Wild Women in Jazz Age Odessa and New York: Sex, Crime, Jews, and Gender in the Global 1920s.

This article examines the concept of "wildness" as a category used to interpret and control perceived moral disorder in urban settings, focusing on a comparative analysis of early communist Odessa (Odesa) and capitalist New York City during the 1920s. It explores how moral campaigns in both cities targeted behaviors related to sex, crime, gender, and ethnicity—especially among East European Jewish women—highlighting shared anxieties despite differing political and social systems. The study emphasizes the ambiguous and complex nature of wildness, which encompassed both defiance and vulnerability, and challenges simplistic binaries by considering the lived experiences and self-narratives of those labeled wild, including queer individuals and women involved in sex work and underground economies. Ultimately, the article situates these stories within broader global and local histories of social control, cultural change, and the contested meanings of morality and freedom in a period of rapid urban and social transformation.