How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Taxi Driver.
Quote #4
SPORT: A cowboy, huh? I once had a horse, on Coney Island. She got hit by a car. Well, take it or leave it. If you want to save yourself some money, don't f*** her. Cause you'll be back here every night for some more. Man, she's twelve and a half years old. […] You can do anything you want with her. […] But no rough stuff, all right?
This totally obscene speech about a twelve year old girl reveals just how disgusting and criminally exploitive Sport really is. It messes with us, as an audience, because it predisposes us to sympathize with Travis when he goes vigilante and murders Sport. "No rough stuff, all right?" sounds totally ironic, given what Sport has just said.
Quote #5
TRAVIS: Yeah, but you can't live like this. It's hell. Girls should live at home
IRIS: Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?
TRAVIS: What do you mean "women's lib"? You sure are a young girl. You should be at home now. You should be dressed up. You should be goin' out with boys. You should be goin' to school. You know, that kind of stuff.
Iris idea of women's liberation bears no relation to the real thing—no one would claim that being a child prostitute is liberating (actually, it's the polar opposite of women's liberation, since it's total sexual exploitation). Travis isn't snowed by this abuse of terminology, and he knows what he knows.
Quote #6
IRIS: I don't like what I'm doin,' Sport.
SPORT: Oh baby, I never wanted you to like what you're doin'. If you ever liked what you're doing, you wouldn't be my woman.
Sport is repulsively clever. He's manipulating Iris, claiming that he values her because she doesn't enjoy the fact that he's pimping her out to people. He uses the fact that she thinks she's special to him to keep her working for him. It's twisted logic, the logic of an abusive exploiter and emotional manipulator.