Chapter 2. The Pimp.
From time immemorial, pimps have been treated as parasites who prey on prostitutes.
But, in a fair assessment, an examination of the true function of the pimp must be made.
An initial point requiring clarification is the claim that pimps use coercion and threats of violence
to gather and keep prostitutes on their payrolls.
Some pimps do, but does this fact justify condemning the profession itself?
Is there any profession that does not have a single practitioner who is not guilty of
foul play?
There are bricklayers, plumbers, musicians, priests, doctors and lawyers who have violated
the rights of their fellow creatures.
But these professions are not qua professions to be condemned in their entirety.
And so it should be with the profession of pimping.
The actions of any one or even of all pimps together cannot legitimately be used to condemn
the profession qua profession, unless the action is a necessary part of the profession.
Now the profession of kidnapping small children for ransom is an evil profession, qua profession.
Even though some kidnappers may perform good deeds, such as contributing a part of the
ransom to charity, or even if all of them do so, the profession does not thereby become
less of an abomination, because the action which defines it is evil.
If the action which defines the profession of pimping were evil, then it should be condemned
also.
In order to evaluate pimping, any extraneous evil acts which may be committed by some pimps
must be ignored as having little to do with the profession as such.
The function of the pimp qua pimp is that of a broker.
In the same way as do brokers of real estate, insurance, stock market shares, investments,
commodity futures, etc., the pimp serves the function of bringing together two parties
Each party to a transaction at less cost than it would take to bring them together without
his good offices.
Each party to a transaction served by a broker gains from the brokerage, otherwise they would
not patronize him.
And so it is in the case of the pimp.
The customer is spared useless or wasteful waiting and searching time.
It is easier to phone a pimp for an assignation with a prostitute than to spend time and effort
Searching One Out.
The customer also has the security of knowing that the prostitute comes recommended.
The prostitute benefits too.
She gains the time that would otherwise be spent in searching for the customer.
She is also protected by the pimp from undesirable customers and from policemen, part of whose
profession qua profession is to prevent prostitutes from engaging in voluntary trade with consent.
Assignations arranged by the PIMP afford the prostitute additional physical security over street walking or bar hopping.
The prostitute is no more exploited by the PIMP than is the manufacturer exploited by the salesman who drums up business for him,
or the actress who pays an agent a percentage of her earnings to find new roles for her.
for Her.
In these examples, the employer, by means of the employee's services, earns more than
the cost of hiring the employee.
If this were not so, the employer-employee relationship would not take place.
The relationship of the prostitute to the pimp, employer to employee, contains the same
mutual advantages.
The professional pimp performs the necessary function of brokering. In this performance,
he is, if anything, more honorable than many other brokers, such as banking, insurance
and the stock market. They rely on restrictive state and federal laws to discourage their
competition, whereas the pimp can never use the law to safeguard his position.