MAP Forum

White slavery is, in the most literal sense, enslavement of white people, which are usually defined as those fully belonging to the Europoid race. Examples include the Roman slave trade, the Germanics' trading of slaves, particularly the enslavement of Celtic people by the Normans and vikings as well as that of the Ostrogoths. But the phenomenon is usually associated with the Barbary slave trade (wherein European Christians and Maghreb Muslims would often face-off at the height of Barbary piracy, with each side taking slaves from the opposing side) and the Ottoman slave trade in the Balkans.

But somewhere in the 19th or 20th century, the terms "white slavery" and "white slave trade" came to denote not just slavery of white people, but what we nowadays refer to as "sexual slavery" and "sex trafficking". This shift in definition was likely spurred by William T Stead's sensationalistic reporting of Victorian-era juvenile prostitution in London, and from henceforth fears of "sex trafficking" pre-occupied the imagination of British and Anglo elites, particularly the few that white women may be working in Ottoman brothels and harems. 25 years after Stead's infamous piece was published, it was under such imaginative thinking that global activism, spurred primarily by 1st-wave feminists and the Protestant revivalist groups, that the US passed the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 (a.k.a., the Mann Act). Such groups also began to target prostitution and what was the early sex industry (contributed in no small part by military conflicts such as the Crimean war, where many of the military brothels shifted to British Cairo) across the various European colonial empires. Soon enough, though, the term "white slavery" came to be known as an euphemism for formal prostitution, as well as "sexual trafficking" of underage women (or minor females in modern parlance), on the basis that such women did not have any agency on that matter. One infamous case that was brought to international attention was the White slave trade affair of 1880 Belgium, where foreign girls who were illegally brought to work in Brussels' brothels, with the involvement of high-ranking individuals such as police officers and the mayor himself.

I once thought that perhaps Stead may have said some truth on the matter. Maybe it was understandable that Westminster, after centuries or so, decided to raise its age of consent from 13 to 16 with the full knowledge that they were taking away the right of those girls the right to say yes. But recently, I stumbled upon a Twitter thread, which made me question my previous assumptions. In it, a book authored by scholar Harlan Fischer-Tine is quoted as stating:

A high police official had to acknowledge in 1912 that the definition of White Slavery as agreed upon at the London conference did not apply to British India, as '[the women who come out to India are rarely young girls who have been decoyed or kidnapped fresh from their homes but experienced prostitutes [...] who are under no delusion as to their occupation'. There is also strong evidence that practically all of them had been in the business in Europe and Egypt before they were recruited to work in Asia.
Many of the women managed to send money home to their families regularly, and returned to their native country after working for some years to set up a 'respectable' business.

In other words, many such women, often of European descent, often came to work in the "jewel of the empire" willingly, were often of age. So the case regarding "white slavery" in early 20th century India was overblown. If such were the case in what was the British empire's most important colony, who is to say that the panic surrounding white female prostitution wasn't just overblown panic in other parts of the empire, such as London?

It's hard to know given the limited sources on it, most of which is often negative, but suffice to say I think that we should try to find more holes in the narrative. This is especially important for MAPs and our allies, given that the old panic over "white slavery" is what birthed the entire "sex trafficking" moral panic that has often animated pedophobic attitudes, many of which resulted in draconian laws against us.[/img]

Edit: I got the specific Tweet from X/Twitter account @goodbroto

Artaxerxes II wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:53 am White slavery is, in the most literal sense, enslavement of white people, which are usually defined as those fully belonging to the Europoid race.

Unless you're part of the Nation of Islam or a Black Hebrew Israelite or just an anthropologist, most people would just say "Europeans" or "Caucasians".

PorcelainLark wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 5:10 am

Artaxerxes II wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:53 am White slavery is, in the most literal sense, enslavement of white people, which are usually defined as those fully belonging to the Europoid race.

Unless you're part of the Nation of Islam or a Black Hebrew Israelite, most people would just say "Europeans" or "Caucasians".

What does the National of Islam or Black Israelis have to do with it?

Eh, I thought that "Caucasian" might sound confusing for non-Americans, especially since part of the "white slave trade" narratives also included Circassian people, the people that have inspired the coinage of "Caucasian" as a descriptor for Europeans in the first place, despite the fact that Europoid is a synonym of Caucasian. So I opted for Europoid for better professionalism. I think I'll stick to Europeans, given how obscure OP's term is.

Artaxerxes II wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 9:10 am What does the National of Islam or Black Israelis have to do with it?

Usually people who use terms like that are racist, and if a person is being racist about white people it's usually coming from one of those two groups.
inb4 "you can't be racist to white people"

Eh, I thought that "Caucasian" might sound confusing for non-Americans, especially since part of the "white slave trade" narratives also included Circassian people, the people that have inspired the coinage of "Caucasian" as a descriptor for Europeans in the first place, despite the fact that Europoid is a synonym of Caucasian. So I opted for Europoid for better professionalism.

Fair enough, I've never really used the term Caucasian (being a non-American). We do use the term "white" in Europe, but ethnic/linguistic/religious identity are all at least as important as race (if not more so), with religious identity in particular being historically the most important.
Lastly, Europoid doesn't even necessarily mean European, any more than mongoloid means Mongolian. These terms are descriptors from outdated physical anthropology. You don't really need to use the word "Europoid" to describe white slavery anymore than you need the word "Negroid" to describe slavery in America; you could just say "a euphemism for sex trafficking related to prostitution".

I think I'll stick to Europeans, given how obscure OP's term is.

I expect this was a typo, but if not, I appreciate the change.

That aside, I think there are other parts to these fears. The two obvious ones are the spread of venereal disease (syphilis was very prevalent, and often spread to the upper classes because of wealthy men visiting prostitutes) and overpopulation (before contraception was as readily available, there was this underlying fear the population would outgrow its capacity). Finally, there's the concern with class mobility from a feminist perspective; since many middle class women aspired to going higher, they dreaded becoming "fallen women", unable to have a husband.
I'd say there a parallels between the fears about sex trafficking today and the campaigns against white slavery around the turn of the century, but I'm not sure there's a literal continuity (I expect it's more like separate waves; willing to change my mind, though). In contrast, I think concern over teen pregnancy has been an unbroken chain going back to mass urbanization during the industrial revolution.
tl;dr I think cities are ultimately what have made intergenerational relationships more taboo. The only anthropological evidence I could find that spoke about ACSC specifically was among indigenous people. I speculate that MA was much more open and accepted amongst pre-agricultural people.

Yes, it was way overblown.

William T Stead was a moral crusader trying to force bourgeois morality onto the working class. As far as I know, none of what he claimed was actually substantiate aside from the fact that there were young girls engaging in sex work. He set up a publicity stunt where he paid a woman and a 13 YO to act like mother and daughter to show people how easy it was to buy a sex slave from a girl's own mother. It's the same con today that people like Tim Ballard sell about sex trafficking being a booming multi-billion dollar industry. The goal was to incite a moral panic, and it worked.

Stead is considered to be one of the first "yellow" (tabloid) journalists.

He died on the Titanic, tho, if that is a comfort to anyone.