What are the fundamental propositions of feminist criminology? How would feminists change the study of crime?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Feminist criminology emphasizes a redirection of the thinking of mainstream criminologists to include gender awareness. A key element of feminist thought is the realization that feminism views gender in terms of power relationships. According to feminist approaches, men traditionally have held much more power in the patriarchal structure of Western society than women and have excluded women from much decision making in socially significant areas, and sexist attitudes have perpetuated inequality between the sexes. The consequences of sexism and the unequal gender-based distribution of power have affected fundamental aspects of social roles and personal expectations at all levels.

Daly and Chesney-Lind identified five key elements of feminist thought:
• Gender is not a natural fact but a complex social, historical, and cultural product that is related to, not simply derived from, biological sex differences and reproductive capacities.
• Gender and gender relations order social life and social institutions in fundamental ways.
• Gender relations and constructs of masculinity and femininity are not symmetrical but are based on an organizing principle of men's superiority and their social, political, and economic dominance over women.
• Systems of knowledge reflect men's views of the natural and social world; the production of knowledge is gendered.
• Women should be at the center, not the periphery, of intellectual inquiry; they should not be invisible or treated as appendages to men.

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