"White Slavery" and Cabarets: Mexican Artists in Panama in the 1940s

Abstract:This article examines a story that appeared in various Mexican newspapers and magazines from 1940 to 1943: Mexican dancers were being taken to the Panama Canal Zone not only to work in cabaret shows but also to offer sexual services to US military men. Using this case study, this article shows that discourses of "trafficking" were as much about the transnational entertainment industry as they were about the sex industry. Policy makers, who viewed with suspicion venues that employed women and offered alcohol, music, and variety performances, often attempted to regulate the social and sexual interactions that happened inside, particularly when they attracted people from different social classes, races, and ethnicities. These regulations would also define which women were victims and which ones were responsible for their own situation.