Sexual Reckonings: Southern Girls in a Troubling Age

384 Pages·2007·1.26 MB·English

by  Susan K. Cahn

Sexual Reckonings
Southern Girls in a Troubling Age
Susan K. Cahn
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
2007
Copyright©2007bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
InChapter9,lyricsfromthesong“MyBoyElvis,”writtenby
AaronSchroeder,a/k/aDocRockingham,andClaudeDeMetruis,
a/k/aVirginiaFitting,publishedbyRachel’sOwnMusic,
administeredbyA.SchroederInternationalLLC,are
usedbypermission,InternationalCopyrightSecured.
“MyBoyElvis,”byDocRockinghamandVirginiaFitting,
©1956(Renewed)UnichappellMusicInc.andRachel’sOwnMusic.
LyricsReprintedbyPermissionofAlfredPublishingCo.,Inc.
“SingleGirl,MarriedGirl”byA.P.Carter
©1927byPeerInternationalCorporation.CopyrightRenewed.
InternationalCopyrightSecured.UsedbyPermission.AllRightsReserved.
DesignedbyGwenNefskyFrankfeldt
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Cahn,SusanK.
Sexualreckonings : southerngirlsinatroublingage / SusanK.Cahn.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-674-02452-6(alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-674-02452-4(alk.paper)
1.Teenagegirls,White—SouthernStates—Socialconditions.
2.Teenagegirls,White—SouthernStates—Sexualbehavior.
3.AfricanAmericanteenagegirls—SouthernStates—Socialconditions.
4.AfricanAmericanteenagegirls—SouthernStates—Sexualbehavior.
5.AfricanAmericans—Segregation—SouthernStates.
6.Dating(Socialcustoms)—SouthernStates.
7.Interracialdating—SouthernStates.
8.Schoolintegration—SouthernStates.
9.SouthernStates—Sociallifeandcustoms.
10.SouthernStates—Racerelations. I.Title.
HQ798.C24 2007
306.70835′209750904—dc22
2006102565
To Emily,
whose insights made completing this book possible, and
To Tandy,
who makes all things possible

Introduction: Scarlett Redux 1
1
“Holding Excitement in Their Hands”
TheSouthern“GirlProblem” 16
2
Spirited Youth or Fiends Incarnate? 43
3
“Just as Much a Menace”: Race and Sex Delinquency 68
4
“A Head Full of Diamonds”
Fact,Fiction,andAfricanAmericanGirls’Sexuality 98
5
“Living in Hopes”: An Economy of Desire 129
6
Sex, Science, and Eugenic Sterilization 156
7
The World War II Pickup Girl and Wartime Passions 181
8
School Days
Reading,’Riting,’Rithmetic,andRomance 211
9
Would Jesus Dance?
TheDangerousRhythmsofRock’n’Roll 241
10
The Sexual Paradox of High School Desegregation 269
Conclusion: Sex, Memory, and the Segregated Past 304
Notes 317
Acknowledgments 359
Index 363

introduction
n December 15, 1939, the Atlanta School Board ordered all
schools to close at one o’clock and the city government encouraged
area businesses to do the same, so that Atlanta residents of all ages
might participate in festivities surrounding the opening of the movie
Gone with the Wind. Many would line the streets and cheer as the pa-
rade of celebrities passed by in the grand march to the Gone with the
Wind ball. If lucky, some would be among the two thousand people
who packed into Loew’s Grand Theater for the show’s opening night
while a throng of thousands jammed their way toward the theater to
catch a glimpse of Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, other cast members, di-
rector David O. Selznick, and the many political officials, Hollywood
figures, and members of Atlanta “society” invited to the film’s debut.1
Or possibly, some formed part of the “volunteer corps of 200 negro
[sic] servants” costumed in period dress, marshaled by the city to clear
the stage after the hour-long program and prepare the area for the
dance that followed.2 The appearance of “voluntary” servants—slaves,
in their historical role—revisited the myth of racial harmony between
“good” blacks and whites in the years surrounding the Civil War, an
image that Atlanta officials surely intended to project for present-day
Atlanta as well. Mayor William Hartsfield had wrested the rights to
the film’s opening night from New York City, flexing all his political
muscle to ensure that his city would host the movie of Margaret