General Discussion

6. MYTH: Most prostitution does not involve pimps.
FACT: Most prostitution involves pimps. Health service providers, shelter staff,
survivors of prostitution, and law enforcement sources estimate that 65%-85% of
all prostitution is pimp-dominated.
Pimps are the people that buyers pay to outsource the violence necessary to
keep women in prostitution obedient. While it is difficult to obtain accurate
percentages of women who have pimps, consider that pimps are not named “pimps”
by women in prostitution. They are named boyfriends, husbands, friends,
sometimes girlfriends.

Pimps are also taxi drivers, casino hosts, strip club owners, valets, massage
parlor managers, bartenders, and many others who earn money by selling or
helping to sell women in prostitution.

Although the pimp sector is actually in essentially full control, is by far the least visible of the three categories, prudently staying mostly out of public view. It is in fact a common tactic to minimize or even to deny the pimp sectors’ existence, to better promote the illusion that women being prostituted are “self-employed” (and are hot, sex-loving ‘chicks’), and that they can keep the money that the male buyers pay. While nationwide statistics are not available, scientific studies in various U.S. cities and locations have found that 80% – 90% of the women available in prostitution are effectively controlled by the pimp sector.