A brightly coloured illustration from 1913 for the film 'Traffic in Souls'. A woman in a white dress and black hat tries to open the door of the room she is trapped inside. Behind her is a man in a blue suit with a moustache and brown skin, as well as another frightened looking white woman in a green dress.

Traffic in Souls (1913) directed by George Loane Tucker (1872-1921)

By the early 1900s concerns about trafficking resurfaced. The very first first feature-length film distributed by Universal Pictures after the studio was founded in 1913 is about trafficking, called Traffic in Souls. Concerns about trafficking grew into a global moral panic, centered around the the increasing mobility of young working class women who were leaving home more than they ever had before, and migrating to cities to make better lives for themselves.

Campaigners claimed they wanted to protect these women from encountering sexual exploitation both as workers in the illicit industries of the city, but also as people selling sex. But the legistation during those years told a different story, and there emerged another clash between an ideological approach and the writing and implementation of the law.