Gender

Question 1

Key Stats

Answer 1

In 2012 men made up 86% of all crime.

Men made up 95% of the prison population.

Question 2

Validity of statistics

Answer 2

The statistics regarding gender and crime are official stats so they are said to lack validity, they lack validity because of the dark figure of crime such as problems including crimes not being recorded/reported/police digression.

Question 3

Hedisohn gives 4 reasons why women are ignored in research

Answer 3

Male dominance of offenders - appropriate to study the majority.
Male dominance of sociology - Reflect the male view and interests.
Vicarious Identification - What interests males is studied.
Sociological Theorising- Constructs theories without looking at female differences they are “gender blind” ignore women.

She is highly critical of male dominance and she used the term males stream.

Question 4

Lombroso

Answer 4

Argued men and women are biologically different, men are “naturally aggressive”

Question 5

Dalton

Answer 5

Claimed that hormonal factors such as PMS can influence the minority of women to commit crime, this is why in Canada a women got manslaughter and not murder charges.

Question 6

Moir and Jessel

Answer 6

States that its the hormonal imbalances in men that male them more criminal such as testosterone, but are they treated more leniently because of this? They stated “The male mind wheather the reason of evolution or something else- is wired and fuled to be more criminal”

Question 7

Sex-role theory

Answer 7

It states that women are brought up passive and conformist so less limey to commit crimes. It looked at how gender is socially constricted though socialisation and how women are more controlled.

Question 8

Wallum

Answer 8

Argued that babies are handled differently depending on gender by parents. Conducted experiment using pink/blue clothes. “blue boys”rough and tough and “pink girls” more protective.

Question 9

Bedroom culture

Answer 9

Women are less like to commit crimes due to bedroom culture, boys spend more time outside so more exposed to crime and girls spend more time indoors.

Question 10

Lack of opportunities

Answer 10

Women have a lack of opportunities to commit crime dues to domestic roles they are too busy, and a patriarchal society means than women don’t have the “opportunity” to commit crimes such as fraud because they aren’t in that position of power.

Question 11

Smart

Answer 11

Founded the term transgressive criminology meaning criminology itself is a discipline tied to males, she stated instead of feminist arguing for female criminology they should be arguing what can it do. why are women the bulk of certain crimes?

Question 12

Chivalry factor

Answer 12

Some argue women are in fact more deviant that appear in the crime stats they are protected by the police and courts by the “chivalry factor”

Question 13

Leonard

Answer 13

challenged this pointing out that actually in serious crimes women are often treated much more harshly.

Question 14

Westwood

Answer 14

Suggests that females identities are changing and now adopting a more male behaviour pattens this is why there is a increase in female crimes recently.

Question 15

Messershmitt

Answer 15

argues that there is a “normative masculinity” which is highly valued by men which they have to constantly work at, he notes some crimes such as rape is used to express power over women.
Business men- Power over women at work but if they have no power more likley to abuse through domestic violence.

Question 16

Middle/working class boys

Answer 16

MC- have “accommodating masculinity” in school and “oppositional” outside.
WC- Have oppositional all the time and more aggressive

Question 17

Cambell

Answer 17

argues that some men seek compensation for lack of bread winner status though aggressive masculinity.

Question 18

Katz

Answer 18

On the other had states that they commit crime for enjoyment and some working class boys feel like they have nothing else for fun.

Question 19

Stats about crime on women

Answer 19

Large proportion of crimes on females are conducted by males- 90% of violent crimes on women are conducted in the home ironically where females should feel safest. Women may not report them because they feel embarrassed or emotionally attached.

Question 20

Brownmiller

Answer 20

Argues that rape is part of a system that keeps women in fear as 1/20 have been raped this is used to constrain women from taking part in social activities.

Question 21

Stanko

Answer 21

Suggest that women have to restrict their behaviour by ensuring that they are not too provocative in behaviour/appearance. This shows that there is a sexual objectification of women in society.

Question 22

Media

Answer 22

Feminists argue that sexually explicit representation of women in the media e.g. tabloid. renders all women potentially unsafe since they encourage a predatory attitude amongst men.