From Turkey Trot to Twitter: Policing Puberty, Purity, and Sex Positivity

48 Pages Posted: 14 May 2014

See all articles by Mae C. Quinn

Mae C. Quinn

Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law

Date Written: May 12, 2014

Abstract

From outward appearance, to physical presence, to intimate communications and engagements, young people have continually faced familial, community-based, and state-sponsored management of their most basic day-to-day actions and interactions. This obsession with policing puberty has, at times, reached the level of panic. This article seeks to examine this recurring phenomenon and suggests that adults find more productive ways to grapple with the teen identity formation process in this country.

It focuses on one particularly powerful panic-producing intersection of adolescence with American life – young girls and the big city. It describes reform efforts that took place in emerging urban centers at the turn of the last century, comparing them to the policing strategies that are taking place in our newest metropolis – the internet.

In doing so this article analyzes how the state has repeatedly worked to proscribe and prosecute a wide range of popular adolescent activities in the name of protecting youth from the dangers of modern life. It further argues that instead of providing a sense of security for young girls, such punitive actions often have sent mixed messages about intimacy and sexuality, discounted youthful and female agency, and unnecessarily attempted to prevent social change. In the end this article argues we should take some lessons from the failed efforts of the Progressive Era and respond differently to adolescent girls’ identity exploration in the 21st century.

Keywords: mae, quinn, mae quinn, mae c. quinn, juvenile law, juvenile justice, adolescent development

Suggested Citation

Quinn, Mae C., From Turkey Trot to Twitter: Policing Puberty, Purity, and Sex Positivity (May 12, 2014). New York University Review of Law & Social Change, Vol. 38, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2436192

Mae C. Quinn (Contact Author)

Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law ( email )

150 S College St
Carlisle, PA 17013
United States

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