Transcript What is Feminism?

Sociology of Gender
• Two levels of social reality
– Experiential (interactions)
– Structural (institutions)
– The characteristics of one level affect the
status of the other level (and vice-versa)
– Gender relations & inequality are good
examples of this
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
• The “Nature” of Gender
– Distinction between sex, gender & sexuality
• Sex – a biological reality (DNA, genitalia, hormaones, physiology)
• Sex Category –
– 2 category scheme: Male/Female
– Not necessarily so
• Gender – a social/cultural construct (Masculinity and Femininity)
• Sexuality – One’s sexual identity/orientation (debate about origin)
• Heterogender – a new idea that acknowledges how important
sexuality is to the ways that gender is constructed
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
The social construction of gender:
“Doing Gender” concept (West & Zimmerman 1987)
• Gender accomplished in interaction with others
•“Accomplished” by providing cues that are consistent with normative
expectations for masculinity and femininity
–Contextual
–Norm violations are “policed”
• Gender culturally understood as an “oppositional dichotomy”
• Doing gender means
–Creating differences b/t boys & girls and women & men that are not
natural
–Using the socially constructed differences to reinforce the notion that
gender (rather than sex) is “natural” or essentially derived.
•Multiple ways of doing gender even for the same sex
Social Construction of Gender
Lorber:
Significance of gender bending?
Key point of film – gender (and for that matter sex
category schema and sexuality) are social
constructs
Individuals – Gender means sameness
•
Big element of identity and shared status w/ others
Society – Gender means differences
•
•
•
Compelled to gender identify gender-neutral persons
Differentiation creates gender bending?
Gender bending reinforces gender
Social Construction of Gender
Lorber: Gender Ranking
– Difference usually is employed to advantage some
and disadvantage others
– Feminism is threatening only because it critiques
practices and institutions that support inequality
Evidence for Gender Ranking?
Family: Unpaid Labor (private spheres)
Religion: Female Clergy/Pope? (origin stories?)
Education:
Social Construction of Gender
Lorber: Evidence for Gender Ranking
Gov’t:
Voting rights? Suffrage (19th Amend. - 1920)
Elected Representatives: President?
63 ♀ in congress; 14 ♀ senators
Economy:
Occupational Segregation; Authority (CEOs);
Salary: ~ 75 cents on the $
Social Construction of Gender
Lorber: Components of Gender
Institution:
•Statuses
•D.o.L.
•Kinship
•Social Scripts
•Personalities
•Social Control
•Ideology
•Imagery
Individuals:
•Sex Category
•Identity
•Marriage/Reproduction
•Sexuality
•Personality
•Processes
•Beliefs
•Display
Bringing it all together
Lorber: Components of Gender
Gender as…
• Process
•
•
Stratification
•
•
Creates the differences that define man and women
Gender ranks men above women of the same race and
class
Structure
•
Gender divides work in the home and in economic
production, legitimates authority, and organizes
sexuality and emotional life (Connell, 1987)
Historical Legacy of Gender Relations
Restricting Women to the Private Sphere
Justified by three appeals:
1. Protection of women as a class:
•
•
2.
Moral (♀ as purer; ♀ as children)
Physical (health hazards, esp. to justify exclusion from ♂ jobs)
Motherhood:
A woman’s place… Essentialist notions of parenting.
Emotion work. Public sphere activities threatens the family.
3. Marriage:
Historical reality that single women have possessed more
freedom
Disparate impact of marriage for ♀&♂’s lives
♀ role in the family has been used to successfully defeat lawsuits
aimed at promotions policies that restrict ♀
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
Gender and Power Relations
Acker (1990) on Organizations & Gender
– Neutrality is “gendered” in the context of social
organizations (schools, jobs, government, etc.)
–Organizational life is patterned and active in
distinguishing between male and female:
•Division of Labor – jobs & tasks (sex stratification)
•Images & Symbols that reinforce gender difference (dress,
speech)
•Interactions of workers (authority)
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
Gender and Power Relations
Sexism:
–Oppressive attitudes and behaviors directed at
either sex
–Patterned: mostly directed at women
Patriarchy:
–The Social, Legal & Cultural climate that values men
and masculine over alternatives
–Based on a confusion over sex and gender
What is Feminism?
An approach to thinking about society and social problems that
recognizes that gender inequalities exist in society.
In addition, feminists are committed to helping change society to
promote gender equality
5 Tenets (derived from Daly and Chesney-Lind 1988 – see p. 13
in Belknap):
1.
Gender is not a natural fact – it is an outcome of social,
political, historical and cultural forces. It is related to sex
differences and reproductive capacities – but is not simply a
reflection of these differences. (Sex, Sex category &
Gender)
What is Feminism?
2.
Gender and gender relations order social life and social
institutions in fundamental ways.
3.
Constructs of masculinity and femininity are not symmetrical
(equal). They are based on the organizing principle of men’s
superiority and social and political dominance over women.
4.
Systems of knowledge reflect men’s views of the natural and
social world: the production of knowledge is “gendered”.
5.
Women should be at the center of intellectual inquiry, not
peripheral, invisible, or appendages to men.
Backlash & Myths about Feminism
1. Feminists are not objective
2. Feminism is only concerned with women
3. There is only one “true” feminism
Backlash & Myths about Feminism
1.
Feminists are not objective
Are non-feminists objective? What is objectivity? Is it
possible?
2.
Feminism is only concerned with women
Masculinity studies
3.
There is only one “true” feminism
A variety of feminisms:
Liberal-feminists vs. Critical feminists
Varieties of Critical Feminists: Marxist Feminists, Socialist
Feminists, Radical Feminists, Postmodern Feminists
What is criminology?
• Criminology is a science focused on the study of
crime, law and responses to crime.
• Criminologists
–
–
–
–
–
Construct theoretical explanations for crime
Pose research questions
Develop hypotheses
Test their theories
Collect data using a wide variety of research methods
– MUCH of criminology is POSITIVIST
The Modern Era of Criminology
– Classical Criminology
– Positivist Criminology
– Sociological Criminology
– All 3 eras continue to influence criminology
(and crime policy) today
Feminist Criminology
• Concerned with explaining the impact of gender
in traditional areas of inquiry about crime and
the law
• Concerned with the experiences of women as
central
• Likely to employ a wider variety of techniques to
gather information about crime and women’s
experiences.
– Epistemology
– Research on rape as an example
Feminist Criminology
What do we know about the extent of rape?
Most rapes go unreported (about 2 out of 3)
Accurate estimates are difficult. Why?
•Victim stigma and blame
•Offender/Victim relationship
•Concern about treatment as victim in the CJS
•Up to 70% of women forced to have sex fail to recognize their
experience as rape
•This is a reflection of a patriarchal culture that impacts the
way that the law and the criminal justice system operates
Between 15% and 30% of U.S. women will be raped in their lifetime
Of the rapes that get reported to police, only 15% to 30% end in the conviction
of the rapist, and only half of those result in a sentence of more than 1 year in
jail.
Feminist Criminology &
Epistemology
None of this factual “objective” data tells us anything about
the experience of rape. For example,
• Why do so many men in our society rape?
• Why do trusted friends and romantic partners rape?
• Why do so few women recognize sexual assaults as
criminal?
• Why does the criminal justice system treat rape victims
with suspicion?
• How has the law impacted the ways we define rape and
protected men from blame in the process?
• How has the criminal investigation procedure limited our
understanding of sexual assault and rape?
Feminist Epistimology
•
Questions the general faith in the objective and
scientific method of research as a source of truth.
•
There is not a single feminist research method but a
feminist perspective on the research process that
includes choosing topics that illuminate issues of
gender and treating research as a collaborative
process with the subjects.
•
Feminist research should be part of a strategy for
social change. For example…
–
–
Calling attention to the harms of allegedly “gender neutral”
policies toward women
Challenges criminal justice policies based on stereotypes
of masculinity and femininity
Defining Crime
• What is Crime?
– Violations of Morality
– Violations of Norms
– Violations of the Law
• Acts that represent an intersection of all 3
are judged the most severe
A Brief Sociology of Law
Legal Classifications of Crimes
– Mala in se vs. Mala prohibitum
– Criminal vs. Torte (Civil) Law
–
–
–
–
–
a public wrong?
state vs. private party action
incarceration vs. monetary damages
fines to state vs. fines to private party
standard of proof
– Administrative (regulatory) Law
– Felony & Misdemeanor
– How is law made?
• Legislation
• Court Decisions
A Brief Sociology of Law
Who makes the law?
Think back to our discussion of Institutions…
Wealthy, white, heterosexual men are
overrepresented in all facets of the legal
system.
The system is directed toward the protection
of individual and corporate wealth and power.
Feminism (and democratic ideals) suggest:
-
Different perspectives and experience are desirable
Increases fairness in the law as it is conceived,
enacted & administered
Assumptions underlie the criminal law?
Classical criminology assumes that people have free
will.
Punishment  Deter crime.
Positivist criminology argues biological & social factors
predispose to crime. Punishment  Rehabilitation.
Varieties of Critical Criminology
Critical criminology, Critical Feminist Criminology, Critical
race theory
One’s perceptions of the causes of crimes influence the
definition of solutions, whether punishment,
rehabilitation, or treatment.
How does the law impact women?
A.
Historically a married woman had no legal identity
separate from her husband and her status was
determined by her relationship to men.
B.
Traditionally men were not held accountable for crimes
against women, such as rape and domestic violence.
C.
The law has often been used to restrain women’s
reproductive choices – sex education, birth control &
abortion laws do not have an equal impact on ♂ & ♀.
D.
Women’s full rights as human beings are still not
recognized.
Why is Feminism important to
Criminology?
Because Criminology – like most disciplines – is
Androcentric.
What is Androcentrism?
1. Focusing solely on the experiences of men.
2. Assuming the men’s experiences describe the human
experience
3. This is what Belknap calls the “invisibility of women” in
criminology.