The white slave trade affair (1880-1881) :
a scandal specific to Brussels?
Notes de la rédaction
This is the press release related to the article from Jean-Michel Chaumont, published January the 24th, 2010. Read the article.
For almost two years – between January 1880 and July 1881 – Brussels was accused by certain newspapers – British for the most part – of being the headquarters of an abominable moral scandal referred to as ‘the white slave trade affair’: underage British girls had been ‘imported’ to work in brothels; one of them against her will.
In the 46th issue of Brussels Studies, Jean-Michel Chaumont (UCL) examines the origins and characteristics of this scandal, which led to the dismissal of a police commissioner and the resignation of the mayor of Brussels.
In a context of the extreme regulation of prostitution based on the encouragement of brothels, whereby the municipal police had the upper hand on the management of prostitutes and the main objective of the authorities was to control this necessary evil in order to avoid jeopardising public health and public order, could the emergence of an objective alliance between brothel keepers and police officers have been avoided? Is it not true that corruption, collusion and complicity are the logical result of the implementation of a system in which prostitutes are the predetermined victims? These are some of the questions asked by the author. It therefore appears that – far from being specific to Brussels – this situation was characteristic of a certain type of regulation of prostitution which existed in Belgium and in many other countries.
This chapter in the history of Brussels is little known today, yet for several decades it deeply influenced the way prostitution was dealt with at international level as well as the abolitionist movements.
References
Chaumont, Jean-Michel, “The white slave trade affair (1880-1881) :
a scandal specific to Brussels?”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 46, January the 24th 2010. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/838
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be