Feminist Criminology: Let’s Talk About Sex Baby!

The concept of criminalization is quite simple, it is society’s way of restricting unwanted behavior by implementing a set of moral standards that are enforced by law which deter undesirable actions from taking place within our communities. The act of criminalization itself turns an activity into a criminal offense with various penalties and punishments imposed on the person who is convicted of breaking the law. Feminist criminology is a mixture of feminist thinking and ideologies that aim to further the development of critical criminology with an emphasis on examining the power dynamics that exist between men and women. Liberal feminist theory for example, looks at discrimination and the unequal treatment of women as a factor to criminalized behavior.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission offered this visual snapshot of federally sentenced women (CHRC, 2003, p. 5):

• Disproportionately Aboriginal Women
• First time offenders
• Under thirty-five years of age 
• Survivors of physical and sexual abuse
• Single mothers with more than one child
• Significant substance abuse problems

But how do we decide what activities should be criminalized and what behaviours are acceptable?

Economics, politics and ideologies influence criminalization with morality playing a significant role in the formation of law and order. The problem with the concept of universal morality is that the law changes over time and varies depending on our own belief system. Society is evolving and there has been a push in recent years to decriminalize certain acts. British Columbia, for example, recently received an exemption to decriminalize the possession of certain illegal drugs for personal use (B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, 2022). These changes help reduce the shame associated with mental health and addictions which will save many lives. This policy shift recognizes drug abuse as a health issue as opposed to a criminal act. In stark contrast to these recent advancements, there have been calls for law and policy reform on the issue of the sex trade for many decades yet, in Canada, prostitution remains a criminalized act that leaves many women stuck in a dangerous cycle of exploitation, abuse and victimization. Who decides what issues receive attention and why are certain groups ignored outright?

So, what exactly is criminology and why should you want to read about it on the Urban Runaway blog?

We’ve all seen a television show in our lifetime that sensationalized criminal activity such as CSI Miami or Law and Order. These shows glorify superhero criminologists that solve complex crimes in just one episode. Real criminology is nothing like the movies make it out to be although it is an extremely fascinating field. Criminology is a specialized area of study that is interdisciplinary in nature, intersecting with both behavioral and social science. It examines a broad range of modern topics and forces you to look at the criminal justice system with a critical lens before forming an opinion. Criminology has historically been focused on men with early mainstream criminologists giving little thought to the power dynamics that existed between men and women.

Let’s move on to the real reason you’re here: to find out why gender matters in the study of crime.

Gender should matter to criminologists because there has been an unequal balance in the reporting and documentation of female perpetrated crime which requires a more thorough investigation. This is needed because we don’t fully understand the direct linkages between gender-specific crime trends and how an individual’s assigned sex directly impacts the way in which they navigate within our society. Historically female offenders have been left out of the criminology discussion entirely with little attention given to the fact that both men and women commit crimes. “It was the feminist critique of criminology that put the sex question front and center of the criminological agenda which took the form of documenting the invisibility of women in criminological accounts” (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 94). Mainstream criminology took the biological approach to explain the differences between sexes as evolutionary in nature.  To put it simply, under mainstream criminology men and women were seen as different. “Women had lower crime rates than men because of their natural inferiority; women had simply not progressed as far along the evolutionary continuum and so could not degenerate as far” (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 94). The study of crime became more cause-focused during the twentieth century and began to revolve around the various causes of crime.

Contributing factors to female criminality:

• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Inequality
• Discrimination
• Sexual/Physical Abuse
• Substance Abuse

Gender inequality and social class play a significant role when it comes to invoking criminality in our society: welfare fraud vs tax evasion.

The perception surrounding criminality of welfare fraud and the corporate crime of tax evasion can shift drastically depending on your understanding of gender inequality and how the social class structure works in Canada. Despite the claim of traditional approaches to criminology that state the rules prescribing to behavior are neutral, it is easy to see that is simply not the case when it comes to society’s treatment of welfare recipients and tax evaders. “Taxpayers who defraud the public purse, largely men with significant assets, are often regarded indulgently, while welfare recipients who defraud the same purse, more likely to be women and invariably poor, are harshly condemned.  Of the fifty cases of welfare fraud reviewed by Dianne Martin, a jail sentence was ordered in 80%. Canada Revenue Agency data for 2012-2013 show well over 300,000 audits out of some 43 million in returns filed, generating billions of dollars in unpaid taxes – only 71 files were referred for prosecution” (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 149).

Social construction and the portrayal of criminalized women in the media.

Social constructs played a major factor in the early study of criminology and it could even be argued that men were born with the ability to become either productive members of society or skilled criminals whereas women were trained from birth to be great victims.  “Boys were raised to be assertive, competitive and achievement-oriented; girls were expected to be passive, nurturing and compliant” (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 96).  The 1970s created a feminist shift centered around women’s liberation and made it impossible to ignore the concept that if women were to become equal to men, surely the statistics would show an increase in female perpetrated crime but a rise in crime simply didn’t happen.  The women’s liberation thesis captured this irrational fear, which was sensationalized in the media, warning society to be aware of the “new female criminal” and that women were becoming more violent and aggressive just like their male counterparts.  In the media, female perpetrators of violent crimes are sensationalized and often portrayed in a manner that frames the woman as “insane” or “disturbed.” There is typically an emphasis placed on the physical appearance of the woman with details of their sexuality shared in media reports while the underlying social causes related to the crime are frequently omitted.      

The study of gender and criminology is evolving and its understanding has improved with time.  Gender matters are important in the study of criminal behavior and should be a focus of any modern criminologist. And ordinary citizens too! 

You should follow along with the Criminology Series on the Urban Runaway Blog if you are interested in the following topics:

• How do ordinary citizens play a direct role in the formation of public policy?
• Does punishment deter crime or simply produce skilled criminals?
• Who is serving prison time in Canada? 
• Why do we villainize people who commit certain types of crime?
• Should we care about the contributing factors in the life of an offender such as personal and social disadvantages? 
• What about the lasting effects of crime on victims and their families?

Knowledge-building with Urban Runaway — 5 feminist criminology definitions you need to know!

1. Feminist Criminology:  Feminist-based theories of crime insist women’s criminalization is worthy of academic inquiry and have contributed to the understanding of victimization, criminalization, and the criminal justice system.  Feminist criminologists engage the question of the interaction between human agency and social structure (including gender, class, age, race, sexuality) and bring forward voices of those in conflict with the law. (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 317).
2. Criminalized Women:  Women who, through discriminatory processes and law enforcement, are selected for the prosecution of illegal behaviours, convicted and imprisoned thereafter, labelled, and stigmatized as members of criminal class (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 317). 
3. Liberation Thesis:  Criminologists in the 1970’s predicted wrongly that the women’s liberation movement would cause women to commit a higher rate of violent crime (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 317).
4. The Sex Question in Criminology:  Focuses on the placement of men and women in criminological theorizing, especially in terms of the ability of the discipline to explain both male and female patterns of criminal activity (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 111). 
5. Patriarchy:  A system of male domination; a structure and an ideology that privileges men over women (Brooks & Schissel, 2015, p. 111).

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B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.  (May 31, 2022).  B.C. receives exemption to decriminalize possession of some illegal drugs for personal use. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022MMHA0029-000850

Brooks, C. & Schissel, B. (2015). Marginality and condemnation – a critical introduction to criminology (Third). Fernwood Publishing Co Ltd.

Canadian Human Rights Commission.  (2003).  Protecting their rights, a systemic review of human rights in correctional services for federally sentenced women. chrc_eng (chrc-ccdp.gc.ca)