The Rawness

This is the final installment of Pimp Week. For this, it’ll be a straightforward post. I’ll be finishing the story I started in these two posts here and here.

When last we saw the pimp Iceberg Slim, he was being tested by his newest, prettiest whore in front of the rest of his stable of older, more experienced whores. He held his ground, passed the test, impressed his existing stable and called the new whore’s bluff and told her she could leave, making her whole grandstand play blow up in her face.

Here’s what happened next:

I went back for Kim. She was packed and silent. On the way to the station, I riffled the pages in that pimp’s book in head for an angle to hold her without kissing her ass.

I couldn’t find a line in it for an out like that. As it turned out the bitch was testing and bluffing right down the line.

We had pulled into the station parking lot when the bitch fell to pieces. Her eyes were misty when she yelped, “Daddy, are you really going to let me split? Daddy, I love you!?

It’s important to note that Iceberg was ready to ride the bluff all the way to the end if he had to. No matter how much he wanted her to stay, he was only willing to do so if he could keep from kissing her ass in the process. This is a good lesson to learn for both men and women: do not be outcome driven. Outcome driven people just care about what they get in the end and don’t care how they get there. Process driven people care more about doing something the right way, even if it gets them a bad result once or twice.  In the long run process driven people end up better off.

For example an outcome driven person may just know that she wants to get her boyfriend back. She will grovel, beg, threaten to commit suicide, let him disrespect her and walk all over her, maybe buy him expensive gifts as a way to bribe him to stay, or maybe even allow him to cheat on her in exchange for her staying…basically, so long as she gets the outcome of him staying, she doesn’t care what damage she has to take to her self-respect, ego, character or reputation along the way. Not only is what she gives up way more valuable than what she gains, buy chances are she’s too stupid to even realize that she did give anything up. A process driven woman on the other hand may approach it the same situation like this: “I want to resolve my relationship with my boyfriend, but I’m not tied to any particular outcome. All I care about is that no matter what happens, I speak my mind, hold my ground and don’t compromise my ideals or values. If he knows what I want and is willing to respect that and stay, then we’ll stay together. If not, then we’ll split up. But either way, the important thing I stick to my guns all the way through.”  In the short run, she may lose this particular boyfriend, but in the long run by sticking to her principles, she will definitely end up with a good man sooner or later.

A person who would drop out of school and strip for a whole lot of cash now rather than get a low-paying internship teaching valuable skills that will lead to a real career down the line? Outcome driven. A person who would is willing to just work hard and be honest and risk not getting promoted right away rather than kiss ass, lie and backstab his way to to the top? Process driven. You get the picture.

Now in some ways pimps are outcome driven because they choose the glamour, excitement and fast money of pimping over the slow grinding climb of a “square” job. But on the other hand, within their chosen profession pimps are notoriously process driven, to the point where they even have a phrase for it: “pimping by the book.” Everything has to be by the book. Rules and standards within the pimp game are rigorously followed and enforced, and a good pimp would rather pimp by the book and risk losing a whore here and there in the short run rather than become outcome driven and not pimp by the book in order to get some immediate benefit.

Take for example how pimps deal with what is called a Choosy Suzie. A Choosy Suzie is a whore who keeps jumping from pimp to pimp, always looking to trade up for a better deal or to pit pimps against each other. Pimps have very specific rules about what to do in this situation when they do it by the book. First, the whore must pay a choosing fee to the new pimp, a large sum of money for the right to be his whore. Next, the new pimp must then go to the old pimp and let him know in a civilized fashion that his whore has now chosen him. No hard feelings. Then the new pimp and the whore pick up the whore’s possessions from the old pimp. Now this process serves a few purposes.

First, it makes it pricey for a whore to jump from pimp to pimp. In the regular dating world where the average man has no rules and standards and is often outcome driven, a girl can jump from guy to guy to guy without repercussions, and the guy who has her at any given moment will just celebrate because he is getting some new ass and doesn’t really think of the big picture. Not only will the average guy not make a woman jump hurdles in order to leave her old man for him, he will actually reward her for her disloyalty to him with gifts or affection. He rewards bad behavior and thinks that he is getting out ahead…that is until he gets burned later on in the same way. And of course he can’t figure out why it happened to him. This is the outcome driven thinking and low standards of the typical guy that allowed professional groupie Karrine “Supahead” Steffans to make life hell for so many shortsighted celebrity men with her antics and expose books. By giving the whore a price to pay for jumping ship to him in the form of a monetary investment, the new pimp is making the woman prove that she will not quickly jump ship again like she did with the last pimp. Since she is committing a disloyal act by leaving the last pimp, the only way the new pimp will take her on is if she gives him a display of extra loyalty. What the pimp has effectively done with the choosing fee is create what economists call a sunk cost fallacy, where someone has a greater tendency to stick to an endeavor and ride it out after they have already made a significant investment in time, money or effort. Sometimes a whore also has to pay a leaving fee as well to her old pimp, which further reinforces loyalty.

The second aspect of the “by the book” method of dealing with a Choosy Suzy is that it forces the two pimps to talk face to face. This is very important. Men, think of all the times when you’ve allowed a woman to pit you against another man, whether it’s a stalker ex or another suitor trying to take her from you or just some guy that tried to holler at her in a nightclub. Especially when the woman is the intermediary feeding both sides lines about what the other guy said rather than letting them hear it from each other. There are a lot of women out there that get an ego boost over men fighting over them, and will deliberately escalate a beef between two guys and let the testosterone take over. Not only does it provide her an ego boost but it also makes her the center of competition, thereby raising her value over both suitors. Pimps recognize this aspect of human nature and as a result created the rule of one pimp going over to the other pimp face to face to eliminate the middleman, in this case the whore. This keeps the whore from using exaggeration or “he say, she say” to get two pimps to fight over her, stroke her ego, raise her value and possibly injure each other. And it keeps the power dynamic squarely with the pimps.

The valuable life lessons to take from this are (1) make disloyalty or bad behavior costly, even when you’re the beneficiary of it, or you risk being a victim of the same behavior down the line, and (2) be aware of when you’re being made to dance to someone else’s tune. A lot of people, from bosses to spouses to friends will try to goad you into unnecessary, fruitless battles for their own entertainment or benefit, all the while making you believe you’re in charge of the situation.

Now back to Iceberg:

I started [to game her] when I said, “Bitch, I don’t want a whore with rabbit in her. I want a bitch who wants me for life. You have got to go after that bullshit earlier this morning, you are not that bitch.”

That [game] butchered her and she collapsed into my lap crying and begging to stay. I had a theory about splitting whores. I think they seldom split without a bankroll’.

So, I cracked on her, “Give me that scratch you held, out and maybe I will give you another chance.”

Sure enough she reached into her bosom and drew out close to five bills and handed it to me. No pimp with a brain in his head cuts loose a young beautiful whore with lots of mileage left in her. I let her come back.

Note that Iceberg didn’t just let her come back without jumping a hurdle. It’s a good practice when forgiving someone or taking them back to make them give something up or make a costly gesture. If you let someone do wrong against you and keep forgiving them just for the price of an apology, you send a message about how much bad treatment you will gladly tolerate, and you are guaranteeing that that person will continue to disrespect you again in the future because they realize there will be no repercussions for doing so.

When at long last I was driving toward my hotel I remembered what “Baby” Jones, the master pimp who turned me out, had said about whores like Kim.

“Slim,” he had said, “A pretty Nigger bitch and a white whore are just alike. They both will get in a stable to wreck it and leave the pimp on his ass with no whore. You gotta make ‘em hump hard and fast to stick ‘em for [their money] quick. Slim, pimping ain’t no game of love, so [game] ‘em and keep your [dick] outta ‘em. Any sucker who believe a whore loves him shouldn’t a fell outta his mammy’s ass.”

?..

“Slim, a pimp is really a whore who has reversed the game on whores. So Slim, be as sweet as the scratch, no sweeter, and always stick a whore for a bundle [of money] before you sex her. A whore ain’t nothing but a trick to a pimp. Don’t let ‘em [game] you. Always get your money in front just like a whore.

Now here one of the biggest misconceptions about pimps gets set straight. People think pimps are all about getting as much sex as possible. Guys go around having sex with anything that moves and brag “I’m a pimp” or “I’m pimping.” Pimps actually have a high amount of sexual discipline and try to keep sex with the whores to a minimum. What the john is to the whore, the whore is to the pimp: a customer. Using economic terms again, the pimp creates a scarcity mindset when it comes to letting whores having sex with him: he makes himself the commodity and raises his own value by having sex with the whores as little as possible. At times in the book Pimp, Iceberg describes how excruciating it can be to resist the urge to have sex with his whores at times, but he realizes that the bigger picture is to maintain his high value at all costs. And additionally, just like the whore won’t have sex with a john unless he pays her first, a pimp will not have sex with his whore under any circumstances unless she pays him first.

And sometimes not even then. Sometimes even when a whore behaves and follows orders there is no guarantee she will be rewarded each time. This is called the intermittent reward method, or random reinforcement method, pioneered by famed psychologist B.F. Skinner with his Skinner Box, and it’s one of the most potent methods of influencing behavior out there, and is the psychological reason why slot machines are so addictive, as described in this NY Times article:

The makers of slot machines may rely on the lure of life-changing jackpots to attract customers, but the machines’ ability to hook so deeply into a player’s cerebral cortex derives from one of the more powerful human feedback mechanisms, a phenomenon behavioral scientists call infrequent random reinforcement, or ”intermittent reward.” Children whose parents consistently shower them with love and attention tend to take that devotion for granted. Those who know they’ll never be rewarded by their parents stop trying after a while. But those who are rewarded only intermittently ? in the fashion of a slot machine ? will often pursue positive outcomes with a persistent tenacity.

Random, unpredictable intermittent rewards are a far better motivator for behavior than consistent, predictable rewards. (By the way, managers are also increasingly experimenting with intermittent reward systems in the workplace to motivate workers, so don’t think you’re immune from this type of brainwashing just because you’re not a lab rat, dog, child or a whore.) By using the powerful behavioral tools of scarcity and intermittent rewards, pimps create a mindset in their women where having sex with the pimp and being deemed worthy by him is the most valuable thing on earth to them. (A lot of men who are “whipped” by their wives are also commonly victims of scarcity and intermittent rewards, so don’t believe it’s just a tool used by misogynists.)

How valuable to the whore is the pimp’s affection, love and, if she’s “lucky,” sex? Well that leads to one last myth about pimps and whores that I’m going to dispel. A whore does not receive a cut of the money she makes. A lot of people assume she does, but she doesn’t. She gives it all to the pimp. Every last cent. His cut is 100%.

Now that is some serious brainwashing.

BONUS EXCERPTS: MALCOLM X ON PIMPS AND PROSTITUTES

The bonus excerpts below are from The Autobiography of Malcolm X : As Told to Alex Haley.

Malcolm X On Wives And Prostitutes:

Domineering, complaining, demanding wives who had just about psychologically castrated their husbands were responsible for the early [client rush to the brothel]. These wives were so disagreeable and had made their man so tense that they were robbed of the satisfaction of being men. To escape this tension and the chance of being ridiculed by his own wife, each of these men had gotten up early and come to a prostitute.The prostitutes had to make it their business to be students of men. They said that after most men passed their virile twenties, they went to bed mainly to satisfy their egos, and because a lot of women don?t understand it that way, they damage and wreck a man?s ego. No matter how little virility a man has to offer, prostitutes make him feel for a time that he is the greatest man in the world. That?s why these prostitutes had that morning rush of business. More wives could keep their husbands if they realized their greatest urge is to be men…

I mean, I?d had so much experience. I had talked to too many prostitutes and mistresses. They knew more about a whole lot of husbands than the wives of those husbands did. The wives always filled their husband?s ears so full of wife complaints that it wasn?t the wives, it was the prostitutes and mistresses who heard the husbands? innermost problems and secrets. They thought of him, and comforted him, and that included listening to him, and so he would tell them everything.

Malcolm X On Pimps vs. Husbands:

Most men, the prostitutes felt, were too easy to push around. Every day these prostitutes heard their customers complaining that they never heard anything but griping from women who were being taken care of and given everything. The prostitutes said that most men needed to know what the pimps knew. A woman should occasionally be babied enough to show her the man had affection, but beyond that she should be treated firmly. These tough women said that it worked with them. All women, by their nature, are fragile and weak: they are attracted to the male in whom they see strength.

Recommended Reading:

The books below all played a role in this piece, with some specifically discussing pimp behavior and philosophies, and others discussing the general human behavior principles that pimps end up exploiting.

This is a follow-up analysis post to this post, which VK, Des and Roissy did a ridiculously good job taking apart in the comments section. Maybe this one was too easy (or the commenters are just too damn good). Anyways, let me see if there’s anything left for me to add. To save you the trouble of going back to the old post, I’ll reproduce the passage here:

From the opening pages of Pimp by Robert Beck (better known as Iceberg Slim) (slang translations provided by me in brackets):

I grinned widely, inside of course. The best pimps keep a steel lid on their emotions and I was one of the iciest. The whores went into fits of giggles at [bottom bitch] Rachel’s shaky witticism [a bottom bitch is the top whore in the stable, the most favored by the pimp and usually considered the most reliable. Usually a seniority position.]. A pimp is happy when his whores giggle. He knows they are still asleep.

I coasted the Hog [car] into the curb outside the hotel where Kim, my newest, prettiest girl, was cribbing. Jesus! I would be glad to drop the last whore off so I could get to my own hotel to nurse my nose with cocaine and be alone. Any good pimp is his own best company. His inner life is so rich with cunning and scheming to out-think his whores.

As Kim got out I said “Goodnight Baby, today is Saturday so I want everybody in the street at noon instead of seven tonight. I said noon, not five minutes after or two minutes after, but at twelve noon sharp I want you down, got it, Baby?”

She didn’t answer, but she did a strange thing. She walked into the street around the Hog [car] to the window on my side. She stood looking at me for a long moment, her beautiful face tense in the dim dawn.

Then in her crisp New England accent she said “Are you coming back to my pad this morning? You haven’t spent a night with me in a month. So come back, Okay?”

A good pimp doesn’t get paid for screwing, he gets his pay for always having the right thing to say to a whore right on lightning tap. I knew my four whores were flapping their ears to get my reaction to this beautiful bitch. A pimp with an overly fine bitch in his stable [group of whores] has to keep his game tight. Whores constantly probe for weakness in a pimp.

I fitted a scary mask on my face and said, in a low deadly voice, “Bitch, are you insane? No bitch in my family calls any shots or muscles me to do anything. Now take your stinking yellow ass upstairs to a bath and some shut eye, and get in the street at noon like I told you.”

The bitch just stood there, her eyes slitted in anger. I could sense she was game to play the string out right there in the street before my whores…I knew the bitch was trying to booby trap me when she spat out her invitation. “Come on, kick my ass. What the hell do I need with a man I only see when he comes to get his money? I’m sick of it all. I don’t dig stables and never will. I know I’m the new bitch who has to prove herself. Well Godamnit, I am sick of this shit. I’m cutting out.”

She stopped for air and lit a cigarette. I was going to blast her ass of when she finished. So, I just sat there staring at her.”

Then she went on…”I am going back to Providence on the next thing smoking.”

She was young, fast with trick appeal galore. She was a pimp’s dream and she knew it. She had tested me with her beef and now she was lying back for a sucker response.

I disappointed her with my cold overlay. I could see her wilt as I said in an icy voice “Listen square-ass Bitch, I have never had a whore I couldn’t do without. I celebrate, Bitch, when a whore leaves me. It gives some worthy bitch a chance to take her place and be a star. You scurvy Bitch, if I shit in your face, you gotta love it and open your mouth wide….”

I went on ruthlessly, “Bitch you are nothing but a funky zero. Before me you had one chili chump [a chili pimp is a low-level pimp with only one whore] with no rep. Nobody except his mother ever heard of the bastard. Yes Bitch, I’ll be back this morning to put your phony ass on the train.”

I rocketed away from the curb. In the rearview mirror I saw Kim walk slowly into the hotel, her shoulders slumped. In the Hog, until I dropped the last whore off you could have heard a mosquito crapping on the moon. I had tested out for them, “solid ice.”

Now for this post, I want to try something different.