New Conscience and an Ancient Evil

Published in 1912 on the heels of Twenty Years at HullHouse and at the heightof Jane Addamss popularity A <strong>New Conscience and an Ancient Evil</strong> as... » 

Published in 1912 on the heels of Twenty Years at HullHouse and at the heightof Jane Addamss popularity A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil assesses thevulnerability of the rural and immigrant workingclass girls who moved toChicago and fell prey to the sexual bartering of what was known as the whiteslave trade.Addams offers lurid accounts drawn from the records of Chicagos JuvenileProtection Association of young women coerced into lives of prostitution bymen who lurked outside hotels and sweatshops. Because they lacked funds forproper recreation Addams argues poor and socially marginalized women weresusceptible to sexual slavery and without radical social change they wouldperhaps be almost as free as young men. In addition to promoting higher wagesand better living conditions Addams suggests that a longer period of publiceducation for young women would deter them from the dangers of city life.Despite its appeal to middleclass readers eager for tales of sexual excess andthe rape of innocence the press and prominent intellectuals criticized A NewConscience and an Ancient Evil for being disproportionately hysterical to itsphilosophical weight.Katherine Joslins introduction considers the controversial reactions to thebook and the circumstances of its publication. Behind the sensationalism of thenarratives Joslin locates themes including the commodification of sex and theimportance of marriage for young women. «