How and why did activism against the exploitation of youth in the sex trade emerge when it did, and what were the roots of this activism? Who were the leaders of these campaigns, and what were their backgrounds? How did they frame the causes and solutions to the problem, and what strategies did they use to fight the abuse of youth in the sex trade? How did ideologically diverse activists interact with each other? How did the movement leverage the anti-trafficking framework to advance their cause? What assumptions about childhood, especially girlhood, undergirded the legal treatment of sexually active minors, particularly those with experiences in the sex trade, and how did the movement against the youth sex trade challenge these assumptions, or not? How were gender, race and class mobilized implicitly or explicitly in the movement? How have public discourses and media portrayed youth in the sex trade over time? What have been the impacts of the movement and critiques of it?