White slavery - Definition and Overview

White slavery is a 19th century term for a form of slavery involving the sexual abuse of women held as captives and forced into prostitution.

Although this form of abuse did occur in reality (and still does: see the article sexual slavery for this topic), the name "white slavery" is usually used to refer to the original use of the term in a moral panic in late 19th century and early 20th century United States, where there was a perception that this form of abuse was a danger to every young woman. In this moral panic, the selected scapegoats were Chinese immigrants, who were stereotyped and demonized as white slavers.

White slavery did not originally refer to race; in modern usage, however, it often refers to the sexual slavery of white women by non-white men.

The term white slavery is also used in revisionist and white supremacy literature to refer to any slavery of people with light skin.

External links

• "White Slavery" As Metaphor: Anatomy of a Moral Panic (http://www.walnet.org/csis/papers/irwin-wslavery.html)
• Loose Women or Lost Women? The re-emergence of the myth of 'white slavery' in contemporary discourses of 'trafficking in women' (http://www.walnet.org/csis/papers/doezema-loose.html)
• Pressured by U.S., Israel Battles a Burgeoning White Slave Trade (http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.06.28/news10.html)