Summary Of The Girls Who Went Away By Mary Odem

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You Choose What Everyone Wants You To Women have played a significant public and private role in controlling female morality, behavior, and reputation. The influence of women stretched far beyond the household. It wasn’t just mothers trying to be role models for their daughters, there were groups of women who made strong normative claims regarding how younger women should act. They set out in groups with agendas and resources, with their main focus being controlling the sexual behavior of female youth. In Delinquent Daughters, Mary Odem explains how women played a significant role in controlling female behavior and reputation. Where reformers decided to take on the responsibility of examine the lifestyles of the female youth, in order to determine what the root of their delinquent behavior was. In The Girls Who Went Away, Ann Fessier discusses the stories of women who had to surrender their babies and how this played a significant role in controlling and shaping female morality. …show more content…

The college-educated women were some of the women that were involved in the progressive movement. They viewed the sexual activity of young women in a different way than what was the common understanding in the Victorian era. Young women who participated in illicit encounters were considered to be delinquents, and were in need of guidance and control. This is the reputation that would be given to young women by the progressive reformers. The young women who engaged in sexual acts weren’t viewed as people who were acting out of passion, but as troubled delinquents who were in the need of

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