WHITE SLAVERY IS AN ARCHAIC TERM

On September 7, 1968, the day after I turned eighteen I left the States and flew to Europe. All I cared about was experiencing adventure and I was stupid and blind to any potential danger. I was met in Luxembourg by my boyfriend, a Swiss guy who had already traveled in India for a year and a half. We hitchhiked down through Italy and caught a boat to Greece and then another to Istanbul. From there we traveled by trains and local buses—think bleating goats and squawking chickens as fellow passengers. We made it all the way to India. (I am writing a memoir about this trip so stay tuned!)

During the ten months I traveled to, throughout, and back from India was the first time I heard the term “white slavery.” Girls I met along the way told me that I should be careful because white slavers were after hippie girls. Of course I wasn’t careful one bit, but thankfully I didn’t get swept into the ugly net of traffickers.

Years later I became interested in the subject when I decided to switch careers and become a writer. It was then that I learned that “white slavery” was an archaic term. It was used by the early American feminist Emma Goldman who wrote about the evils of white slavery but it no longer applied.

Not all trafficked women are white. But all trafficked women are slaves.