When presented with the topic of gangs society is taught that the men involved are the cause of violence and crime associated with this term. Many are unaware of the number of female participants in gangs not only in the United States, but across the world. “Gangs are studied because they are of social concern. That concern stems from typically “masculine” acts of vandalism, violence, and other serious threats. It was often assumed that females did not take part in such behavior, so early researchers were not interested in the delinquency of female gang members.” It comes as no surprise that most of the studies on girls and gangs come from journalists and social workers. The very few studies that were conducted found that over the past twenty
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This lack of clarity is due to the fact that females were not the focus of gang curiosities. Rather, female involvement was typically mentioned in passing as male gang members relived experiences for male journalists (“Female Participation” 166). Because gang life has been considered a “quintessentially male phenomenon,” most historical accounts defined gang girls as sex objects, tomboys, or “mules” who carried drugs or weapons for males, and it is unclear the degree to which these definitions are true (Moore and Hagedorn …show more content…
Female gang members have been affected not only by these economic shifts but by recent changes in the welfare system. On top of these financial struggles the ethnic background of these girls plays a large role as well. Early gangs were mostly European immigrants, today we see a large number of African American, and Latino females in our gangs across the United States. Having this source of history, family pressure also often contributes to the girls of gang families participating. Because most readings on gangs represent females as secondary participants and fails to properly describe the implications of violence in their groups, this study will cover which aspects are a cause of violence and how important violence is to female/girl
This lack of clarity is due to the fact that females were not the focus of gang curiosities. Rather, female involvement was typically mentioned in passing as male gang members relived experiences for male journalists (“Female Participation” 166). Because gang life has been considered a “quintessentially male phenomenon,” most historical accounts defined gang girls as sex objects, tomboys, or “mules” who carried drugs or weapons for males, and it is unclear the degree to which these definitions are true (Moore and Hagedorn …show more content…
Female gang members have been affected not only by these economic shifts but by recent changes in the welfare system. On top of these financial struggles the ethnic background of these girls plays a large role as well. Early gangs were mostly European immigrants, today we see a large number of African American, and Latino females in our gangs across the United States. Having this source of history, family pressure also often contributes to the girls of gang families participating. Because most readings on gangs represent females as secondary participants and fails to properly describe the implications of violence in their groups, this study will cover which aspects are a cause of violence and how important violence is to female/girl