| Abstrakt: |
Between 1900 and 1918, New Zealand sent its least cooperative girls and young women into a single state-run reformatory. Te Oranga's inmates included girls raised in industrial schools, thieving domestic servants, and sexually active adolescents. Using a collective biography approach, this study examines these "incorrigible girls" to test their negative portrayal in contemporary reporting. Comparing girls' life courses shows little difference in either precipitating factors or life outcomes. This research suggests that the moral panic about youthful sexual activity exaggerated the social dangers and that girls grew out of their troublesome tendencies during lengthy preventative detention rather than being reformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
