This first chapter introduces the book’s central aim: to challenge dominant narratives of human trafficking by centring the often-overlooked voices of female traffickers. It highlights how existing knowledge is largely shaped within institutional frameworks focused on victim assistance, where undocumented migrants are frequently encouraged to adopt narratives of vulnerability to meet state expectations and avoid deportation. This process reinforces a rigid binary between “naïve victims” and “ruthless criminals”—a framing that, while seemingly apolitical, carries deeply embedded sexualised, gendered, and racialised assumptions about trafficking actors. The chapter sets the scene by examining the current legal framework on human trafficking in Italy, highlighting how it permits only certain narratives to emerge from participants. The chapter concludes by outlining the book’s structure and establishing a foundation for its critical examination of trafficking, gender, and the criminalisation of migration.