Defining "pimp"

[Wilson Gray]

A _pimp_, is defined, as quoted by Jesse in his article, as "a person
who arranges opportunities for sexual intercourse with a prostitute."

Perhaps that should be modified to read, "in Shakespeare's time" or some such.

I've seen pimping as conducted by so-called "Black Players" (for the
young or unhip, the title of a study of black-style pimping published
in the 'Seventies) from the inside and it ain't nothing like like
that, except in the sense that, by first "breaking women in" and then
"turning them out," a pimp *provides* opportunities for sexual
intercourse with a prostitute.
*Arranging* the opportunities is but one of many burdens borne
directly by the prostitutes themselves.

A pimp first seduces or even kidnaps a woman. In the first case, after
having seduced a woman - well, it's usually a girl; women who are
street prostitutes have usually started out as teenagers - and
separated her from friends and family (black street whores in Los
Angeles came from as far away as Buffalo, NY), the pimp then proceeds
to "break her in." This can be done in various ways, but one story
went like this.

While out on a "date" in a bar, a pimp suggested to his "girlfriend"
that she go introduce herself to a friend of his. She did so and
almost immediately returned, indignantly complaining that the man had
offered her money for sex! The pimp asked, "How much money?" Taken
aback, she replied, "$50.00." He pimp-slapped her so hard that she was
knocked from her chair. He then proceeded to kick her and punch her
till she passed out. When she came to, the pimp was at her bedside
with coffee and toast. Almost in tears, he apologized profusely for
losing his temper the night before. But, he explained, he had spent
hundreds of dollars on her flying her to Los Angeles from West Hell,
buying her food, clothing, and putting a roof over her head. He cared
very much for her, but he had to get his money back. Then he told her
to get some rest.

Around nine that evening, he came back and told her to get dressed,
because he wanted to take her for a ride. Driving her over to The
Stroll, he "turned her our" and explained to her that, since she had
passed up a chance to make $50.00, now she was going to be out on the
street till she made $100.00. (Not as difficult as a square might
think.) When, instead of getting out of the car and getting to
stepping / getting her heels to clicking, she looked at him in
disbelief, he drove her back to the crib and proceeded make a pimp
stick, which he used to beat her till she was unable to move and had
lost control of her excretory processes. Then he left her alone till
about nine the next evening, at which time he again drove her to The
Stroll. She got out of the car. From then on, that's the way it was.

Back in the '60's, prices were relatively low, even by the standard of
the day. There were only two options: a "straight [fuck]" for eight
bucks or a "half-&-half," which began with fellatio, but ended with a
straight, for ten. Any other kind of sex, the reader may be surprised
to discover, was considered to be an utter abomination peculiar to
white people, at least when done with women. The girls didn't offer
any other services and only someone willing to be branded a sick
pervert would even ask for anything else. A BJ or a BF could be bought
from a gay-male whore, presumably. (At the time, I was so square WRT
to gays that I didn't know that I had known gay guys since I was in
the first grade. So, the question of what gay guys did didn't come
up.) At that time, one good street whore, working nine-to-two six
nights a week, made about $700/week. (By comparison, my day job with
the Department of Water & Power paid $550/mo.) As a consequence, any
half-assed pimp drove a gold Thunderbird convertible, whereas big
pimps drove the stereotypical white-on-white-in-white,
next-year's-model Cadillac convertible, paid for in cash and driven
right off the showroom floor.

The whores gave the pimps every single penny that they made. If their
pimp was a big pimp, then this could be a problem, since a big pimp
didn't live with his girls. Hence, they had to whore during the day in
order to make money to live on. And a gorilla pimp would take even
that money, if he found out that his girls had it. A little pimp
usually had only one girl, with whom he lived. Hence, it wasn't
necessary for her to whore during the day just to live, though, of
course, she did, since it was never possible to make so much money
that there was enough money. As Bill Cosby, unconsciously (we hope)
thinking pimpishly, once asked: "How *much* money is *enough* money?"

Aside from taking their whores' money, which the whores always
referred to as "his" or as "your" money, but never as "my" money, and
touching them up as needed with his pimp stick, a pimp didn't do
anything else, once he had broken in and turned out his girl(s). If a
girl was arrested, then she did her thirty days. If she was robbed,
then she would just have to work extra hard to make her minimum back.
If she was hurt, then she'd be out hustling butt in a cast and on
crutches, if necessary. How anyone can possibly be under the
impression that pimps do something such that they somehow *earn* their
whores' money is a complete mystery to me, I once read in a novel in
which the author was under the impression that the pimp earned his
keep by performing cunnilingus. Pimps don't even bother to *fuck*
their whores, let alone *eat* them!

When it comes to street-whoring, looks are of no consequence. Hence,
there's no such thing as a bad whore. A man who wouldn't be caught
dead in broad, open daylight with a woman who looks like Lena the
Hyena has no compunction WRT paying ten bucks to rip off a piece of
that same woman in the middle of the night. "Hit it 'n' quit it! Ain'
no big thang!"

-Wilson
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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