We Were Dangerous

6/25/2025

No matter what anyone might suggest to the contrary, generally speaking, girls will be girls, especially during those often-turbulent, rebellious adolescent years. What’s more, attempts at implementing “correction” are frequently frustrating and unsuccessful for those undertaking such efforts, an outcome that was usually just as true in the past as it is today. Such was the case in 1954 New Zealand, where a dozen social and sexual “deviants” were confined at the government-sponsored Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls. The facility, located on a remote island that was once a leper colony and home to assorted misfits and undesirables, was established out of the alleged genuine concern of the state to help rehabilitate the behavior of young women gone astray with the aim of