The "Girl Problem": Female Sexual Delinquency in New York, 1900-1930

Alexander, Ruth M.

ISBN 10: 0801428211 / ISBN 13: 9780801428210

Published by Cornell Univ Pr (edition First Edition), 1995

About this Item

It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience.

Seller Inventory # 0801428211-11-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The "Girl Problem": Female Sexual Delinquency in New York, 1900-1930
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr (edition First Edition)
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801428211
• ISBN 13: 9780801428210
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

During the Progressive Era, young working-class women were sometimes jailed for engaging in social and sexual activities that signaled their rejection of Victorian moral standards. These disadvantaged "delinquents" were subject to legal sanctions that were rarely applied to rebellious middle-class girls. As she traces the history of a social crisis that came to be known as the "girl problem," Ruth M. Alexander reconstructs the stories of individual women incarcerated in reformatories who helped redefine female adolescence in the United States.
Alexander draws on the rich case files of reformatories at Bedford Hills and Albion, New York. Bringing together writings by the young inmates, letters from their parents, and institutional records, she follows the histories of a hundred girls as they run afoul of the law, are incarcerated, and struggle to reenter society. From the interplay among girls, families, courts, and penal institutions emerges a fascinating picture of class inequality and culture conflict. Alexander finds that most delinquent young women eventually accepted the idea that freedom was best won by conformity and accommodation.
In showing how a new social problem was identified and tackled, Alexander also documents the emergence of the modern professions of social work and mental hygiene. Reenacting a key chapter in the transformation of adolescence, The "Girl Problem" contributes to the history of sexuality and social reform through the Progressive Era and beyond.

About the Author

Ruth M. Alexander is Associate Professor of History at Colorado State University.