Week 9; Feminist Theories of Crime

Question 1

What is “Sex”?

Answer 1

The biological components, chromosomal, chemical, and anatomical, that are associated with males and females

Question 2

What is “Gender”?

Answer 2

○ A social construct that refers to a set of social roles, attitudes, and behaviours that describe people of one sex or another
- Gender Roles

Question 3

What are “gender roles”?

Answer 3

A set of behaviours that are considered acceptable, appropriate, and desirable for people based on their sex or gender

Question 4

What is “gender socialization”?

Answer 4

The process by which males and females are informed about gendered norms and roles in a given society

Question 5

What is “gender identity”?

Answer 5

A person’s identification, or sense of belonging to a particular sex, biologically, psychologically, and socially

Question 6

What has society historically told us about being a man or woman?

Answer 6

• Historically, as a society we had rigid categories to define what it means to be a man or woman
  ○ Segmented, binary groupings into which males and females were supposed to fit
  ○ People who strayed from those categories were labelled as deviants and treated as such

Question 7

What is “Hegemonic masculinity”?

Answer 7

○ The version of masculinity that is set apart from all others
○ Considered dominant or ideal within society
○ Often associated with toughness, bravado, aggression, and violence

Question 8

What is “Emphasized Femininity”?

Answer 8

○ The acceptance of gender inequality
○ A need to support the interests and desires of men
○ Often associated with empathy, compassion, passivity, and focused on beauty and physical appearance

Question 9

What gave rise to Feminist Criminology?

Answer 9

• For much of its history, criminology has focused on men
  ○ Empirical studies used male only samples
  ○ Theories constructed to explain why men and boys broke the law Because males are disproportionately involved in crime
  ○ Women’s criminality was seen as tangential to the crime problem
  - Most early criminologists were male

Question 10

How were early analyses of women sexist?

Answer 10

○ Viewed female criminality as a departure from “natural” female behaviour that is maternal, passive, and gentle
○ Female lawbreakers had a pathological defect in their biological makeup or within their psyche
- Social factors (e.g. Inequality) were given little or no importance

Question 11

What were the critiques of Cesare Lombroso?

Answer 11

• Lombroso: female deviance is biological destiny
  
  • Females are “more primitive” than men; female deviants are masculine; female deviants lack maternal qualities

Question 12

What was the critique of Otto Pollak?

Answer 12

• Pollak: low rates of female deviance due to underreporting and leniency in prosecution and sentencing
  
  • Sought evidence of female criminality at home and work; ignored potential for male criminality
  • Women as cunning and deceitful
  • Linkage of sexual “deceitfulness” or general dishonesty
  • “chivalry” hypothesis: police and courts deal leniently with women offenders
    ○ Research shows this to be a myth

Question 13

What were 5 ways that female violence changed between the 1960s and 1990s?

Answer 13

1. Women in the 1990s were less likely to act on their own (ie. They were more likely to commit violence with a partner)
   
   2. Women in the 1990s were more likely to use guns;
   3. Women in the 1990s were more likely to be motivated by a need for money and/or drugs;
   4. Women in the 1990s were more likely to report that they have a family member who has been incarcerated;
   5. Female offenders in the 1990s were less likely to have been arrested before 21

Question 14

What were some significant changes that came from the women’s rights movement?

Answer 14

○ Some feminist criminologist believed that if girls were raised like boys and had the same opportunities as boys, their behaviour would be more like that of boys
○ Would lead to equality in crime
- This idea was the basis of Rita Simon’s Women and Crime (1975)
□ A major by-product of the women’s rights movement will be a high proportion of women who engage in criminal behaviour
□ Women’s entrance into the workforce would also increase their probability for white-collar crime
□ However, the women’s rights movement would not increase violent crime

Question 15

The Critique of W.I Thomas

Answer 15

• Thomas: female deviance caused by removal of social sanctions
• Therefore, female emancipation should be resisted

Question 16

What is the Intersectionality Theory?

Answer 16

• Coined by Kimberly Crenshaw speaking to lived realities of African-American women
• A concept to describe the ways in which various aspects of identity interconnect on multiple and
  often simultaneous levels
  Can form interlocking systems of oppression

Question 17

What is Liberal Feminism?

Answer 17

• Focuses on the salience of sex-role socialization and equality of opportunities
• More influence early in the feminist criminology movement

Question 18

What is Critical or Radical Approach Feminism?

Answer 18

• Emphasizes the structural inequality in power between men and women
• Focuses on the role of patriarchy
• Currently directs most theory and research within feminist criminology

Question 19

Inside Women’s Correctional Facilities

Answer 19

• Research has focused primarily on men’s institutions
• Pains of imprisonment may be much more severe for female offenders
• Female offenders adjust to life inside correctional institutions differently than males
• Little is known about the inmate social system in Canadian women’s prisons

Question 20

Chesney-Lind: A Feminist Theory of Female Delinquency

Answer 20

• Has especially illuminated disparities in sentencing and crime control and victimizations of women by men and their sanctions
• The oppression of women, including their criminal victimization, is seen as a major cause of female offending
• Argues a need for gender-specific theories that take into account the role of patriarchy and the gendered experiences of women
• One popular theory is Meda Chesney-Lind’s feminist theory of female delinquency

Question 21

What does “A Feminist Theory of Female Delinquency” tell us?

Answer 21

• Existing theories cannot explain female crime. Focus exclusively on men without taking into account female social experiences
• Does not agree with the liberation perspective
• Argues girls are frequently the recipients of violence and sexual abuse and can do little to fight back against their abusers
• Patriarchy is conducive to such abuse because females are, in general, objectified as sexual property
• In addition, official action of the juvenile justice system is a major force of oppression and reinforces women’s place in society
  -Parents often insist on their daughters arrest
• More girls than boys referred to the juvenile court by their parents than by law
  enforcement
• Runaways are often returned home by the state
• Once on the street, they are forced to commit crimes to survive
• Steal money, food, clothing
• Prostitution to obtain money
• Thus, their survival strategies are criminalized
• The backgrounds of adult women in prison show virtually all were victims of physical and/or sexual abuse as children
  
  • Over 60% were sexually assaulted and over half were raped
• Often ran away and began engaging in prostitution and became addicted to drugs