Module 5 Assignment
Aleramz16
SCHRAM_PPT_CH12-1.pptxChapter 12
Feminist Theories of Crime
History of feminism in the U.S.
Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth.
Three major waves of feminism
First wave started in the mid-1800s when women demanded the right to vote.
The second wave developed in the 1960s when other marginalized groups were also challenging the status quo.
The third wave of feminism evolved around the late 1980s into the 1990s.
Key terms
Sex
Sex differences typically refer to biological variations such as reproductive organs and hormones.
Gender
Gender differences usually refer to social definitions of what is meant to be a “woman” or a “man.”
Chivalry
Chivalry pertains to behaviors and attitudes toward certain individuals as if they are on a pedestal.
Key terms
Paternalism
The idea of paternalism denotes that women need to be protected for their own good.
Patriarchy
Patriarchy refers to the subordinate role of women and male dominance.
Feminist perspectives on gender
Traditional or conservative perspective
The causes of gender inequality are due to biological sex differences.
Liberal feminism
Gender inequality is due to women’s blocked opportunities to participate in various aspects of the public sphere such as education, employment, and political activity.
Two types:
Classical
Welfare
Feminist perspectives on gender
Radical feminism
The cause of gender inequality is based on the needs or desires of men to control women’s sexuality and reproductive potential.
Two types:
Libertarian
Cultural
Marxist and socialist feminism
The causes of gender inequality are due to hierarchical relations of control with the increase of private property and ownership among men.
Feminist perspectives on gender
Postmodern feminism
This perspective rejects the traditional assumptions about truth and reality; the emphasis is more on the plurality, the diversity, and the multiplicity of women as distinct from men.
Feminist perspectives on gender
Additional feminist perspectives
Ecofeminism
Perceive domination—of women, minority groups, animals, and the earth—as essential problems rather than patriarchy.
Global and postcolonial feminism
This perspective critically explores the impact of development, patriarchal religions, international traffic in women, and the Westernization of the Third World.
Traditional theories of female crime
Caesar Lombroso
The Female Offender
Emphasized the physiological and psychological determinants of female criminality rather than socializing factors or social-structural constraints.
W. I. Thomas
Argued that there are basic biological differences between males and females.
The desire for new experience, the desire for security, the desire for response, and the desire for recognition
Traditional theories of female crime
Sigmund Freud
Perceived women as anatomically inferior and maintained that women are inferior because they are more concerned with personal matters and have very little interest in social issues.
Otto Pollak
The Criminality of Women
Argued that women have been more criminal in nature than what has generally been perceived by many.
Critiques of previous research
Researchers in the social sciences have often ignored women and issues of concern to women.
It is essential to understand that merely including women does not necessarily imply that the study is using a feminist framework.
Feminists note that research using either an “add and stir” approach or a sex role approach does not incorporate key feminist concepts.
Critiques of previous research
Liberation thesis
Also referred to as the emancipation hypothesis.
Attempts to link the women’s liberation movement with female crime rates.
Often-cited scholars
Freda Adler
Sisters in Crime
Rita Simon
Woman and Crime
Critiques of previous research
Liberation thesis
Ngaire Naffine outlined the assumptions of the women’s liberation theory:
The liberation movement can be linked to an increase in female crime.
The increase in female crime is a function of women becoming more masculine.
These increases in female crime are due to women becoming actively competitive with men.
Critiques of previous research
Power-control theory
John Hagan and his colleagues developed the power-control theory incorporating a conflict-oriented theory with social control theory.
The theory attempted to explain gender differences in delinquency rates by including family dynamics.
Understanding crime and criminal Behavior
Sandra Harding provided three characteristics or features that distinguish feminist research.
The first feature is that the empirical and theoretical bases emanate from women’s experiences.
The second feature of feminist analyses was the new purpose for women, whereas traditional analyses have primarily been for men.
The final characteristic of feminist research was locating the researcher in the same critical plane as the subject matter.
Understanding crime and criminal behavior
Objectivity and subjectivity
Feminist scholars argue that the standards to assess objectivity are founded on biases established by, and for, individuals of privilege.
Qualitative “versus” quantitative analyses
Toby Epstein Jayaratne and Abigail J. Stewart noted that quantitative methods translate individuals’ experiences into predefined categories designated by the researcher.
Understanding crime and criminal behavior
Feminist criminology
Evolved primarily from liberal feminists, with the realization and objection that gender was essentially ignored and excluded from criminological theory.
Dorie Klein maintained that three challenges need to be addressed by feminist criminologists:
To continue to search for the scientific basis of theories of men’s and women’s criminal behavior
To reexamine gender and racial/ethnic biases in the social sciences
To develop a new definition of crime
Understanding crime and criminal behavior
Feminist criminology
Kathleen Daly and Meda Chesney-Lind identified the following five elements that distinguish feminist thought from other forms of social and political thought:
Gender is not a natural fact but a complex social, historical, and cultural product; it is related to, but not simply derived from, biological sex differences and reproductive capacities.
Gender and gender relations order social lives and social institutions in fundamental ways.
Understanding crime and criminal behavior
Feminist criminology continued
Gender relations are constructs of masculinity and femininity and are not symmetrical but are based on an organizing principle of men’s superiority and social and political-economic dominance over women.
Systems of knowledge reflect men’s views of the natural and social world; the production of knowledge is gendered.
Women should be at the center of intellectual inquiry, not peripheral, invisible, or appendages to men.
Critiques of feminist theories
Amanda Burgess-Proctor identified key conceptual factors that distinguish multiracial feminism from other feminist perspectives.
First, multiracial feminism claims that gender relations do not exist in a vacuum.
Second, multiracial feminism stresses the importance of recognizing the ways in which intersecting systems of power and privilege interact on all social-structural levels.
Third, multiracial feminism is founded on the concept of relationality; this “assumes that groups of people are socially situated in relation to other groups of people based on their differences.”
Critiques of feminist theories
Another issue that has been raised by feminist scholars is that when conducting research on women, it is essential that one avoid placing these women as either offenders or victims.
Lisa Maher critiqued both traditional and feminist research with respect to the importance of not overemphasizing or ignoring women’s agency.
Policies
Legislative reforms were enacted in an effort to modify state rape statutes.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention established a funding opportunity to enhance programs specifically targeted for juvenile girls.
