White Slavery Panics

1
White Slavery Panics

• History of Term and its relationship to the
  anti-slavery crusades
• Link to moral reformers and Victorian
  sensibilities
• How real was the early 20th century traffic in
  women?
• Who was most concerned about them?

2
White Slavery and Immigration

• Fears of white slavery coincided with periods of
  massive immigration from Europe to the new world
  as well as to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
• Panic focused on women traveling alone. Who
  would take care of them? What if they married or
  had sex with men of other nationalities or races?
• Became embedded with the language of nationalism
• Caused Europeans to think about the implications
  of immigration, citizenship, and nationality

3
White Slavery and Legalized Prostitution

• After Great Britain ended its regulation of
  prostitution in port cities, rumors began to
  spread that British women were trapped in
  continental bordellos or in foreign countries
  that had legalized prostitution
• Almost all Catholic countries and a number of
  Protestant countries permitted prostitution, and
  even Great Britain allowed prostitution in its
  colonies if not at home
• The two world wars caused nations to collapse and
  reform. Who would protect the women once their
  nationalities were in question?

4
The League of Nations and White Slavery

• After World War I, the League of Nations was
  created to deal with post-war problems (US did
  not join)
• Predecessor to the United Nations
• In the 1920s, the League created a commission
  initially to investigate claims of white slavery
  in Latin America, but by the time its report was
  published in 1927, the report examined both the
  countries exporting women as well as those with
  legal houses of prostitution.
• After that report was published, a number of
  reports were written about the rehabilitation of
  prostitutes, and the spread of prostitution into
  the Pacific regions.

5
The Problems of Reports

• They could only be compiled reliably by cities
  with legalized prostitution, or by police with
  active anti-prostitution campaignsthese sources
  were biased.
• One tended to report only registered prostitutes,
  and the other depended on police estimates.
• Public health officials could also estimate, but
  none of their figures were reliable
• Were all people who had VD prostitutes? Could
  they be transmitted in any other way?
• Once women were identified as prostitutes, what
  would happen to them?
• What were the underlying causes of prostitution?

6
Causes of Prostitution

• Economic explanations high costs of living, but
  few decent jobs for women
• Men abandoned families and women had to support
  children
• Males-fathers, husbands, often force women to
  engage in prostitution.
• Young women in urban areas seeking economic and
  sexual independence in dance halls and bars
• Notions of virginity clashed with reality of rape
  and pre-marital sex
• Single mothers often lost their jobs,
  particularly as domestic servants or factory
  workers
• The double standard that tolerated a male demand
  for sexual gratification while it stigmatized the
  women who provided it.
• The rise of drug addiction

7
Solutions to Prostitution

• Better jobs for women
• Increased pressure on fathers to support their
  children
• Drug rehabilitation
• Reshaping family attitudes about patriarchy
• Reforming the double standard
• Acknowledging womens right to engage in sex work

8
The 21st century Traffic in Women

• Often involves women in Latin America, Southeast
  Asia, Africa
• Partly linked to political instability
• Women taken as sex prisoners during war like the
  Comfort women during World War II.
• Women in refugee camps need to support their
  families
• Partly linked to womens need to obey male
  relatives
• Particularly true in Asia
• If they are turned out of their work in
  bordellos, they cannot return as honorable women
  to their families
• Partly linked to sex tourism and the desire of
  American and European men to have sex with
  foreign women