The pimp’s violence paradoxically reinforces the prostitute’s erotic submission and love

Evidence

Literature has popularized the character of the fancy man. He plays a protective role in the girl’s life. He advances her money to buy outfits, then he defends her against the competition of other women and the police—sometimes he himself is a policeman—and against the clients. They would like to be able to consume without paying; there are those who would readily satisfy their sadism on a woman. In Madrid a few years ago Fascist and gilded youth amused themselves by throwing prostitutes into the river on cold nights; in France students having fun sometimes brought women into the countryside and abandoned them, entirely naked, at night; in order to get her money and avoid bad treatment, the prostitute needs a man. He also provides her with moral support: “You work less well alone, you don’t have your heart in it, you let yourself go,” some say. She often feels love for him; she takes on this job or justifies it out of love; in this milieu, man’s superiority over woman is enormous: this distance favors love-religion, which explains some prostitutes’ passionate abnegation. They see in their male’s violence the sign of his virility and submit to him even more docilely. They experience jealousy and torment with him, but also the joys of the woman in love. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1671

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘fancy man’ (pimp) and his protective/predatory dual role in the prostitute’s life.
• XREF: The ‘love-religion’ born of male superiority echoes Beauvoir’s earlier analysis (ch 3?) of woman’s religiosity as displaced love, and connects to her broader concept of woman as Other who loves her oppressor. — connects to: Economic dependence on a pimp traps prostitutes more than violence does — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1669; Masochistic submission depends on the lover’s maintained prestige — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1863; A man’s enduring love can transform woman’s sexual submission into transcendence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1859 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Beauvoir claims prostitutes see pimp violence as a sign of virility and submit more docilely — is this an empirical claim about prostitutes or a theoretical projection of heterosexual love structure?

Broader Connections

• Economic dependence on a pimp traps prostitutes more than violence does #qualifies (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1669
• Erotic pain expresses a desire for union, not passive enslavement #complicates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1005
• Masochistic submission depends on the lover’s maintained prestige #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1863
• A man’s enduring love can transform woman’s sexual submission into transcendence #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1859