IN 1911, THE FEMINIST JOURNALIST and activist Arria Ly generated extensive controversy in the French national press with the publication of her article "Vive 'Mademoiselle!'" Ly's piece quickly became the subject of public opinion surveys in a Toulousain and a Parisian newspaper, and her argument ultimately confirmed many commentators' belief in the sexual and political dangers posed to French society by the women's movement. At the crux of the debate was Ly's suggestion in "Vive 'Mademoiselle'!" that a new class of single, professional women practice permanent sexual abstinence and adopt the title "Mademoiselle" as an exalted expression of the "purity, independence, and ...