Policing Sexuality: The Mann Act and the Making of the FBI

304 Pages·2014·1.714 MB·English

by  Jessica R. Pliley

POLICING SEXUALITY
Local White Slave Offi cer Badge of William T. Jackson, Jr., Jackson Family
Papers, WH1017, Western History Collection, Th e Denver Public Library,
Denver, Colorado.
P O L I C I N G S E X UA L I T Y
The Mann Act and the Making of the FBI
Jessica R. Pliley
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, En gland ◆ 2014
Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Pliley, Jessica R., 1977–
Policing sexuality : the Mann Act and the making of the FBI / Jessica R. Pliley.
page cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 36811- 8 (alk. paper)
1. Prostitution— United States— History—20th century. 2. Human traffi cking—
United States— History—20th century. 3. United States. Federal Bureau of
Investigation— History. 4. Vice control— United States— History—20th century.
5. United States— Moral conditions— History—20th century. I. Title.
HQ125.U6P62 2014
364.15'3409730904—dc23 2014007800
For my mother, Toni Lynn Staffi eri, 1953– 2013

Contents
Introduction 1
Th e Mann Act and Federal Sexual Surveillance
1 Th e American Myth of White Slavery 9
2 A National White Slavery Squad 32
3 Endangered Daughters 60
4 Creating a Moral Quarantine 84
5 Defi ning Immoral Purposes 106
6 Policing Seduction and Adultery 131
7 Coerced Sex and Forced Prostitution 159
8 Th e FBI’s Assault on Sex Traffi cking 183
Conclusion 207
Can the Country’s Moral Borders Be Policed?
Note on Sources 219
Notes 221
Ac know ledg ments 277
Index 281

POLICING SEXUALITY