Routes of Recruitment: Pimps' Techniques and Other Circumstances That Lead to Street Prostitution

• NCJ Number: 221573
• Journal: Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 1-19
• Author(s): M. Alexis Kennedy; Caroline Klein; Jessica T.K. Bristowe; Barry S. Cooper; John C. Yuille
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 19 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined techniques used by pimps to recruit women and children into prostitution.

Abstract

The findings revealed the main techniques that pimp’s used to recruit children and women into the trade, included the pretense of love, threats of indebtedness, drug addiction, manipulation, and violence. Sixteen percent of the prostituted women described being turned out by a boyfriend or a pimp to which they had an emotional attachment. Even after experiencing exploitation and violence, the women continued to feel emotional attachments to the pimp, demonstrating a form of traumatic bonding similar to that seen in battered women. A second technique used by pimps was to shower new women with gifts under the guise that the gifts were free. After a period of time, the women were told that they had accumulated a large debt, and must pay off that debt. Some pimps used other women that they were prostituting to befriend the women and shower them with wealth; 19 percent of the prostituted women reported being turned out by a female friend. Still other pimps relied on brute force to put new women on the street, ranging from threats to beatings to straight-out kidnapping. While pimps were responsible for introducing many women into the sex trade, many other factors also led women to the streets, including: drug addiction (16 percent), economic necessity (12 percent), socialization and normalization of the sex trade, coming from an abusive home, and leaving another form of prostitution. Over 96 percent of the women reported being sexually assaulted prior to entering the sex trade, over 18 percent claimed to have freely chosen the work, and over 12 percent reported being forced to work on the streets by their family members. Information was collected in Vancouver, during interviews with formerly prostituted women, parents of prostituted women, VICE police officers, outreach workers, health nurses, and other social service providers. Tables, references