Discuss the evolution of research on the involvement of girls in gangs. Why did the development of research on male and female gang members differ so substantially?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Students should first indicate that up until very recently, inaccurate and overly simplistic depictions of female gang members dominated, which were largely influenced by sexist notions of female capacities in contrast to those of men. These depictions largely reduced female gang members to the equivalent of second-class gang citizens, relegated to auxiliary roles in gangs, which were largely circumscribed around their gendered presentation to make gang members as either tomboys or sex objects. After charting the history of depictions of female gang members, students should describe landmark studies that broke the mold, by presenting findings that challenged the notion that female gang members never acted independently or engaged in criminal activities relating to their gang involvement. For example, students could note the pioneering contributions of Adler (1975a, 1975b) and the “liberation hypothesis” and other early research from the 1970s and 1980s that began to challenge the notion that women serve only subservient roles in gangs, and in doing so, also asserted that they partook in more serious crime than was previously believed. Students should also mention the more recent contributions of Moore (1991) and subsequent empirical tests of her core proposition that participation in female gangs had grown over time. These tests were largely confirmatory of her initial findings and led researchers to understand that female gang members increasingly participate in gang activity, and do so more independently than they used to.