A P Word That I Really Can't Stand Hearing

I was doing the grocery shopping last week and as I stood at the checkout I saw this magazine:

It has been a while since I read a Dolly Magazine but as I looked over the cover, one story stood out for me. "Pimp Your Formal". For most people, this type of title is nothing special but for me after reading and researching human trafficking recently....it totally offends me.

We all know what the word "pimp" means. The dictionary defines a Pimp as:

pimp
/pimp/
Noun
A man who controls prostitutes and arranges clients for them, taking a percentage of their earnings in return.

However, somehow this word has now become a fun way to describe making something better, funkier and more glamorous than it already is. The urban dictionary describes pimping in this way:

"More commonly used nowadays as making something cool or better"

I see it all the time. There are TV shows that use this title such as Pimp My Ride, apps that offer you the ability to pimp your phone or your profile etc. I know that nothing serious is meant by using this word but humour me for a moment and really think about the meaning of this word.

Pimp (person who sells another person for sex/person who has forced a little girl to have sex with multiple people/person who sells a child for sex) your formal/ride/phone etc. When you think of it like that it kinda loses the funniness doesn't it?

I'm not sure when the idea of being a pimp became so appealing or so much fun. I can think of so many movies and musicians that have encouraged the idea of a pimp as having it all and being above it all. I know people who have dressed up as a pimp for parties (see picture below) because "pimp" fashion has been made out to be funny. Being a pimp has been glamourised as though it is something to aspire to.

Don't get me wrong, I do see how it is somewhat funny, but I don't think it is harmless. A pimp is a person who preys on the weakness of another person. It really isn't something to joke about and it certainly shouldn't be made out to be something to aspire to, or be thought of as a way to make something cool or better.

I'm not sure if the removal of the word pimp from advertising, or reminding people of its true meaning achieves anything in the fight against human sex trafficking or against the sex industry at all. But it may. If we stopped glamourising the sex industry and making it ok to sell others for sex (even some thing to aspire to), maybe demand for it could decrease. I don't know but I think it is worth a try.

I'm willing to try anything to save someone from having to sell their bodies for sex.

What are your thoughts on this issue?


Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT