Feminist Criminology Flashcards
1
Q
Feminist criminology
A
- examine issues of power and socioeconomic inequality in relation to gender
→ differential treatment according to the social positions of groups
→ study how these factors affect the behaviour of those labelled as offenders and victims
→ study now these factors affect people’s interactions with the criminal Justice system - marginalization of women in criminology (mainstream criminology focused on the study of crime among men)
2
Q
Second wave feminism (women’s liberation movement)
A
- Denounced the oppression of women
- demands: equal pay, education/job opportunities, contraception and abortion (sexual liberation), end to discrimination towards lesbians, end to violence/sexual coercion against women
3
Q
Third wave feminism
A
- Critique of white heteronormative (white heterosexuals as the “correct” or “default” way of life) and middle-class feminism
- intersectionality; the idea that multiple oppressed identities (race, class, gender) interact to create overlapping systems of disadvantage
- more complex understanding of gender and sexuality
4
Q
Sex
A
Biological classification based on genes (sex chromosomes) and genital characteristics at birth
5
Q
Gender
A
Social (historical and cultural) construct based on behaviour and self-identity
→ previously thought to line up naturally with biological sex ( “straight mind”)
6
Q
How do gender relations shape social life
A
- Asymmetrical; men’s superiority and dominance over other genders
- production of knowledge is gendered
7
Q
Judith Butler
A
- gender as performativity; conscious and unconscious micro-behaviours that create and reinforce notions of gender
→ power and authority condition how performativity is perceived - gender performativity is independent of biological sex
8
Q
Gender inequality
A
- Affects the legal and Criminal Justice System
- male dominance considered a social norm; “hidden” victimization of women
- marginalization and inequality are institutionalized
- gender criteria shapes patterns of offences and victimization
9
Q
Sexualization of crime
A
- Criminal Justice system dealing with women based on stereotypes and prejudices about gender
→ socially constructed notions and expectations about femininity
→ treatment of women conditioned by perceived sexual and social behaviour
10
Q
Transformation and social empowerment
A
- Confronting male dominance in criminology and in the Criminal Justice system
- goal is to achieve political, economic, and social equality
- reformation of laws; anti-sexist training, gender-specific services, more resources for welfare support and social policies
11
Q
Feminist criminology
A
- Analyzes the unequal position of women, crimes committed against women, and the sociopolitical status of women who are offenders
→ crimes against or involving women through the lenses of systemic oppression, gender discrimination, and socioeconomic dependence upon men - criticized the lack of study about women in mainstream criminology
→ neglect of female scholars, focus on male offenders, knowledge and theories based on the male perspective/male gaze (does not apply to women) - male staff dominate the CJS
- absence or marginalization of women in criminal statistics
→ less crimes committed and less serious/violent crimes
12
Q
Female offenders
A
- Mainstream criminology framed female crime as a distinct social phenomenon
→ biological and psychological (socialization) reductionism
13
Q
Female offenders— biological theories
A
- Biological imperative: biological sex dictates the appropriate social behaviour
→ crime explained by innate characteristics linked to female biology (determinism) - assumption that female nature is adverse to crime
→ femininity, sensibility, passivity, avoiding aggression and violence
→ female offenders seen as exhibiting masculine traits; socially and biologically deviant - assumptions about psychological differences between sexes
→ women can conceal their offending behaviour (manipulative, deceitful)
→ hormonal imbalance as explanations for offending
14
Q
Female offenders— socialization theories
A
- Assumptions about appropriate gender roles (considered natural)
- inadequate socialization (problem of learning/adjusting to the proper role); transgression of the appropriate behaviour for one’s sex
→ if poorly socialized women are susceptible to male manipulation (results in sexual deviance and sex-related offences such as sex work)
→ desire for acceptance and approval from men and society
→ the ability to manipulate through sexuality - delinquency as acting out against the gender role (reject/revolt)
→ assumption that a woman’s natural role is passive and in need of affection - disconnection
→ absence of love can produce instability based on the idea that emotionality is an inherent feature of women
15
Q
Feminist responses
A
- critiqued mainstream theories
- double standard (differential treatment)
→ assumes social role is fixed and is dependent on biological sex
→ deviance as maladjustment to stereotypical femininity and not fitting into the “natural” feminine norms
→ law and criminalization reinforces/reproduces the structural inequalities/biases of gender (eg. Laws that allowed domestic violence) - wanted to examine female offending within the social, economic, and political context rather than biological or psychological determinism
