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NOTE 2. The Pimp

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Chapter 2. The Pimp.

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From time immemorial, pimps have been treated as parasites who prey on prostitutes.

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But, in a fair assessment, an examination of the true function of the pimp must be made.

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An initial point requiring clarification is the claim that pimps use coercion and threats of violence

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to gather and keep prostitutes on their payrolls.

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Some pimps do, but does this fact justify condemning the profession itself?

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Is there any profession that does not have a single practitioner who is not guilty of

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foul play?

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There are bricklayers, plumbers, musicians, priests, doctors and lawyers who have violated

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the rights of their fellow creatures.

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But these professions are not qua professions to be condemned in their entirety.

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And so it should be with the profession of pimping.

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The actions of any one or even of all pimps together cannot legitimately be used to condemn

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the profession qua profession, unless the action is a necessary part of the profession.

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Now the profession of kidnapping small children for ransom is an evil profession, qua profession.

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Even though some kidnappers may perform good deeds, such as contributing a part of the

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ransom to charity, or even if all of them do so, the profession does not thereby become

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less of an abomination, because the action which defines it is evil.

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If the action which defines the profession of pimping were evil, then it should be condemned

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also.

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In order to evaluate pimping, any extraneous evil acts which may be committed by some pimps

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must be ignored as having little to do with the profession as such.

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The function of the pimp qua pimp is that of a broker.

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In the same way as do brokers of real estate, insurance, stock market shares, investments,

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commodity futures, etc., the pimp serves the function of bringing together two parties

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Each party to a transaction at less cost than it would take to bring them together without

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his good offices.

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Each party to a transaction served by a broker gains from the brokerage, otherwise they would

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not patronize him.

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And so it is in the case of the pimp.

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The customer is spared useless or wasteful waiting and searching time.

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It is easier to phone a pimp for an assignation with a prostitute than to spend time and effort

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Searching One Out.

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The customer also has the security of knowing that the prostitute comes recommended.

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The prostitute benefits too.

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She gains the time that would otherwise be spent in searching for the customer.

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She is also protected by the pimp from undesirable customers and from policemen, part of whose

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profession qua profession is to prevent prostitutes from engaging in voluntary trade with consent.

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Assignations arranged by the PIMP afford the prostitute additional physical security over street walking or bar hopping.

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The prostitute is no more exploited by the PIMP than is the manufacturer exploited by the salesman who drums up business for him,

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or the actress who pays an agent a percentage of her earnings to find new roles for her.

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for Her.

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In these examples, the employer, by means of the employee's services, earns more than

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the cost of hiring the employee.

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If this were not so, the employer-employee relationship would not take place.

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The relationship of the prostitute to the pimp, employer to employee, contains the same

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mutual advantages.

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The professional pimp performs the necessary function of brokering. In this performance,

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he is, if anything, more honorable than many other brokers, such as banking, insurance

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and the stock market. They rely on restrictive state and federal laws to discourage their

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competition, whereas the pimp can never use the law to safeguard his position.