The Victorian Sex Trafficking Panic

The Victorian Sex Trafficking Panic

From Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society by History Hit

March 31, 2026 · 47 min · Episode 412

About this episode

This episode explores the Victorian sex trafficking panic and the concept of 'white slavery' with historian Dr Julia Laite.

Was there really a boom in sex trafficking at the end of the 19th century? What was 'white slavery'? And how often did the traffickers get caught? Kate is joined by Dr Julia Laite for this episode. Julia is a historian at Birkbeck, University of London, and the author of 'The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey'. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe .   You can take part in our listener survey here . All music from Epidemic Sounds. Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Kate

Guest: Dr Julia Laite

Topics covered

  • Victorian era
  • sex trafficking
  • white slavery
  • history
  • scandal
  • society

Keywords

  • Victorian
  • sex trafficking
  • white slavery
  • history
  • 19th century
  • scandal
  • society

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Birkbeck, University of London, History Hit, Epidemic Sounds

Books & works: The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey

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