Pimps, bottoms, and the nexus of caring and cash in a harlem sex market

Abstract

Pimp and sex worker business arrangements often originate in private social spheres. In sex markets, the overlap between work, leisure, and even family spheres can foster a complicated nexus between intimacy and economy. Zelizer (2000) explores the sociology of purchases of intimacy using three approaches: “hostile worlds”, “nothing-but”, and “connected lives”. We expand on her typology and test pimps’ perspectives about the rules of intimacy with sex workers. In the hostile worlds paradigm, if intimacy is allowed in the economic realm, there is contamination and chaos ensues. In the nothing-but paradigm, these spheres blend quite normally in the course of market activity, but there are uneven power dynamics. Connected lives are where intimacy and economy coexist, but without chaos. Through on-going negotiations, some deeper interpersonal connections form. Pimps’ perspectives about the nexus between intimacy and economy map onto Zelizer’s threefold typology. In housing projects in Harlem, 85 pimps were interviewed in situ about their labor, including their approach to relationships with sex workers. The crux of this nexus lies in the relationship between a pimp and his “bottom”, (Pimps commonly use the slang terms ‘bottom’ or ‘bottom bitch’ to describe their main sex workers). We find that pimps articulate all three management approaches; however, their approaches are not static. For instance, their intimate feelings for bottoms can develop over time, or their romantic relationships can transform to friendship or to a distant business relationship. Their management decisions concerning the rules of intimacy appear to influence their economic returns. Based on comparisons of their median weekly earnings, the conventional adage that “intimacy corrupts economy” is not supported, and those pimps who are more intimate with workers generate higher earnings.