Abstract
Within this well-written text, Jessica Pliley examines the social and political events in America that led to the passage of the Mann Act in 1910. Her investigation includes not only discussions of the circumstances in Europe and America that led to the crusade against “White Slavery” but the consequences of that campaign. The impacts on society, perceptions of morality, the expansion of federal laws, and the development of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are given careful consideration within Pliley’s analysis.
The purpose of the Mann Act or the “White Slave Traffic Act” was to protect women and girls from forced prostitution and sex trafficking. It made it a federal crime to “transport or cause the transport of women over state lines for the purposes of prostitution, debauchery, or any other immoral purposes” (p. 1). According to Pliley, this “was the product of international efforts to protect women that was based upon the Progressive era’s faith that thorough investigation could lead to solutions for any social ill” (p. 3). The remainder of the text describes how these efforts were based upon a naivety regarding sexual slavery that resulted not only in conservative morality being imposed upon American society but also the imposition of immigration policies that were actually detrimental to the women that they were allegedly designed to protect.
Chapter 1 presents the foundation for Pliley’s critiques of the Mann Act. She first investigates the contradictory motivations and flawed basis for the adoption of laws protecting women from sexual exploitation. Although slave-like conditions were said to abound at the beginning of the 20th century, Pliley argues that the extent of such activities was distorted by would be reformers. She also describes how laws said to protect women from exploitation (as well as the spread of contagious diseases) became distorted by the double standard of Victorian sexual morality. Although feminists and “purity” groups sought to protect women, the contradictory regulations and laws that followed actually focused on punishing “bad women.”
Within Chapter 2, Pliley traces the developments that led to the creation of “White Slavery Squads” within the Immigration Bureau. Particular emphasis is given to the change from European efforts to protect “deceived and innocent girls and women” to the enactment of American laws restricting entry and/or deporting immigrant “sex workers” (pp. 45–47).
Chapter 3 describes how the concern for deceived innocent foreign women evolved into concerns about protecting the virtue of White American women. By 1910 when the White Slave Traffic Act was drafted, the contents included not only preventing immigrant prostitution within 3 years from entry into the United States but also prohibited “the transport or facilitating the transport of any woman or girl over state lines or within a territory and the District of Columbia for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery or for any other immoral purpose” (p. 67). Pliley further describes how these changes led to the enforcement responsibilities moving to the Department of Justice.
Chapters 4 and 5 discuss how enforcing those new responsibilities resulted in a rapid expansion of the then titled Bureau of Investigation. Pliley also explores how the social and political circumstances of the early 20th century resulted in the Bureau of Investigation gradually expanding its interpretation of “any other immoral purpose” to include adultery, consensual sexual relations outside of marriage, punishing interracial relationships, and discouraging promiscuity.
Pliley further describes within Chapter 6 how prosecutions escalated under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover (who saw opportunities to protect America’s moral fiber as well as grow his organization both in size and power). She argues that “ … marriage emerged as the primary institution that the Bureau policed in the 1920s as investigations into marital discord quickly outpaced investigations into interstate prostitution in terms of special agents’ caseloads” (p. 131). Pliley further alleges that Hoover used the newly titled FBI to fight against cultural changes (including shifting gender roles and the rise of sexual liberation) that he saw as threatening to America.
Pliley provides examples of unfairness in the enforcement of the Mann Act throughout the earlier chapters. Although the double standard that shaped how interstate immorality was prosecuted remained following World War II, changing societal values led to the perception of uncoerced sexual activities as victimless crimes. In Chapter 7, she describes how the FBI began to focus upon the actions of offenders toward the victims of sex crimes. Female sexual exploitation in the forms of coerced sex and forced prostitution became focal concerns. However, according to Pliley, these prosecutions were influenced by the male dominated imperatives of the FBI.
The argument that male perceptions of morality dominated the FBI efforts against sex trafficking is reinforced within Chapter 7. Pliley contends that other than benefit the growth of the organization, the FBI’s broad enforcement of the White Slave Traffic Act actually “functioned to criminalize migrating prostitutes while still protecting the rights of men to purchase sex” (p. 206). Within her conclusion, she cautions that “Ultimately, the enforcement of the Mann Act in the early twentieth century offers a cautionary tale about the lingering effects of coverture. Most importantly, laws intended to police sex trafficking rarely benefit those who have been trafficked; instead these laws mark women as bodies to be policed” (p. 209).
In summary, Pliley presents a well-written text that correctly identifies the flaws of 20th century efforts to prevent the exploitation of women. Yes, there was indeed a double standard that ignored male misconduct while too frequently punished female victims (by either ignoring their victimhood or actually prosecuting them for their improprieties). However, that was an earlier era in which women’s rights were too often violated. Although a caution not to recreate previous mistakes, this text should not be used as an excuse to overlook the current horrors of sexual trafficking.