Crime and Gender Criminology
What is "doing gender"? Explain one way in which "doing gender" is related to violent crime.
Doing gender" is a concept put forth by West and Zimmerman (1987) that describes various behaviors and responses that are typically associated with one gender or the other. Examples of doing gender include everyday behaviors such as putting on makeup (for females) or pursuing purely "recreational" sex (for males) much more frequently than those same behaviors are observed in the other gender, respectively.
In the context of violent crime, doing gender has been suggested as part of the reason that crime, and violent crime in particular, are perpetrated much more often by males than by females. Males are more likely to react to personal struggles by ignoring them until erupting in violence; females are more likely to share their feelings with others and seek assistance instead of lashing out against others (or themselves). Males are also more likely to form delinquent or deviant associations that increase their respective propensity to violence and criminal conduct
2. What is "hegemonic masculinity"? Explain one way in which "hegemonic masculinity" is related to violent crime.
Connell (1987) suggested that cultural definitions of what constitutes "ideal" masculinity strongly influences the way that males interact with their social environments. Specifically, if a culture values professional success, social power, physical strength, and emotional independence in males, most males within that culture will strive toward those ideals. According to Connell (1987) this is equally true irrespective of how successfully individual males achieve those ideals because they still motivate males to strive to meet elements of those particular ideals. Since a large part of hegemonic masculinity in many cultures relates to maintaining one's "honor" or respect, males are generally much more inclined to respond to insults or to perceived issues of lack of respect with violence. Similarly, since cultural concepts of masculinity often relate to providing for one's family financially, males often experience a more intense urge to engage in criminal conduct for profit where their efforts to do so lawfully are unsuccessful.
