Thus, the State today provides a mechanism for reproducing the 'double standard' of sexuality and, therefore, masculine control of female adolescent sexuality. The feminist movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century was involved in a number of moral reforms, particularly an attack on prostitution. Feminists eventually joined in a coalition with the conservative social purity movement to raise the age of sexual consent in an effort to protect young females from allegedly being forced into prostitution through what was called the 'white slave traffic.' However, the final result was not a decrease in the sexual exploitation of young females. Instead, working-class females were denied the right to engage in heterosexual activity when they pleased. The result was the creation of a new class of female offenders, the teenage sex 'delinquents.' Thus, reformist feminist energies were eventually channeled into a conservative and morally repressive movement that expanded State agencies for social control and left unchanged the causes of women's economic and sexual exploitation. Notes and 44 references.