Prostitutes have opened up about the danger of their lives under their pimps, who are physically abusive and take everything they own.
In Louis Theroux’s latest documentary Dark States: Trafficking Sex the filmmaker meets the sex workers of west Houston, Texas, who are preyed upon by pimps who exploit them for sex and money.
Theroux meets Nikki, 37, who gives every penny she earns to her abusive pimp Trouble, and says he could kill her if she makes a mistake.
Also in the episode is Savannah, who started prostituting herself at 16 when a pimp found her under the influence of drugs and exploited her.
Daneesha says she was molested at just three years old and refuses to be judged for doing sex work, and has very conflicting feelings about her incarcerated pimp.
Louis Theroux meets Nikki, 37, who answers to a violent pimp called Trouble, who beats her when she disobeys him
Nikki
Nikki, who pretends to be 27 on the escorting site she uses, charges $200 an hour for her services – but gives everything away to her pimp Trouble.
Trouble physically attacks Nikki when she is ‘disrespectful’ to her, and punches her in the face when he feels she’s tricked him out of money.
Nikki has made him more than $150,000 and he pays for her apartment and clothes. At one point she should Theroux the texts she receives from Trouble, who calls her his ‘b****’ in every one.
A troubling scene in the documentary shows Nikki panic when she discovers she’d lost $250 worth of takings.
As she looks for it she says: ‘I’m gonna freak out man, he’s gomnna kick my a**. How the f*** did I lose $250 dollars? He’s gonna think I’m playing with him.
‘This dude doesn’t just smack you around he’ll beat the s*** out of you.’
Theroux travels to west Houston, Texas in area full of prostitutes who are working under pimps
She told Theroux how the arrangement with a pimp works, explaining: ‘When you’re with a pimp anything you want you have to ask for permission. If they say “no” it’s no.
‘If you go against them there’s consequences. If you violate the rules there’s consequences – and they”re not like minor consequences. He can be physical, if you’re out of line, if you’re disrespectful, if you disobey him.’
Nikki later admitted that Trouble had punched her in the face – but she truly believes he is a good man.
She said: ‘Some of the stuff you go through can really mess with your head and make you doubt yourself and that’s who molded me into a real solid-a** female. He gives me everything. I don’t associate with anybody other than him other than clients.’
Nikki eventually managed to leave her pimp but continued to work as a prostitute on her own terms. Trouble was arrested and charged with trafficking and compelling the proposition of a number of women.
Savannah
Savannah, 18, was just 16 when she met her first pimp, who plied her with drugs and put her pictures on an escorting website just an hour after meeting her
Savannah, 18, began prostituting herself when she was just 16, after her pimp found her high and vulnerable at a party.
Savannah found the idea of sex work appealing and within an hour of meeting the pimp she had slept with her first client – and five others the rest of the night.
She said: ‘Rico explained to me what I was gonna be doing. At the time, to me, it sounded better than what my life was.
Savannah is looking for a regular job, but won’t rule out a return to prostitution because of how ‘easy’ it is
‘He explained to me that I’d be getting cars and a house and all the clothes I wanted and I wouldn’t ever have to be sad again or be hurt so he gave me like a fantasy lifestyle and at the time I was okay with it.’
The show sees Savannah go to Santa Maria Hostel to break away form her pimp but continue to see him in secret.
She decided to look for a normal job but admitted she would never rule out a return to prostitution because it’s ‘easy’.
Daneesha
Daneesha was sexually abused a s a child and refuses to be judged for doing sex work
Daneesha was beaten by her pimp, T Money, who was originally just her boyfriend before he encouraged her into sex work and became physically abusive.
While she broke things off with her pimp, who is currently in prison, she keeps in contact with him through letters.
She said: ‘I’m talking to the same guy who hit me so hard in the face one time that it look like I had an extra something growing from it.
‘In the lifestyle that we live it’s like, do we find comfort in that? I’m never gonna say that it’s good to let a man hit me but there’s just something that I like.’
Daneesha let T Money take all the money she earned from sex work because she saw that’s what other women were doing.
She said: ‘I would watch other females doing what I was doing and they would be happy to pass the cash off to their daddy or their pimp, they would be happy so I just figured it was what I was supposed to do.’
Daneesha was beaten by her pimp T Money who is now in jail, and gave him all of her earnings because she thought that was the done thing
Daneesha refuses to be judged for being a prostitute because of her background, admitting she suffered sexual abuse as a young child.
‘I hate for people to try and judge me about my lifestyle i really do because no one knows what I’ve been through no one knows where I come from,’ she said.
‘I thought the person that I love was the one that was gonna save me, rescue me from all the feeling and emotions that I endured inside of me.’
Louis Theroux’s Dark States: Trafficking Sex airs this Sunday at 9pm on BBC Two.