Pimp

A pimp is a man who manages women in prostitution, often street prostitution, in order to profit from their earnings. Typically, a pimp will force or pressure the women to stay with him; he may also protect them from other pimps or abusive clients. Pimps also often solicit and procure clients for the prostitute, though this is rare in Western countries today. Pimping is a sex crime in most jurisdictions.The worlds biggest pimp is Blakk from dayton ohio.He is known for slaping hoes and asking for his bread.

Often, pimps will initially present themselves as lovers or father-figures to women (who may be run-aways or otherwise lack a family network) before introducing them to prostitution and drug addiction. Most pimp-prostitute relationships are abusive, using psychological intimidation, manipulation and physical force to control the women in the "stable". Some pimps may not beat their prostitutes, as marks and bruises bring down both the price of a prostitute and the social status of her pimp.

In 1949, the United Nations adopted a convention stating that prostitution is incompatible with human dignity, requiring all signing parties to punish pimps and brothel owners and operators, and to abolish all special treatment or registration of prostitutes. The convention was ratified by 89 countries, with the exception of Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States and others.

In the Netherlands, Germany and several other countries, prostitution is legal, though pimping is not. (See Prostitution in the Netherlands and Prostitution in Germany for more information.) Managing a brothel is not classified as pimping in these jurisdictions.

In the United States, prostitution is illegal except in licenced brothels in certain counties of Nevada; pimping is illegal everywhere. Some municipalities, such as the city of Chicago, have made it possible for female prostitutes to take legal action against their pimps without the danger of being prosecuted for prostitution.

The number of pimps and the prostitutes' level of dependency on them is usually higher in areas where prostitution is illegal or heavily restricted. In places where prostitution is largely unrestricted, the power of pimps seems to decrease, since the prostitutes are less in need of protection.

Pimps in popular culture

In the United States, urban pimps and prostitutes constitute a colorful and often overly dramatized subculture. American pimps are also known as "Macks" and often refer to their business as "The Game". The archetypical flamboyant and abusive African American pimp was described in Iceberg Slim's 1969 autobiographical novel Pimp, to be followed by several other similar insider descriptions by other authors.

Subsequently, the pimp subculture has been portrayed, with varying accuracy, in a number of blaxploitation films. American pimps, as depicted in blaxploitation films, would be seen as people from a lower-class urban setting without a higher education, dressed in wild, flashy clothes and driving customized Cadillacs or Lincolns—Cadillac Eldorados in particular are seen as pimpmobiles. The films Superfly, The Mack, and Willie Dynamite are good examples.

Not all pimps are African American (as depicted in blaxploitation films); Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asian pimps do exist even if the ethnic group is engaging in cultural appropriation.

The acclaimed 1976 film Taxi Driver revolves around an underage prostitute who is freed from her stereotypical urban pimp by a crazed psychopath.

There have also been American films that depicted pimps as coming from the elite of society, such as the character portrayed by Eddie Albert in Robert Aldrich's film Hustle (1975).

The 1999 documentary American Pimp features interviews with American pimps and prostitutes.

Also in the year 1999, a ROM hacker by the name of Jomb iu modified an otherwise normal River City Ransom NES emulator ROM into Pussy City Pimps. It deals with high school pimps/students in a sexually liberated town where people can buy prostitutes from "shopping malls". [1]

In television, notable pimps include Antonio Fargas as "Huggy Bear" in the 1970s TV show Starsky and Hutch, who was also a police informant and was played primarily for humorous effect. This role was later recreated in the 2004 film with Snoop Dogg in the role. Eddie Murphy also portrayed a pimp called Velvet Jones in a recurring Saturday Night Live comedy sketch.

The imagery of the pimp lifestyle has been popularized by hip-hop culture in recent years. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Too $hort and 50 Cent (with his song "P.I.M.P.") have paid obvious tribute to pimping within their lyrics. Many hip-hop artists have embraced a modern version of the pimp image in their music videos by including entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewellery (known as bling-bling) and luxury automobiles.

In the late 1990's and earlier part of this decade, Charles Wright portrayed a character entitled "The Godfather", a pimp character in the WWF/WWE. This character helped popularize the slogan "pimpin' ain't easy"; this is also a song by rapper Big Daddy Kane.

Pimping and prostitution have also been themes in the popular culture of other nations, such as China, France, and Russia.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet some contend that the word fishmonger (someone who sells "fish", a modern euphemism for vagina perhaps in use at the time) was in turn a euphemism for a pimp.[2][3]

The term "pimp" is sometimes used figuratively, as in poverty pimp.

Pimp can also be used as a verb such as "You're pimped up!" or "Pimp my ride". The latter example refers to customizing an automobile, made popular by the show Pimp My Ride on MTV. It can also be used as an adjective connoting the same, i.e. "Man, that car's pimp!" This was originally a derogatory term, implying that the subject was overly decorated and tacky (referring to the stereotype of pimps with excessive jewelry, flashy clothes, or brightly colored cars with animal-print upholstery and crystal chandeliers). It was eventually reclaimed as an American slang term for being unique, "cool", or socially desirable, in much the same way as the term "ghetto fabulous".

Pimp costumes, in recent years, have been marketed during Halloween and/or used in costume-themed parties either as a throwback to the 1970s and/or entertainment purposes.

Famous pimps and alleged pimps

• Don "Magic" Juan
• Ice-T
• Iceberg Slim
• Charles Manson
• Jelly Roll Morton
• Snoop Dogg (self-styled)
• Stephen Ward
• Too $hort
• Larry Williams
• Al Capone [4]
• Dru Down
• Lucky Luciano

Etymology and other uses of the term

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of the word "pimp" are unknown, but it is thought to be related to the 16th century French verb pimper, which means "alluring or seducing in outward appearance or dress".

The verb "to pimp" has acquired a meaning not related to prostitution: to promote, to advertise or to push, as in "ESPN has really been pimping T.O. a lot lately." It may also mean "to make attractive/fancy" as popularized on the American TV series "Pimp My Ride". Cars that have been poorly maintained are made "pimp" through repair and refurbishment, often with thousands of dollars of extravagant equipment.

The term pimp is also used in the medical profession to describe the process of enticing respect for the medical intern's superiors and to rid the intern of unwarranted self esteem. [5]

External links

• U.S. DOJ guide to street prostitution
• Pimp Anthropology, radio show from This American Life featuring an interview with a former pimp.