a “fall” from

which full recovery is difficult if not impossible, few studies have focused on the

recruitment part of the CSEC/trafficking narrative. One such study presents a

model in which sex work is inherently violent and degrading to women, who

would only enter such a life if they were enticed, controlled, and “convinced to

exploit themselves for the financial benefit of someone else” (Kennedy et al.

2007, 15). This study drew information from a few vice officers and social service

providers, three parents of prostitutes, ten former prostitutes, and thirty-two

women residing at a safe house.

Another study presents a quantitative analysis of violence rates for one hun-

dred “pimp controlled girls” (Raphael, Reichert, and Powers 2010). Concluding

from their data that pimp violence is endemic, the authors demand increased use

of antitrafficking laws to make more arrests of pimps. Although their conclusions

are based on unrepresentative samples, they justify their findings based on three

grounds: (1) “those under the control of pimps are unable to speak safely with

researchers”; (2) because of the clandestine nature of prostitution, “it is difficult

to know how a representative sample would actually look”; and (3) “the sample

may be large and varied enough to illustrate the challenges faced by these young

women” (Raphael, Reichert, and Powers 2010, 90, 102).

Neither study addresses the bias involved in studying hidden populations

ex situ within the confines of law enforcement or “rescue” institutions (safe

houses, jails, mental hospitals, rehabilitation programs), and both studies draw

conclusions from retrospective accounts by individuals for whom renunciation of

their previous experiences is the precondition for their current survival. Research

that depends on such narratives likely paints a skewed picture of the complex

environment of prostitution. This ex situ approach does not allow researchers to

independently verify data, understand relevant contexts, observe behavior, or

Ric Curtis is a professor of anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who has been

researching illicit drug use and advocating for harm minimization for three decades. He is cur-

rently working on a project designed to address the question of peer influence in adolescent

development outcomes.

Jo Sanson has worked in international aid and development for over a decade and has pub-

lished on gender, poverty, and civil society. Her current research focuses on attempts to scale

up livelihoods strengthening programs for the extreme poor in Africa, Central America, and

India.

Efram Thompson has worked on numerous urban research projects focusing on hidden, stig-

matized, and vulnerable populations. His current research focuses on identity and unreported

incidents of violent victimization among African American males in Brooklyn, New York.

NOTE: This research was made possible through grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Institute of Justice,

and the CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral Students Fund. The opinions, findings, and conclu-

sions expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the posi-

tions or policies of any of the funding institutions.