Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 May 3

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May 3

Women trafficked to the harems in the 20th-century

Hello, I have read about slavery in Saudi Arabia and the Trucial states, which ended in the 1960s. One aspect of this was the use of female slaves as concubines in harems, which ocurred until the 1960s. What I wonder about is: were there any European women who fell victims to this slave trade in the 20th-century? That is the period of 1900 until the 1960s, when slavery was abolished.

The text books I read were not very clear: it was noted that European women were the most expensive in the 19th-century, but in the 20th-century the only slave trade described were the Red Sea slave trade. It was briefly mentioned that a small minority of the slaves were European, but only in passing.

Is it known if there were any trafficking of European female slaves to the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, 1940s or 1950s? Perhaps reports of trafficking in European women at the time? Thanks--92.35.238.97 (talk) 00:16, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

From the late 19th century through the 1960s, that would have been called "White Slavery" and was a perennial topic of sensationalistic newpaper headlines and highly fictionalized accounts in pulp men's adventure magazines. Around 1980, I actually read parts of a book (probably published in the 1960s or early 1970s) about "white slavery" in the Arab world, but I have no idea now of the title or author, and it focused more on North Africa than the Gulf. As far as I can remember, many of the cases were about young Western European women who were kind of blackmailed into sex-trafficking. Their situations were sad, but according to the author (who had a definite personality in his writing), many of them had made stupid decisions along the way and/or been cast aside by their families. A big thing in the book was "photo slavery", which has resemblances to today's manipulations of getting someone to send a nude selfie, and using that one to blackmail her into sending even more, but of course without smartphones, and the women didn't take their own photos. I don't think there's anything about it on Wikipedia, and I can't find any way to search for it specifically on Google. AnonMoos (talk) 12:25, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I am aware of that term, and that trafficking was sensationalized, but that was more about victims of the sex trafficking to brothels. I was specifically asking about European women trafficked to harems in the Arabian Peninsula in 1900-1960s, where slavery was in fact still legal at the time, and women were indeed concubines (sex slaves) in the harems at that time period. Slavery was abolished in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 1962, in the Trucial States/United Arab Emirates in 1963, in Oman in 1970, and female sex slaves/concubines were a reality in that region. I am aware that European women were trafficked there historically, but did that still hapen in the 20th-century? --92.35.238.97 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

There was domestic "white slavery" and international "white slavery"; the International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic was aimed at the latter... AnonMoos (talk) 15:52, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I expect that law could be used against it. But it still speak mainly of the illegal sex trafficking to brothels, rather than the chattel slavery to the harems which were still legal in the Arabian Peninsula at the time. Are there any cases known in the 1930s-1960s were it is confirmed that European women were sold to the harems in this time period? --92.35.238.97 (talk) 18:57, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Declining numbers of US lawyers

Since 2020, and for the first time in 100 years, the number of active lawyers in the U.S. has been decreasing: ABA National Lawyer Population Survey. Do we know why? Do we have articles addressing this trend? a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 10:15, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

I would think the pandemic might have something to do with it. 2A00:23C4:79CD:B301:65BA:2E7F:4E84:886 (talk) 11:53, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Why would the number of lawyers decrease during the pandemic? Still, to support your assumption, "from 2022 to 2023, the number of active lawyers counted by the survey rose slightly, by just over 4,000, or three-tenths of one percent" (Source). So it's growing again but:

• The number of lawyers in 2023 is still 1.6% below 2019 (1,352,077),
• It only grew by +0.3% in 2023, which is the second lowest growth rate since 1955 (after +0.1% in 2002 and excluding the 3 years of decline)

I also found that the median real incomes of lawyers have been declining and "Between 2008 and 2019, lawyers’ income share of the national gross domestic product fell from 1.64% to 1.32% because clients purchased lawyers’ services less often.". a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 12:08, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

This may be more related to demographics than anything else. For example, [1] shows that in the UK the number of practising solicitors and barristers over the nine quarters from Q4 2021 to Q4 2023 went down>up>up>down>up>down>up>down. There was a drop of 11,500 (about 1/2 per cent) between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, and from Q1 2022 to Q4 2023 the number rose by 21,900. 2A00:23C4:79CD:B301:65BA:2E7F:4E84:886 (talk) 12:38, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Data since August 2011 shows a linear growth of practising solicitors in England and Wales. However, the process to become a solicitor was reformed and simplified in 2021. Without this reform, what would be the numbers? a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 12:48, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

I don't think you can pin this down specifically. For example, this [2] shows that the number of practising barristers in England and Wales has risen continuously between 2019 and 2023, but this increase represents only 800 individuals. There's an in-depth discussion at [3]. 2A00:23C4:79CD:B301:65BA:2E7F:4E84:886 (talk) 13:05, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Barristers are less than 10% of all UK lawyers (including also trademark & patent attorneys and CILEX lawyers). a455bcd9 (Antoine) (talk) 13:37, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they keep working for a certain ex-president and get disbarred as a result? Chuntuk (talk) 14:42, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Chuntuk, I doubt it; per the ABA, just 2,791 lawyers were publicly disciplined in 2021, and just 479 of them were disbarred. Nyttend (talk) 21:09, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Danish Islands

Is there a collective name, modern or historical, for the Danish Islands between Schleswig and Scania? I'm referring to Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and othe minor islands. Thank you! 195.62.160.60 (talk) 11:54, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Not in English as far as I can tell. Alansplodge (talk) 14:22, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

We got these here: Sydhavsøerne (informal) and South Funen Archipelago. Abductive (reasoning) 20:18, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

The articles on these islands in the Danish Wikipedia do not reveal some collective name that covers all these islands. The article on Denmark itself mentions "the Danish islands" (de danske øer) lying between Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, but this descriptive name is IMO not meant to be a proper noun. Clearly, North Jutlandic Island, not lying between these sea areas, is also a Danish island.  --Lambiam 20:57, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

The term "Danish Archipelago" seems to have been invented in the lede of our article Geography of Denmark, and was marked as 'citation needed' a year ago. It's evidently not official or (from a web search) widely used, so "referred^{[citation needed]} to as the Danish Archipelago" should probably be deleted. Many English speakers familiar with Denmark would probably understand what it referred to, but others might confuse it with the Danish Wadden Sea Islands. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 188.220.144.58 (talk) 07:22, 4 May 2024 (UTC)