Describe the different types of roles females play in gangs

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

There are three types of female gang involvement: 1) membership in an independent gang, 2) regular membership in a male gang as a coed, and 3) as female auxiliaries of male gangs. Most girls are found within the third type.
Auxiliaries usually form after a male gang comes into existence and, as mentioned earlier, usually take a feminized version of the boys' gang name. They often reflect the age grouping found in male units. They have no formal leader but usually have some members with more clout than others. Girls are not coerced to join. Rather, they come into the gang through regular friendships and families. Wannabes are informally screened for acceptability. Initiation usually involves an intense fist fight with a regular (girl) member of the gang to prove the wannabe has courage. Initiation ceremonies are not unlike those experienced by sororities or fraternities or even country clubs (Campbell, 1993:136). "The gang will not accept just anyone, and this fact alone augments the members' self-esteem, which has taken such hard knocks from teachers, social workers, police, and families. The gang rejects ‘prospects' whose aim is merely to avail themselves of the gang's fighting ability for their own ends" (Ibid.).