A Comparison of Pimps and Batterers

by Evelina Giobbe

"A Comparison of Pimps and Batterers" is a condensed version
of a longer article by Evelina Giobbe, entitled "An Analysis of
Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Pimping," which appeared
in Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 1993, 1 (1): 33-57. Copyright © 1994,
1998 Evelina Giobbe. All Rights Reserved.

A woman is being pimped by a man when their relationship is contingent
on her engaging in prostitution and relinquishing all or part of her
earnings to him.⁽¹⁾ The
relationship is defined and controlled by the pimp for his economic gain.
Since he typically appropriates all of the woman's money and she receives
only "non-negotiable goods" in return, the woman becomes financially
dependent on him and unable to save for an independent future. This is
particularly true of a woman who is paid with crack cocaine in lieu of
cash, which prevents her from purchasing basic necessities such as food
or clothing.

"They gotta go broke. That's the only
rule for them leaving is that they gotta leave broke.
They can't take nothin' with them...If they leave me
they gotta pay goin' out the door." ⁽²⁾

An examination of the power dynamics between pimp and
prostitute clearly illustrates how the tactics of power
and control used to recruit and keep a woman trapped
in prostitution closely parallels those used by batterers
to ensure the compliance of their wives or intimate partners.⁽³⁾ The
batterer uses tactics of power and control to dominate
his partner within the context of an intimate relationship.
The pimp uses similar strategies to exploit the prostitute
economically.⁽⁴⁾ These
tactics include isolation of the woman; minimization
and denial of her abuse; the exertion of male privilege;
threats and intimidation; and emotional, sexual, and
physical abuse.

The pimp isolates "his woman" by controlling
where she goes, whom she sees, and what she does.⁽⁵⁾ In
addition, a pimp often moves a women from different parts
of the sex industry: on and off the strip circuit, from
an escort service to a sauna or out on the street.⁽⁶⁾ He
may take her from city to city, often kidnapping her
or holding her against her will.⁽⁷⁾ A
study of nineteen prostituted women revealed that 42%
had been kidnapped by a pimp, a customer or both.⁽⁸⁾ All
of these tactics isolate her from her friends and family,
and stop her from making connections with other people
who do not share his positive views about prostitution.⁽⁹

Pimps use minimization and denial to mask the impact
prostitution has or will have on a prostitute's life.
He may tell a woman that she's smarter than others who "give
it away for free," or that all women are prostitutes;
claiming some do it for dinner and others do it for straight
cash. He also insists that prostitution is a job like
any other job, that she is not selling herself, that
she is just selling a service.⁽¹⁰⁾

A pimp uses male privilege to control a woman. This
can be as simple as his making pronouncements about his
manhood, like "I'm a man. Don't question
me...You'll do what I say because I am the man around
here." ⁽¹¹⁾ He
treats "his woman" as his property. He may
purchase a woman from another pimp by posting her bond
or he may buy her outright. Once ownership is established,
he will put his commodity on the market. As one pimp
so crudely put it, "I'm the boss, the daddy.
She brings the money home." ⁽¹²⁾ A
prostitute without a pimp is considered an "outlaw" and
is vulnerable to exploitation by all pimps.⁽¹³⁾ Typically,
a woman who escapes her pimp must quickly "choose" another.
This is essentially a protection racket where she pays
a fee, known as "choosing money," to her new "man" to
ensure her safety, as her former pimp may use a "tracker," or
bounty hunter, to return her.⁽¹⁴⁾

When more subtle tactics of power and control fail,
a pimp will use threats and intimidation. He attempts
to put fear into a woman by smashing things, shouting,
glaring at her, or behaving in a menacing manner. One
pimp boasted,

"I would say, 'bitch, you're holding out on me!'
I would say like, 'Take your clothes off! Open your
pussy!' And I would put my fingers up there, and you
know it's just psych out shit, it was nothing...but
it's a thing you gotta use in that game." ⁽¹⁵⁾

A pimp may beat up a disobedient prostitute in the presence
of other prostitutes.⁽¹⁶⁾ He
may threaten to disclose that she is a prostitute to
others in order to insure her obedience.⁽¹⁷⁾ He
may also threaten to leave her or to harm her, her children
or her other family members.⁽¹⁸⁾

A pimp will subject a woman to emotional abuse by calling
her derogatory names. He dehumanizes her by making her
into a commodity.⁽¹⁹⁾ He
tells her she's "only good for one thing." One
pimp, for example, sent a letter to his woman from prison
referring to her as "his little slot-machine."⁽²⁰⁾ This
type of emotional abuse is compounded by the fact that
it occurs within an environment of total emotional deprivation.⁽²¹⁾ Pimps
deprive prostituted women of nurturing, affection, and
ordinary developmental support. The restrictions put
on a woman by a pimp impedes the normal development of
self-expression and the recognition of an autonomous
identity.

Pimps typically subject women to sexual abuse as an
expression of ownership or as a form of punishment. One
woman explained,

"I was his property. Do what he wanted. A lot
of times it was just pleasing him...[He'd] tell me
I had to continue sucking him...that if I fell asleep,
or if I bit him -if my teeth touched him - he'd blow
my head off." ⁽²²⁾

Some pimps also sexually abuse women through the use
or production of pornography. Thirty percent of the women
interviewed by Giobbe reported that their pimps compelled
them to emulate scenes from pornography to teach them
how to be prostitutes.⁽²³⁾ Some
pimps force women into pornography as a form of blackmail
or punishment. A woman relayed the following account:

"I always knew there was a punishment coming
for taking off...but he told me he wasn't going to
hurt me so I believed him. [Then] he took off this
belt and he starts whipping me...and he grabbed the
dog and the dog knew just what to do...He took pictures
of it, and he told me that if I ever left him again,
that these would be mailed to my family." ⁽²⁴⁾

Finally, pimps use physical abuse for a number of reasons:
to demonstrate their dominance privately or in public,
as a prelude to, or as a part of sex, or gratuitously,
as a means of expressing contempt and hostility.⁽²⁵⁾ All
of the women interviewed by Giobbe had been harassed,
assaulted, raped, kidnapped and/or forced to turn tricks
by a pimp or a gang of pimps.⁽²⁶⁾

The batterer and the pimp not only use similar tactics
of power and control over "their women," but
share similar motives. According to Ellen Pence, of the
Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota,

The abuser employs tactics not only to gain his partner's
submission to a specific demand, but also to establish
a relationship that he can rely upon in the future.
These tactics appear to be random and inexplicable,
but in the context of attempting to establish power
in a relationship, random acts of violence are fully
explainable.⁽²⁷⁾

Pence's theoretical construction of "Why men batter" comes
alive in "Henry's" intuitive perception of
successful pimping.

I figure if you have it together, you can bluff any
woman; you can feel that power. When you feel that
power, you know that usually works. You have them under
your control.⁽²⁸⁾

The name of the game here--for "love" or money--is
patriarchal power over women.