week 4

Question 1

explain girl gangs

Answer 1

 Male gang involvement normalized (natural)
 Female gang participation causes alarm
 Most gang research - androcentric
 Female gang members - portrayed as tomboys, sexual
deviants, property
 Reality: form gangs as social outlets & alternatives to
family
 80% of female gang members - membership
provides sense of ‘family’ – “Fictive Kin”

Question 2

explain containment theory

Answer 2

Walter Reckless “Containment Theory”
PULL FACTORS – the opportunity for material rewards, and psychological
rewards - friendship networks, a sense of autonomy, protection and
independence.

PUSH FACTORS – negative school experiences, dysfunctional homes,
substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse.

Question 3

explain differential llegitimate opportunity theory

Answer 3

cloward and ohlin
Access to legitimate and illegitimate opportunity is structured, controlled by the kind of neighborhood in which one lives.

Question 4

explain gender and victimization in gangs

Answer 4

 Escape childhood
victimization
 Gang involvement –
“willingness to be
victimized”
 Structured vs.
Unstructured
Violence
 Disempowerment –
“Sexing-in

Question 5

how do people ‘do gender’ in gangs

Answer 5

 * Gender is an emergent feature of a social
situation
 * Gender Scripts: men and women held to different
standards
 *Gender shapes relationship between membership and
participation & risk
 *Gender norms modify women’s involvement based on
stereotypes

Question 6

how do female gang members perform gender

Answer 6

A) The functions they perform within the
gangs
Females tend to hold specific informal “roles”
within gangs.
 “Gunner”
 “Fighter”
 “Decoy”
 “Watch Dog”

B) The position they hold within the hierarchy
of the gang (“gang stratification”)
Female gang members hold women and men to
different standards of conduct based on beliefs
about gender…and use gender as a resource… to
temper involvement in gang violence.
 Hegemonic masculinity
 Emphasized femininity

C) A minimization of female gang member
victimization
 Gang status hierarchy and limited
expectations
 Females rarely seen as viable targets of
gang retaliation

Question 7

explain anishinaabe ikwe gang participation

Answer 7

 A) Extreme poverty faced by aboriginal
communities
Poverty rates
- 2/3 of all Aboriginal households in
Winnipeg have incomes below the poverty
line
- 80.3% of Aboriginal households below
the poverty line. 

 B) Loss or interruption of indigenous cultural identity

Question 8

what is the female role in AB gangs

Answer 8

“Old Ladies”
 Girlfriends of male gang
members
 Status in relation to ‘old
man’
 Further ‘old man’s’ place
& space within gang
 Respect as ‘old lady’
 Expected to “be solid”
 Kids automatically part
of gang
 Normalization of abuse

“Bitches & Hos”
 Lower rung of hierarchy
 Pejorative terms – avoid
label
 Money-makers -
prostitutes
 Pervasive Violence
 Intergenerational
violence
 Intra-female violence
 Intimate partner
violence

Question 9

what is the difference pre and post colonization

Answer 9

Altered power relations between the sexes
within indigenous societies.
 Traditionally - Social relations were of equal
nature.
 Currently – Intergenerational abuse
 Doubly Victimized – “Collaterals of War”

equality - patriarchy

Question 10

how are AB women incarcerated?

Answer 10

 Disproportionately represented in
correctional system in Canada:
 In 2012, represented 35 % of federal women’s
population & 20% of provincial and territorial
women’s population.
 75 percent of all federally sentenced
Aboriginal women are in Prairie region.

Question 11

what are cultural needs and challenges faced in correctional system?

Answer 11

Creating Choices: abolish P4W, create
regional facilities to bring women closer to
their homes & families.
 Five regional facilities were opened across
the country, including the Okimaw Ohci
Healing Lodge (OOHL) in 1995.

Question 12

what is the viscious cycle for visible minority women?

Answer 12

1. prejudice and discrimination
2. social disadvantage
3. belief in minoritys innate inferiority