Guardians of Virtue: The Social Reformers and the “Girl Problem,” 1890‐1920

Responding to escalating rates of divorce, illegitimacy, and prostitution, the Progressive Era ushered in a wave of cultural anxiety concerning sexual morality. Progressive reformers implemented a variety of state interventions to monitor and correct sexual “misconduct” among working‐class and immigrant young women. This article focuses on the leading social reformers from Chicago's Hull House Settlement and investigates their paradoxical thinking concerning the “girl problem.” Primary source analysis reveals that the social reformers' stance as “guardians of virtue” for working‐class young women's sexuality was integrally tied to larger concerns about human welfare and progress in twentieth‐century industrial America.