Publication Date
7-16-2022
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Volume
21
Issue
3
DOI
10.1017/S1537781422000147
First Page
201
Last Page
220
Abstract
Young women growing up in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era increasingly found their relationships subject to scrutiny as doctors, parents, teachers, and school administrators began to worry about the so-called abnormal girl. Attempts to suppress the culture of crushes and romantic friendships between young women reflected these larger cultural anxieties about their relationships. But, as notions of normative girlhood began to form, this intense scrutiny of their relationships had a significant impact on their everyday lives. The young women who were navigating this scientific and cultural shift developed a range of innovative strategies from subversively concealing their relationships to boldly pursuing their queer desires.
Keywords
History of gender and sexuality, LGBTQ history, Progressive Era, Queer history, Women’s history
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Department
History
Recommended Citation
Wendy L. Rouse. "“A Very Crushable, Kissable Girl": Queer Love and the Invention of the Abnormal Girl Among College Women in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era" Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2022): 201-220. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781422000147
