Understanding Gender Perspectives

Gender Perspective

• Considers social, cultural, and economic differences and inequalities based on gender.
• Involves analyzing how gender roles, norms, and expectations influence experiences, opportunities, and outcomes.

Key Aspects of a Gender Perspective

• Recognizing gender differences involves acknowledging the different experiences and perspectives of men, women, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming individuals.
• Challenging gender stereotypes means questioning and addressing societal expectations and norms limiting individuals based on their gender.
• Addressing gender inequalities involves identifying and working to overcome disparities and injustices.
• Promoting gender equality means striving for equal rights, opportunities, and treatment for all.

Gender Perspective on Deviance

• Examines how gender influences crime, deviance, and societal responses, including how gender-based discrimination shapes lives.
• Analyzes deviant behavior through the lens of gender, examining how societal expectations and constructions of masculinity and femininity influence deviant acts.
• Highlights how gender significantly affects understanding and explaining deviance, revealing that traditional theories may not account for female experiences, due to a focus on male experiences.

Deviance and Crime Among Men

• Men are statistically more likely to be involved in criminal activity compared to women.
• Societal gender norms promoting masculinity traits like aggression and competitiveness contribute to this disparity.
• This includes higher rates of violent and property crimes, and certain white-collar crimes.
• Individual factors also play a crucial role, with not all men engaging in criminal behavior.

Crime Statistics (2020 FBI UCR Program)

• Men accounted for 80.4% of all arrests.
• Men accounted for 87.5% of all arrests for violent crimes like homicide, assault, and robbery.
• Men accounted for 73.6% of all arrests for property crimes, such as burglary, theft, and vandalism.

Frances Heidensohn on Masculinity and Crime

• Highlights the complex relationships between traditional masculine norms, crime, and deviance.
• Traditional masculine norms, such as aggression, competitiveness, and dominance, contribute to men's involvement in crime.
• Men are socialized to conform to traditional masculine norms, suppressing emotions, empathy, and vulnerability.
• Crime is often seen as a masculine activity, with men dominating most crime statistics.
• Traditional masculine norms emphasize physical strength, aggression, and violence, contributing to men's violent and aggressive crimes.
• Patriarchal societies perpetuate masculine privilege, which allows men to maintain power and control over women and other marginalized groups.

Factors Contributing to Deviance or Crime Among Men: Social and Cultural

• Traditional masculine ideals, such as aggression, dominance, and emotional suppression, can encourage deviant behavior.
• Association with deviant peers, gangs, or social networks can facilitate deviant behavior.
• Cultural values emphasizing materialism, individualism, and competition contribute to deviant behavior.
• Exposure to violent or deviant media can desensitize individuals and promote deviant behavior.

Factors Contributing to Deviance or Crime Among Men: Psychological and Emotional

• Low self-esteem or insecurity may lead men to engage in deviant behavior as compensation.
• Aggressive or impulsive tendencies may make individuals more prone to deviant behavior.
• Difficulty with emotional expression or suppression can increase the likelihood of engaging in deviant behavior.
• Untreated mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or personality disorders can contribute to deviant behavior.

Factors Contributing to Deviance or Crime Among Men: Economic and Environmental

• Disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds may lead men to engage in deviant behavior due to limited opportunities and resources.
• Unemployment or job instability can lead to feelings of emasculation or frustration, increasing the likelihood of deviant behavior.
• Exposure to violence, abuse, or neglect in childhood can increase the likelihood of deviant behavior in adulthood.
• Easy access to firearms and weapons can increase the likelihood of violent deviant behavior.

Factors Contributing to Deviance or Crime Among Men: Family and Relationship

• Dysfunctional family dynamics, authoritarian parenting, or neglect can contribute to deviant behavior.
• Relationship issues, conflict, or intimacy problems may increase the likelihood of engaging in deviant behavior.
• Absence of positive male role models or mentors can contribute to deviant behavior.
• Experiencing trauma or abuse in childhood or adulthood may increase the likelihood of engaging in deviant behavior.

Theories of Crimes and Deviance

• Earliest theories often focused on a male-oriented perspective.
• Feminists and other members of society introduced gender into theories of crimes and deviance.

Chivalry Thesis

• Explains why women have lower crime rates, due to society socializing people to see women as incapable of deviance as they are traditionally viewed as physically and emotionally weak and in need of protection.
• Male police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges protect women from being labeled as deviant.
• Otto Pollak argued protective attitudes towards women lead to sparing them from accusations, arrests, or prosecution.
• The justice system can be more lenient with female offenders, giving warnings rather than formal charges.
• Crime rates of women are taken less seriously, often resulting in fewer arrests, more warnings, and lighter sentences.
• A biased picture is created by this thesis, giving the impression women commit fewer offenses.

Criticisms of the Chivalry Perspective

• Women hide crimes well.
• Women in the criminal justice system actually receive harsher punishments than in previous years.
• Instead of being protected, women commit less serious offenses, leading to lighter sentences.

Patriarchal Perspective

• Male-dominated social institutions, especially the family, prevent deviance and crime among girls and women.
• Socialization controls women more than men, expecting them to be obedient, cooperative, and avoid risk.
• Women's behaviors are strictly monitored and controlled with more domestic responsibilities and curfews.
• Deviation from these standards results in guilt and disapproval, reducing the likelihood of deviant behaviors.

Women's Liberation Hypothesis

• As gender equality increases, deviant behaviors between women and men become similar.
• Changes in gender roles and increased female empowerment lead to greater involvement in deviance and crime.
• This seeks to explain female deviance independently of male attitudes or behavior.
• Higher female crime rates result from increasing gender equality, though it lacks empirical support, as patterns of female deviance remain consistent despite greater female labor force participation.

Victimization Theory

• Women engage in deviance as a result of their victim status, particularly male abuse and violence, which is considered a persuasive theory.
• There are higher rates of child sexual abuse and assault by family members for girls, and a significant portion of women offenders report abuse in their history.
• Suggests exposure to abuse and violence compels girls and women to engage in deviant behavior, to understand challenges women face in society and contributions to deviance.

Other Explanations of Female Crime

• Cesare Lombroso and Gina Ferrero suggest a small number of "born female criminals."
• Sociologists believe social factors, not biology i.e. higher testosterone levels in men, cause gender differences in crime.

Sex Role Theory (Talcott Parsons)

• Gender differences are due to gender roles in the nuclear family.
• Women fulfill the expressive role model for girls, while boys reject feminine behaviors.
• Boys distance themselves by engaging in compensatory compulsive masculinity and aggression.
• Males play less of a socializing role, so socialization is more difficult for boys, and male street gangs become a source of masculine identity, leading to crime.

Criticisms of Sex Role Theory

• Walklate criticizes its biological assumptions.
• Parsons assumes women are best suited for the expressive role, based on ability to bear children.
• The theory is ultimately based on biological assumptions about sex differences.

Patriarchal Control Theory

• Women have lower rates of officially recorded crime because patriarchal society controls them more.
• Women are constrained or controlled at home, work, and in public.

Control at Home

• Domestic roles severely restrict women’s time and movement, reducing opportunities to offend.
• Men restrict women’s leisure time and time outside the home.
• Women have less freedom to leave the the house at night.
• Women suffer from “triple-shift” by juggling caregiving, spousal duties, and professional obligation (Duncombe & Marsden)

Control at Work

• Women are controlled by male supervisors and managers at work, as men hold senior positions in a job, whereas women do not.
• Women lack opportunities to engage in major criminal activity at work, due to existing in subordinate positions.
• The "glass ceiling" prevents women from advancing in their careers, and they cannont commit certain pink-collar crimes, which are non-violent crimes pertaining to finances because crimes are committed in mid- to low- level positions.

Control in Public

• Women are controlled by the fear or threat of male violence.
• Sensationalist media reporting of rape cases adds to women’s fear.
• Women choose not to go out, or limit their behavior in public, out of fear.

Liberation Thesis (Freda Adler)

• As society becomes less patriarchal and more equal, women’s crime rates would become similar to men’s.
• As women become liberated, their crimes will become as frequent and serious as men’s.
• Patriarchal controls and discrimination have decreased, women are adopting ‘males’ legitimate and illegitimate activities, due to having equal opporutnities in education and work.

Criticisms of The Liberation Thesis

• The female crime rate began rising long before the women’s liberation movement.

• Most female criminals are working class, the group least influenced by the liberation movement.

• Women doing ‘male’ crime was because of prostitution (Chesney-Lind).

• Women gang members were expected to conform to gender roles too (Laidler & Hunt).