Is a Pimp and Ho party on your list for Halloween?

Pimp and Ho parties have been popular for at least a decade and tend to be more prevalent around Halloween and New Year's.  The gist of the party is for a couple to dress up as a pimp and prostitute, and everyone has a good time letting their wild sides out in a fun environment.  According to those who promote these events, it is more about money than career choices, and no one takes the costumes seriously.

Really?  Perhaps that is part of the issue. The idea of making lots of money, quickly and without a lot of work, appeals to a core part of most of us.  Who wouldn't want to live like the Rich and Famous when it seems like their money makes them invincible, popular, and able to do anything they want?  Pimping, or "managing" a prostitute, has the potential for making lots of money--at least for the pimp.  The reality is far from the life of glamour that is portrayed in the media, especially for the woman who has to sell her body for sex, typically not even getting to keep the money.

This is a typical scenario of a woman who is forced by a pimp to prostitute herself:

• She will be required to turn multiple tricks each night until she brings in the mandated quota of cash--often $1000 to $1500 per night.
• She will be beaten for any deviation from his demands, and perhaps for no reason at all.
• Whatever the johns (customers) want, she will be required to provide, no matter how demeaning or physically harmful
• The pimp will rape her at will, and may set up gang rape sessions with his friends.
• She will not be able to come and go as she pleases, but will be held captive--at least psychologically through physical force and mind games and threats to herself or family.
• Her ID and money are taken from her and kept by the pimp
• Her name is even taken, and she must live under a "street name"
• She may be deprived of food and creature comforts
• If she becomes pregnant, she may be coerced into having an abortion, or a birthed child will be used as another weapon of the pimp's control over her
• She will be isolated from her family and friends
• She will be the one arrested for prostitution, and more often than not, the pimps and the johns will go free.
• Even after leaving the Life, she will be disdained and disparaged by many in the rest of the world and treated like dirt for her past.  
• She will have multiple debilitating issues such as PTSD, depression, suicidal thoughts, addictions, physical ailments like STDs, fibromyalgia, and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.  Some of these will last all the rest of her life, even with treatment and therapy

The presumed glamour of a pimp's life is really no different than the glamour of a corporate CEO or a despotic ruler who gains wealth through oppression and pillaging and destruction of the people under him.  Most reasonable people would not want to emulate those who delight in the devastation of others, so why should we glory in pretending to be a pimp?  Why should we think it is "just innocent fun" to revel in a persona that is part of the fastest growing underground activity of sex trafficking that enslaves millions of people around the world?  

The story of the "Happy Hooker" is a myth.  The majority of women who are prostituted want out, and admit to feeling worthless.  Most have had sexual or physical/emotional abuse as children, making them vulnerable to the deceptions and distortions presented by a pimp, who knows how to manipulate the heartaches they have already experienced.  Sex slavery does damage to and dishonors both the men and women involved, and is often connected with other criminal activities (drugs, domestic violence, extortion, murder in some cases).

Next time you are invited to a Pimp and Ho party, how about countering with your own invitation.  Throw a party that honors true manhood as a protector of women, and honors the women as beautiful creations deserving the utmost in care and respect.

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