Feminism Essay PDF

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2016/Q5 - Feminist approaches are criticized for their differences and for being unable to speak with one voice to reveal the truth of women’s oppression, but this reflects the reality of women’s oppression; is multifactorial and diverse. To speak with one voice would fall into the trap of essentialism. Feminism is not a perspective but a movement, as the question rightly points out, it is a movement with many perspectives, it stemmed as a reflection of the so-called emancipation of women as a result of male domination and oppression which according to Patricia Hills, led to a movement to end male chauvinism and to ensure equal rights with men and also to eradicate the ideology of domination. According Naffine, feminist criminology is the application of feminist perspectives into the discipline of criminology. The reason being lack of criminological theories defining women and crime in a female perspective as late 20th century criminology was considered to be the most masculine of all social sciences [Rafter and Heidensohn]. In light of this, this essay will analyze the emergence of feminist criminology from the traditional theories and whether there is a need for the feminist perspectives to be unanimous. Traditional or the professed “malestream” approach towards women and crime linked women and positivism which encapsulated biological; sociological; and psychological positivism. Biological positivism can be located primarily in the work of Lombroso who stereotyped female offenders based on physical characteristics, for example, he characterized female offenders to be more masculine than feminine. He also observed that the skull anomalies of female offenders are similar to men having a ‘virile cranium’ than they are to normal women. He further analyses the generative phase of women; also acknowledged in the work of Otto Pollak, a theory based on the biological changes connected to the menstrual cycle, where during menstruation a woman is reminded how she can never be a man and that distress triggers women to commit crime. While this particular theory remains unproved, the Law has recognized a limb of this theory by considering pre-menstrual tension to be an element of defenses in cases of violence, killing, arson and theft such, as noted by Susan Edwards and Luckhaus, premenstrual tension has been even successfully pleaded and reduced murder to manslaughter: Regina v Craddock, In a fit of rage defendant, an East London barmaid with 45 prior convictions, stabbed a fellow barmaid three times through the heart, Regina v English, defendant, after a quarrel with her lover, crushed him to death against a utility pole with her car. According to Dalton these cases are two of many British defendants to reduce their criminal responsibility by pleading premenstrual tension. Also, another defense arises out of the hormonal changes in women after giving birth is postnatal depression: infanticide which could equally be experienced by a man with primary care of child, however, this defense is applicable only for women and women are also treated leniently with punishment reducing to probation [Regina v Craddock], which suggests that it is not a special defense but compassion towards these women [Ogle], whereas, in cases of infanticide, murderous fathers were treated unsympathetically, as savage tyrants [McDonagh].

Secondly, the work of W. I. Thomas explains women and crime with the lens of psychological positivism, he was of the view that women not involved in productive sphere but rather a domestic sphere committed less crimes, he further classified middle-class women to have committed less crime compared to low-class women, not to say they are immoral but simply amoral. According to Freud, women commit crime, because as a girl, they get jealous of not having a penis so basically grow up to resent men and thus, become an exhibitionist and are prompted to commit sexual crimes. Thirdly, women and crime in the eyes of social positivists, according to Merton; Grosser, men are supposedly money and power oriented whereas a woman is socialized to seek marriage and children more than a lucrative career thus prompting women to attract men and commit sexual crimes. Nonetheless, over the years feminist perspectives in criminology have challenged the existing theories, concepts, assumptions and methods The classical criminology on women and crime were criticized as androcentrism [Daly and Chesney-Lind] and failed to understand the significance of gender and sex roles [Gelsthorpe and Morris] as for every 100 males convicted of serious offences there are only 18 females so convicted. Age and sex remain the best predictors for crime and delinquency – better than class, race or employment status [Heidensohn]. The emergence of feminist criminology can be attributed to the second wave of feminism movement; the Women’s liberation movement the first wave being the suffrage movement after the world war. It is important to recognize that feminism is not one school of thought but different schools of thoughts each explaining the oppression of women in different way, which are: Liberal Feminism; Radical Feminism; Marxist Feminism; Black Feminism; Post-Modernist Feminism. Consequently, there is no one feminist explanation of women and crime but also to not eg the various versions of feminism tend to be united in one contention that is their rejection of the term “victim” to describe the oppression of women rather use a positive term “survivor”. The feminist critique of classical criminology was inaugurated by Carol Smart who rejected the biological positivist account of criminality propounded by Lombroso and Ferrero, Smart argues that women are discriminated against on the grounds of sex, thus there are sexism influences that determine sentencing, incarceration of women and punishment. She blames personnel in the criminal justice systems for the stereotypical belief that a woman could be mad if they go against their biological nature of passivity or compliance and commit certain crimes [Pickering and Alder]. Moreover, Addison Morris criticizes that the biological and psychological positivism theories does not offer any explanation whatsoever in light of why women commit crime. When considering the effect of feminist critiques Downes and Rock identified three specific areas where the critiques have contributed to theoretical criminology: Firstly, the female emancipation debate, where Adler and Simon argue that liberation or emancipation of women, causes crime. Nonetheless, there were criticisms of this view that the new violent female is a myth when noting the fact that the male violent crime has continued to rise faster than the

female rate [Mukherjee and Fitzgerald]. Box and Hale considers this status to be merely an historical overlap. Secondly, the invalidation of the leniency hypothesis, the leniency hypothesis was proposed by Pollack that is the women are treated with leniency by the criminal justice system for the reasons of chivalry, however, critiques over the years has invalidated this hypothesis, Farrington and Morris, for example, found that courts leniency towards women was an outcome of lesser criminal records. Carlen found that Scottish sheriffs justified imprisonment more readily for female offenders as they have been viewed as “failed” mothers. Downes and Rock’s are of the view that rather than being treated leniently they are under protected and over controlled. Finally, the emergence of gender-based theories, based on Hirschi’s control theory extension to the context of women and crime. Heidensohn argues that the reason why there are few women committing crime is because of formal and informal controls that constrain them which includes practical and ideological constraints imposed by family life. Heindensohn notes women act as an agent of control on behalf of men in familial roles, they are themselves controlled both at home and outside, functioning chiefly within the private sphere of home which often leads to depression and self-abuse [Dobash and Dobash]. Having considered the feminists critiques contribution to theoretical criminology it also must analyzed the criticisms of the movement of feminism itself based on the fact that it lacks one voice, in light of this, prostitution rape and domestic violence are three areas of main focus of modern feminism. In the context of prostitution there exist different feminist opinions that are either supportive or critical. Liberal feminists perceive prostitution as private business transactions, and it’s a personal choice. Whereas radical feminists consider prostitution to be an offset of patriarchy and an exploitive relationship putting the woman in a subordinate position reducing her to a mere sexual object that brings pleasure to men [Weisburg]. Marxist feminists’ perspective is prostitution becomes a rational choice for the women in capitalists [Bonger], Marx himself as asserted that prostitution is a specific expression of general prostitution of the labor, However, Pateman agrees with the liberal feminists that prostitutes are not wage laborer’s but rather independent contractors. In conclusion, although it is evident that feminism is a set of different perspectives, as there is different race; ethnicity; culture; sexual orientation of women, it cannot be contained in accurately as one perspective [Daly and Chesney-Lind] doing so would lead to essentialism which is to say characteristics defined as women's essence are shared in common by all women at all times [Elizabeth Grosz] which is not the case....