In this essay I am going to be assessing the patterns of crime committed by males and females, I will be looking into explanation of female conformity, explanations of female crime and male crime and finally if the law is sexist i.e. does chivalry exist. Official statistics claim that gender is a very important factor contributing towards crime as they show that women are less like to commit criminal behaviour or put in prison then men, this is supported by the fact that 80% of offenders are male, this can be due to many factors such as the biology in men which may lead to increased violence and stereotypes that may affect crimes reported, I will later assess these issues. Males are also more likely to reoffend and be serious sex offenders. However we must be aware that these official statistics are not accurate due to the selective law enforcement, where men are targeted more often as they fit the stereotype of a criminal which leads onto the chivalry factor where men have protective attitudes towards women.
Why are female murderers represented so differently to men in broadcast fiction and news media? Female murderers are seen as more extraordinary and deviant than their male counterpart. Assumptions about gender roles and the ‘correct’ behaviour for men and women are reflected in how the media report crime and criminals, it is reflected in their use of stereotypical views of women. Bronwyn Taylor in (Marsh and Melville, 2010) researched how crime was reported in the print media and found significant differences between male and female criminals in the way their crimes were reported, the crimes themselves and the seriousness of them. Where females were the offenders, the emotional and irrational nature of the crime were outlined whereas for males the violence was made to seem ‘normal.’ Words such as ‘unnatural’ ‘unfeminine’ and ‘sadistic’ are boldly written in newspaper headlines when describing crimes committed by females, their appearances and lifestyles, unlike their male counterparts, are also of major interest.
For example, your body regulates its temperature in order to ensure that you do not become too hot or too cold. Also, drive tends to increase of a period of time. In this case, it was Pickton’s sex drive that led him to murder of forty nine women’s. I think that Pickton was not receiving enough attention in his sexual life since many of the women’s were prostitute and there would have not been a need for him to meet them, if he was satisfied with his sex life. Pickton sex drive is what initiated this story.
Feminist views of the family revolve around and understanding of the term patriarchy, which means make domination. Feminists agree that men tend to have a superior position in society and that women suffer oppression because of this. Many feminists argue that the family is a corner stone of this oppression and as such needs careful analysis. Liberal feminists believe that the fanily is gradually becoming less oppressive for women, they cite the move of many families towards more symmetrical roles where men take more part in the domestic roles so that women are no longer burdened by the mundane, repetitive, low status work of cleaning, laundry and childcare work which makes their position in society less powerful than mens. However, radical feminists disagree.
In public, women are controlled by the male use of force and violence, based upon the idea of holding onto a ‘good reputation’. Women often choose not to go out in public places after dark due to their fear of being attacked or raped. Heidensohn argues that the consequence of this control is that women have fewer opportunities to commit crime, whereas men have a lot more opportunity. A common criticism of Heidensohn is that she makes women seem passive and fully accepting of their situation which is not the case. This was demonstrated by the strength of the Feminist movement in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Looking at the social characteristics can show a link between the types of social characteristics that people have and the types of crime they are involved in. For example looking at the location where an individual comes from and ethnicity, may associate him with a certain type of behaviour. It is shown that black men are more likely to be stopped and search according to Mayhew they were 8 times more likely, especially in deprived areas typically council estates, and are run down. However police may also stop and search a black male, due to institutional racism and negative stereotyping of the group. Some crimes go unrecorded or undetected, because some people feel pressure, they may be domestic or drug usage, there is even a class difference.
Sociologist Otto Polack (1950) believes that official crime statistics are very misleading and females are just as likely to commit crimes as males are, however, these incidents simply go unreported. He put forward two arguments for this. The first being that law enforcement agencies are often male dominated who are often brought up to be chivalrous and gentlemanly, meaning they are more lenient on women who conduct crimes. The second being that women are very adept to hiding their crimes due to certain biological factors which makes them particularly good at deceiving and misleading men, such as faking pleasure during sexual intercourse. As in Pollack’s opinion, women are better at acting innocent and playing on their gender as a way of getting out of a conviction or an arrest, this means that although their crime has been committed, it will not be reported, meaning it will not then be put forward as part of the statistics, making them inaccurate.
We know this is not true because women have done everything in this world that men have including dangerous adventure sports yet they considered to be lower than men .Their talents are not as recognized as men’s talents are and they are mostly looked upon as not being fit for the same jobs as men are. These issues are presented in the texts examined in this essay. The song “What it feels like for a Girl” by Madonna and the essay “Fifty one percent Minority” by Doris Anderson are about Gender Inequality and how women are treated in society. The song by Madonna describes the pressure women feel to conform to social norms of politeness and subservience and the essay by Doris Anderson is about discriminatory practises that are done against women in Canada. Anderson is also one of Canada’s leading advocates of women rights.
Assess Sociological Explanations for Gender Differences in Crime and Deviance Official crime statistics show that men much more likely to commit crimes than women and there is also a difference in the types of crimes each gender is more likely to commit – women committing shoplifting and men committing more violent crimes. There have been numerous different explanations for gender differences in crime including the chivalry thesis, sex role theory, control theory, and the liberation thesis. However, the official crime statistics are largely questioned by sociologists because it has been argued that they only show the criminal justice system’s view that men are more likely to commit the crimes and therefore they look more for male criminals rather than female ones. The chivalry thesis argue that these official statistics are unrepresentative due to the fact that most of the criminal justice agents – such as police officers, judges or magistrates – are men and they are more likely to treat women in a chivalrous way and therefore be more likely to convict men than women. The main idea of the chivalry thesis is this prospect that men are socialised to act in a way more chivalrous – or gentlemanly – toward women so they end up convicting men more than women.
Men and women have different perceptions of sexual harassment. What may be a lighthearted joke to many men may be offensive to many women. In fact, the courts have said that professional and unprofessional women are more adversely affected by sexual harassment than men, and it happens in the public and private sectors. Define sexual harassment as the term is used legally. Sexual harassment is a form if sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.