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Mann Act

A Boston police car | @CambridgePolice/X

Sex Work

Cambridge Brothel Case: What's the Point?

Abandoning the "sex slave" narrative exposes the hollowness at the center of cases like this.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 4.9.2025 11:55 AM

Elizabeth Nolan Brown comments on Sean Diddy Combs | Lex Villena; Javier Rojas/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Sex Crimes

Get Your Gross Sex Out of My Sick Politics!

Plus: "Black Nazi,” Oprah interviews Kamala, and yet another looming government shutdown.

Matt Welch, Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, and Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.23.2024 5:10 PM

Combs at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards | Image Press Agency/Sipa USA/Newscom

Sex Trafficking

Decoding the Sex Trafficking Case Against Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Diddy’s indictment turns the typical sex trafficking charge on its head.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.18.2024 12:53 PM

Large image on homepages | Columbia

Sports

When the Censors Came for Jack Johnson's Fight Films

Friday A/V Club: The boxer who just got a posthumous presidential pardon was a central figure in one of the first battles over movie censorship.

Jesse Walker | 5.25.2018 12:40 PM

Large image on homepages

Mann Act

Pardon Jack Johnson

The White Slavery Panic of the late 19th/early 20th centuries caused Congress to pass the vaguely-worded Mann Act. It allowed the FBI and prosecutors broad discretion to go after individuals they didn't like.

Gail Heriot |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.25.2018 8:07 AM

Large image on homepages | Gregory Baldwin IKON Images/Newscom

FOSTA

Posting or Hosting Sex Ads Could Mean 25 Years in Federal Prison Under New Republican Proposal

A related measure would open digital platforms to liability for past crimes committed by users.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 12.11.2017 3:55 PM

Large image on homepages | FRANCK LODI/SIPA/Newscom

Sex Crimes

No Bail for Wisconsin Cop Nabbed for Sex Chat With Teen

Snapchat and Facebook exchanges with a 15-year-old have Wisconsin officer Basil O'Kimosh facing life in prison.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 11.8.2017 1:55 PM

Large image on homepages | Screenshot/FBI footage on YouTube

Operation Cross Country

Feds 'Rescue' Women from Freedom and Money in 11th 'Operation Cross Country'

Hear from the real victims of this cruel FBI charade.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.18.2017 11:25 AM

Large image for longform feature pages. | FBI's Operation Cross Country

Operation Cross Country

American Sex Police

With sweeping "sex trafficking stings," the FBI returns to its roots as the nation's vice squad.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.14.2017 6:00 AM

Large image on homepages

Policy

The War on Sex Trafficking Is the New War on Drugs

And the results will be just as disastrous, for "perpetrators" and "victims" alike.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.30.2015 6:00 AM

Large image on homepages | Julia Haner/MySpace

Civil Liberties

Teen Recruits Friend for Sex Work With Her, Gets Slapped With Federal Sex-Trafficking Charges

Another reminder who really gets targeted under U.S. sex trafficking statutes.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 6.16.2015 12:28 PM

Large image on homepages | cc

Politics

Sex Slaves and the Surveillance State

Why 'human trafficking' is a dangerous term

Thaddeus Russell | 4.22.2014 10:00 AM

Policy

The Trouble with Richard Hofstadter

Prostitution panics and the paranoid style

Jesse Walker | 8.26.2013 10:45 AM

Politics

Remembering The Mann Act or, How Prostitution Killed The Constitution

Nick Gillespie | 9.15.2010 2:27 PM

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