For an eyeopening look at the mind and world of pimps, get the movie

American Pimp (1999)

Street pimps, all of them African-American, discuss their lives and work: getting started, being flamboyant, pimping in various U.S. cities, bringing a woman into their group, taking a woman from another pimp, and the rules and regulations of pimping. The men are clear: it’s about money. The women work every night, hustle hard, turn over all their earnings, and steal anything they can from clients. We meet a few of the women, who tell us what they want from a pimp. We also listen to a women who’s legally employed at a Nevada brothel; we meet her White boss, a legal pimp. He and the street pimps, some of whom are now retired, make the case for legalizing the trade.

Sher, Julian. Somebody’s Daughter. The Hidden Story of America’s Prostituted Children and the Battle to Save Them. 326p. Chicago Review Press. 2011. $24.95. ISBN. 978-1-56976-565-4.

Many fiction and non-fiction books address the topic of child sexual slavery – books such as Living Dead Girl, (Simon Pulse, 2008) Sold (Hyperion, 2008) and most recently, Lloyd’s Girls Like Us (Harper, 2011). Few if any books address the men that enslave children. An investigative journalist, Sher gives us an inside look at the men that are commonly called pimps, but – as he articulately details – are unequivocally child molesters and rapists: how they operate, think, manipulate, abuse and exploit. The book gives equal time to all involved (including so called “johns”) – the girl’s own stories and experiences are compassionately told, including Maria, raped and beaten by a cousin’s boyfriend at age 12, recruited at age 14 into prostitution, courageously keeping her earnings by age 18 while being terrorized by her former enslaver.

Detailing inspiring and hopeful success’ Sher outlines what can realistically happen when sexually exploited children are treated as victims and all responsible adults involved – police, prosecution, public defenders, judges, probation and social workers come together to focus on providing real services to the victims and criminalizing those responsible. At the same time, he doesn’t minimize how far we have to go.

Teens who are socially conscious, politically active, exploring feminism, society’s attitudes towards women, modern day slavery or who enjoy true crime stories that relate to them, such as Lois Duncan’s Who Killed My Daughter (Dell, 1994) will love this book.