Bad Bridget: Irish immigrant women and perceived sexual immorality in North America, 1838-1918

Dr Leanne McCormick (Ulster University) & Dr Elaine Farrell (Queen's University Belfast), AHRC-funded Bad Bridget: criminal and deviant Irishwomen in North America, 1838-1918 Project Investigators

Synopsis
This paper will consider the experiences of Irish women in the North American cities of Boston, New York and Toronto who were considered to be sexually immoral in their behaviour.  It will contend that rather than the innocent, sexually pure Irish women that the traditional historiography presented, Irish women abroad, like Irish women at home, were engaged in a range of activities often perceived as immoral or deviant.