Innocent Victims or Vile Women? Kansas and the Age-of-Consent Reform Campaign, 1885-1920.

The article focuses on the campaign to reform age-of-consent laws in Kansas from 1885 to 1920, situating it within the broader national movement sparked by British journalist William Stead’s 1885 exposé on child prostitution. Kansas was the first U.S. state to raise the legal female age of consent to eighteen in 1887, a milestone achieved through the efforts of reform-minded Republicans, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and a growing number of Populist Party reform editors, including many women journalists. The campaign faced significant backlash in 1889 when the Kansas Senate attempted to lower the age to twelve, provoking widespread public opposition and a continuing reform effort that combined conciliatory and strident tactics. The article highlights the complex interplay of gender, class, race, politics, and ideology in the Kansas campaign, noting its influence on the national movement and its nuanced understanding of issues such as justice, dignity, and equality for girls and young women.