Rachel Lloyd is an anti-trafficking advocate and founder of GEMS, the nation’s largest service provider to commercial sexually exploited and trafficked girls and young women. Pimps sell women to other men for sex, and Lloyd describes how pimping and "the adult men who seduce, kidnap, torture, brainwash then sell girls for sex" have become a status business identity in the United States. Rappers glamorize pimping, and corporate sponsors further popularize being a pimp. For example, in 2003, rapper 50 Cent released his song "P. I.M. P" and Reebok gave him a $50 million advertising contract. Rapper Snoop Dogg bragged about his pimping career and was described as "America’s Most Lovable Pimp" when featured on the December 2006 issue of Rolling Stone. His corporate endorsement deals include Boost Mobile cell phones, Orbit gum, and a commercial for Chrysler. The entertainment industry also contributes to glorifying pimps. In 2006 "It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp" by Three 6 Mafia won the Academy Award for Best Song. In reality, compared to other criminal behaviors, pimping is not particularly "hard" or risky and is usually a more profitable crime than selling drugs (Kristof, 2011; Saar, 2010).
Rachel Lloyd identifies pimps as essentially traffickers of girls and young women and states, "Frankly, it’s hard out here for a 13-year-old girl who’s under the control of an adult man who beats her daily, tattoos, brands his name on her body to mark her as his property, who controls her every movement and forces her to have sex nightly with dozens of adult men and then takes her money. If that’s not trafficking and slavery I don’t know what is" (Lloyd, 2010).