gender and crime Flashcards
Postmodernity, masculinity and crime
Winlow
-conducted a study of bouncers in Sunderland
-Working as a bouncer gave young men paid work, the opportunity for illegal business, ventures, like drugs, and being able to express their masculinity through violence
-He knows that in modern society, there has always been a violent conflict subculture in Sunderland, in which ‘hard men’ earned through their violent ability
-But the absence of a professional criminal subculture meant little opportunity for a career in organised crime
Messerschmidt- white m/c youth
-they subordinate themselves to teachers to get middle-class status (accommodating masculinity)
-Outside of school, they drink and vandalise to present their masculinity
Messerschmidt- white w/c youth
-they have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity may oppose in and out of school
-It is constructed around sexist attitudes, opposing teachers’ authority, and acting tough
Messerschmidt- black lower w/c youth
-they have a few expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity
criticisms of Messerschmidt
-is masculinity, an explanation or description of male crime? - In danger of a circular argument.
-Not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
-He overworks the masculinity concept to explain, virtually all male crimes
evidence for the liberation thesis
-between 1950s and 1990s, females share of offences rose from 1 in 7 to 1in 6
-ADLER: studies showing rising levels of female crime in ‘male’ regarded acts
-There has been media talk of girl gangs- DENSCOMBE’S study shows teenagers’ self-images means females are as likely as men to engage in risk taking behaviour
-Females have also started adopting male stances, such as the desire to be in control and look ‘hard’
criticisms of the liberation thesis
): The female crime rate began rising in the 1950s long before women’s liberation movement in the 1960s
): Most female criminals are working in class, which is the least likely to be influenced by liberation movement
): CHESNEY-LIND: found women doing male crime was because of the link with prostitution (an unliberated activity)
): LAIDLER AND HUNT found female gang members in the USA were expected to conform to gender roles too
(: this thesis does draw attention to the importance of the relationship between changes in women’s position and female offending BUT ): ADLER estimates, the extent to which women have become liberated, and to which they can now engage in serious crime
Carlen’s study
class deals
-32 of the women had always been in poverty
-Qualifications gained in jail didn’t help any get a job upon release
-Most had problems when claiming benefits
So there is nothing to lose by resorting to crime, as it is the best way of escaping poverty
Carlen’s study
gender deals
-not many of the women in the study, had the opportunity to make the deal and few saw rewards in family life
-some has been physically/ sexually abused
-Over half spent time in care
-Those leaving, running away from care often ended up homeless, unemployed or poor
-Many women reached the conclusion that crime was the only route to a decent standard of living. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
-Carlen concluded that for these women, the two main causes of their criminality was poverty and being brought up in care or an oppressive family environment
(drugs and alcohol contributed, but these stems from the two main factors)
Heidensohn- at work
-controlled by male supervisors and managers- sexual harassment keeps women ‘in their place’
-furthermore, the subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in major criminal activity at work
-The glass ceiling (a metaphor that refers to the invisible barriers and bias that keeps women and minorities from opportunities to advance in the workplace) prevents women from reaching senior positions, so they can’t commit fraud
-However, Heidensohn also recognises that patriarchy can push women into crime. For example, poor women could resort to theft or prostitution.
Heidensohn- at home
-Women’s domestic role, impose severe restrictions on their time and movement, which confine them to the house for long periods of times, which reduces the opportunities to offend
-If women reject their role, men could resort to domestic violence- cases are due to men not being happy with women’s domestic duty
-Found men also control women through financial power restricting their leisure time, and therefore their time outside of their house
-Daughters are also subject to patriarchy and are less likely than sons to stay out late or come and go as the please and consequently, develop a ‘bedroom culture’ and socialise at home with friends are not in public
-Also the requirements for them to do more housework means that they have less opportunities to commit deviant acts
Heidensohn- in public
(and Lees)
-they are controlled by the fear or threat of male violence against them
-the Islington Crime Survey found 54% of women avoided going out at night in case of crime compared to 14% of men
-Heidensohn notes that sensationalist media’s reporting of rapes adds to women’s fears- the distorted portrayal of rapists, frightened women into staying indoors
-in addition, they are controlled by the fear of being as not respectable through inappropriate dress for example, which could gain them a reputation and so as a result women could avoid going in pubs (typical sites of criminal behaviour) so as to avoid being called sexually ‘loose’
-LEES also notes that in schools, boys keep control through sexualised verbal abuse (i.e ‘slags)
Carlen- class and gender deals
-interviewed 39, 15-46 year old working class, women who had been convicted on a range of crimes
-20 were in custody or prison
-this firstly showed that most convicted females of serious offences are working class
Farrington and Morris
Study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences
Buckle and Farrington
observational study of shoplifting in a department store
-Witnessed two times as many males shoplifting as females despite the fact that the number of males and female offenders in official statistics are more or less equal
-this small scale study, thus suggests that women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than their male counterparts
