THE FRUIT THAT HANGS HIGHEST - COURTSHIP AND CHAPERONAGE IN NEW-YORK HIGH SOCIETY, 1880-1920

Strict rules of chaperonage were introduced into U.S. society in the 1 880s. They were considered to have taken a firm hold by 1900, but by t he 1920s, not even chaperonage of engaged couples was deemed necessary . Focusing on New York's high society, this study looks at how the rep resentation of chaperonage in etiquette discourse intersected with the shaping of gender and class relations and with the construction of a national identity. More specifically it considers how chaperons were c onceptualized as protective shields designed to police the sexuality o f young, unmarried women while, at the same time, chaperonage contribu ted to the modernizing forces that brought about its own abandonment.