Predatory Helpfulness and Coercive Tactics Used By Pimps to Recruit and Commercially Sexually Exploit Females

As the number of females being commercially sexually exploited (CSE) in the United States increases each year (Polaris, 2019), it is essential to improve the development and implementation of practices and policies and reduce the criminalization of CSE females. Previous research has focused on the coercive tactics used by pimps during the recruitment stage once the exploitation starts but has lacked in addressing the tactics used during the early grooming phase. This lack of understanding has resulted in a victim blaming culture and the incarceration of CSE victims. The essential research question guiding this study was, what are the lived experiences of CSE females during the grooming/recruitment phase? The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of predatory helpfulness tactics used by pimps early in the grooming process of CSE. By understanding these tactics, professionals can develop prevention models that focus on the perpetrators' behaviors, moving us towards a community that embraces and supports the victims impacted by the commercial sex trade (CST). Using a hermeneutical phenomenology approach, interview transcript data from 19 young women ages 18 to 60 who were previously in pimp controlled relationships were analyzed and interpreted. Interview text focused on participants experiences with their pimps and how the relationship was initiated by the pimp or their recruiter. Common tactics were uncovered in the participants' narratives, increasing the knowledge about the lived experiences of CSE females. Two themes emerged: the grooming stage tactic during which the pimp used predatory helpfulness tactics to build a dependency and the recruitment stage where the relationship shifts, and the expectation of the pimp starts to emerge. In the recruitment stage, the pimp transitions from predatory helpfulness tactics to coercion tactics to force the female into the CST. These research findings expand the existing definitions and stages of recruitment to include the grooming and coercive stages. Identifying the predatory and coercive tactic used by the pimps during the grooming/recruitment phase highlights the nuances of choice and coercion that existed in the relationship between the CSE female and the pimp. These findings enable professionals to better understand predatory behaviors of the pimp, how the trauma coerced attachment (TCA) forms in a relationship and help reduce victim blaming culture. These concepts can inform interventions, policies, and practices of the criminal justice system. Furthermore, understanding predatory helpfulness will allow prevention models to shift the focus to the perpetrators' behaviors, moving us towards a community that embraces and supports the victims impacted by the CST.