Race, Redemption, and Reform: The Interplay of Eugenics, Antisemitism, and Feminist Anti-Trafficking Efforts in Early Twentieth-Century Italy

This paper considers a series of medical congresses, abolitionist networks, and eugenic debates, and the intertwining of scientific and feminist knowledge in tackling prostitution and trafficking from 1899-1921. It argues that western male civilizational and racialized assumptions profoundly influenced the ideas of gender and international relations in international law-making at the beginning of the 20th century. The article retraces genealogies of feminist approaches to international law based on criminalized and sanitized understandings of gender violence, sexual rights, and justice for women.