A few weeks ago, when we were talking about educated lap dancers, I wondered if any of my students were paying their way through school working in the sex trades. At the time I had in mind lap dancers, sex workers, escorts, et cetera. I never imagined that there were students paying their way through school, not by selling their own bodies (that part was easy to imagine), but by selling the bodies of others. Yesterday in my sex and love class we had a guest speaker (via video) who had done just that; he paid for a commerce degree at a Canadian university working as a pimp.

Economists know very little about how the relationship between sex worker and pimp is organized. Given that, I think I will let our guest speak for himself. The questions I asked him are questions that those of us working in this field would like to address. His responses, in my mind, reveal how little we really know:

Question: What is your role in the sex trade?

Pimp: Basically I help women, friends of mine, find paying customers. It’s a form of service and at the end of the day we all get paid.

Question: So do you consider yourself a pimp?

Pimp: That’s the word for it.

Question: What is the difference between the role you play and the role a woman would play in a similar position, perhaps, for example, a woman running a brothel?

Pimp: I have no clue. I have never been to a brothel and I don’t know if we have them here in [my city]. Maybe more organized. Got a more secure operation. Not much difference.

Question: How many girls do you work with?

Pimp: How many girls at one time? Five-six girls... right now I’m out of the game. I am finished with it.

Question: How do you choose who you want to work with?

Pimp: Everyone I work with I knew growing up, in [my city].  Most of the girls I work with I knew. When I first started with this... friends of mine knew this guy that wanted a bachelor party or wanted a stripper at a party. I knew a couple of girls... and, you know, these days are hard, you know, some have babies, no education, no high school no nothing like that. Money is hard to come by around here.  I said "look, I got a way you could make some money tonight, 2 or 3 hundred dollars plus some tips." The first girl I go to says: "No, I ain’t doing that." Second girl I go to says: "No, that ain’t for me."  Third girl: "I ain’t doing that." Fourth girl she got a baby and she got no food in the fridge, she is looking alright, you know what I am saying, she was down, made it happen. And that is how it started.

How I got into pimping was the same as one of these parties. One of the guys is like "How much to fuck a girl?" So, anyhow , I just pull out a number and say 400, 500 dollars  and he’s like "cool." I run into the girl and she says $600 and she will do it. Go to the guy and he says $600. That’s how I really got into it. Like I say... prostitution. 

Question: Do you have a contract with your workers?