Hencoop, no rooster?
On a friend’s recommendation I watched The American Pimp, a Hughes brothers documentary. The suggestion was tangential. One of the pimps featured in the documentary - Fillmore Slim, inherits the name of his domain - the Fillmore street in San Francisco very near to where I live. Unlike The Take or The Motorcycle Diaries, which carry significant historical and social content yet are mediocre in their execution, The American Pimp is dynamic and rather well crafted but the content is only as significant as the few portrayed pimps, which is to say - not very. The documentary is a soapbox for the colorful but ignorant men who coerce the women in their care to work while they retain 100% of the profits. Payroll, C-Note, Bishop Don Magic Juan, Gorgeous Dre, Kenny Redd and Charm all have the same thing to say: Women can’t do without them. According to the pimps, the women also endearingly called “Bitches” wouldn’t know how to manage their money and “hoing” wouldn’t be as profitable if it wasn’t under the male care. “Hos” are a commodity, they can be acquired at a night club or stolen from another pimp. As a side note but perhaps not incidentally, a “commodity” as an article of “commerce”, commerce is synonymous with “sexual intercourse”. The pimps are the perpetrators. Its etymology is just as intriguing:
Latin perpetratus, past participle of perpetrare, from per- through + patrare to accomplish, from pater father — more at FATHER
Women in the “Game” seek out protection and leadership not inclined to take on full responsibility for their successes or failures, while the men complement the playing field with their drive to direct, instruct, patronize while drawing profit and gloating in status. The subculture of pimps and hos is only an acute hyperbole of the greater male female relations within a society at large. From the genetic makeup, through hormone tinted brain cells and physical attributes, women are receivers, men - disseminators. Within patriarchal societies which are the majority among human cultural systems, traditionally women are the second in command with males as heads of families. They are described at best as the “neck that rotates the head” and are passive agents at worst. Predominantly still, husbands, fathers or brothers, boyfriends or lovers depending on how liberal the society is, serve as a compass and a reference point within the scope of which women act and operate. In the West, the plight of the suffragettes and feminists of the 2oth century have resulted in the women’s voting rights, laws banning discrimination based on gender, sexual harassment laws, orders enforcing child support and violence against women act. The conditions have never been better for women to flourish and achieve their fullest potential and match men not only in the equal capacity we have for excellence and professional success but more importantly in the volume of ranks and files of capable, driven and independent women. That is, if we dare to step forward.