Written by Leo Ghorishi
“Crimonology has, for many feminist writers and researchers, been a constraining rather than a constructive and
(Gelsthorpe and Morris, 1990:2).
creative influence.”
Criminological theory is the product of white, economically privileged men’s experiences. This has made criminology predominantly masculine, foregoing the importance of analysing the casualty, nature and extent of female crime and victimisation.
Criminology and The Second Sex
Criminology is the systematic study of the nature, causes, prevention, consequences, control and management of criminal behaviours. As well as its extent on society and individuality. Arguments have been raised regarding criminology’s predominant focus on male offenders, stating that many studies have only focused on the male sex. Female deviance was perceived as relatively insignificant, given women’s under-representation in the official crime statistics. Little attention was paid to gender’s impact on crime and it was discovered that criminological
analysis might be understood as a reflection of solely a man’s understanding of crime.
Juxtaposing Gender Norms
Traditional gender stereotypes over the course of history dictated that women were inferior to men. Male traits include keywords such as Independent; Autonomous, Intelligent, Active, Assertive, Rational, Unemotional, Competitive, Achieving and Objective. Juxtaposing that, female traits would be described as Dependent; Passive, Uncompetitive, Immature, Unachieving, Unintelligent, Emotional, Subjective and Irrational.
Male qualities are portrayed as positives even when they led to negative outcomes, example being competitive which may lead to criminality. On the contrary, female attributes are portrayed as negatives though leading to positive outcomes, for example, conformity.
What are the implications of this?
(Source: Wikipedia)
The binaries of gender in criminality have been lamented by many theorists and philosophers. Sigmund Freud (the dapper dude in the photo) theorised that a deviant woman is one who is attempting to be a man. This enraging statement stems from the view that women are of lower social class and physiologically inferior, with actions being driven by the infamous ‘penis envy’.
Women compensate for deficiencies by being exhibitionistic, narcissistic and well-dressed. He stated that female aggression and rebellion are extreme expressions of penis envy, and to be normal, women must adjust and accommodate themselves to the duties of wives and mothers. During the time of his theories, the suffragette movement was also happening and a lot of his work was embraced by the men at the time to label the women forwarding the progressive movement for stronger women’s rights.
“Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”
W.I. Thomas believed that men and women are fundamentally different and that monogamy was a key factor in criminality. Through monogamy, women had to confine their sexual behaviour to being wives and mothers and adjust to being treated as men’s property. He continued to state that women feel confined and dissatisfied under monogamy and would release their pent-up sexual energy through criminal acts. To prevent female crime women needed to be socialized to adjust to monogamy. Thomas noted that middle-class women committed little crime since they have been socialised to ‘accept’ their position and see chastity as an investment. On the contrary, lower-class women have not been socialised to suppress their need for security and instead committed crimes out of a desire for excitement and new experiences.
The Female Offender
In 1903, Lombroso wrote in his book ‘The Female Offender’ that Women could be physically seen as ‘bad’ through physiological evidence; special cranial and facial features such as moles, height, dark hair and skin colour. Lombroso also concluded that criminal women could adjust more easily than men to mental and physical pain and often adjusted well to prison life.
21st Century Criminology
Criminology has come a long way since then. It has evolved to be more inclusive and progress on a much larger scale of studies and research. Feminist criminology seeks to increase the visibility of women in criminological knowledge; to address women’s relationships with crime not only as offenders but also as victims. It also comprehends crime as a male-dominated activity produced not as a result of sex differences but as a result of gender differences.
They aim to eliminate ‘androcentric science’ and to produce a distinctly feminist approach to crime and criminal justice.
It’s the 21st Century and gender binaries are becoming a thing of the past. Breaking binary norms has moved us into a more progressive future. With this, more studies are being conducted with gender blindness kept in mind. We always advocate for people to be themselves and to never feel trapped or feel that they are hiding behind a mask.
Check out CSA’s previous article here!
