Gender crime violence essay PDF

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Question: Violent women have been constructed in a number of ways – fantasy figure, psychopath, innocent or misguided victim – whilst simultaneously being relatively invisible. Offer an analysis of how and why acts of violence committed by women may carry different meanings to similar acts committed...

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Violent women have been constructed in a number of ways – fantasy figure, psychopath, innocent or misguided victim – whilst simultaneously being relatively invisible. Offer an analysis of how and why acts of violence committed by women may carry different meanings to similar acts committed by men. Violence has many different meanings to different individuals however these definitions are often lacking, the World Health Organization (2016) refers to violence as ‘’the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation’’. Although it is statistically shown that males commit more violent crime as a whole , the amount committed by women is on the increase ‘’the number of women committing violence crimes has increased steadily over the past two decades’’ (Heilbrum et al, 2008, pages 1382-1397; Odgers, Moretti and Reppucci, 2005, pages 7-27). The increase in women offending may be down to an array of factors such as self-defensive (Yadav, 1993, p.167), ‘’violence to protect a loved one or […] to preserve a relationship’’ (Cullen and Wilcox, 2010, p.886) and violence and abuse in their own childhood which has affected them at a later date (Russel, 2010). Violent women portray very different roles to that of violent men, where as a man may be seen as aggressive, frenzied and disorderly, women are shown as innocent, fantasy figures or merely misguided victims but why is this? The following points will focus on gendered violence from the perspective that the violence being committed is against a member of the opposite sex. Women’s violent crime may carry a different meaning because they are seen to be expressive crimes, this is a form of illegal behaviour which has an emotionally motivated purpose, Liska and Messner (1999) say these type of crimes are unplanned and spontaneous. An example of a violent expressive crime would be a women pushing somebody back and causing injury in order to stop them hurting her children or a women stealing food in order to feed her family, in this instance she is seen as ‘innocent’. Expressive types of crimes are more likely to be excused by society and the criminal justice system, Farrell (2010) says this is because there is no monetary end goal so people find it hard to understand exactly why the crime was committed. Worrall (1990) (cited in Walklate, 2001, p.126) offered a different explanation as to why these crimes were excused and found that ‘’experts within the criminal justice system endeavour to make sense of women’s criminality as either not really being criminal, or of the women themselves not really being women’’. This study however must be looked at critically as it was published in 2001, suggesting that findings may be out of date. It is also not clear whether the experts in the criminal justice system were women themselves meaning the study could be biased. This links in with Carlen’s (2013, p.4) idea that a women perpetrator is simply a misguided victim, whose sole aim was to protect herself or others. This is because people can empathize with the perpetrator and understand why the crime was committed even if it wasn’t right, The Criminal Law Act (1967) states that "A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large’’. This idea is also supported by Campbell (cited in Stuart, Allen Smith and Denton, 2012 p.325) who states that ‘’conventionally, we do not think of self-defence as a form of violence’’. This supports the idea that she was simply a victim who retaliated. Another view would be off the female as a fantasy figure, who was heroic for putting somebody else’s needs before her own and

standing up for them. An example of this, was when a women in Charleston, West Virginia killed a suspected serial killer who she was to be a victim of and was branded brave and heroic, some saying she ‘’has become an unexpected heroine’’ (O’Hara, 2013). Men’s crime however is seen to be instrumental referring to crimes that offer ‘’a means to an end’’ it is ‘’not about the crime per se, but about the profit that it brings’’ (Pakes and Pakes, 2012, p.32) for example, robbing something material for one’s own benefit. Keeling and Mason (2008, p.31) say that ‘’the difference between expressive and instrumental violence is not simply in purpose, but also in frequency, severity and initiation’’. This is not however always the case as expressive crimes can have larger implications such as death ‘’murder is often an expressive “crime of passion” (Siegal, 2007, p.84) even though consequences may be more severe they do usually happen left frequently. Another criticism, which comes from the ideas of The Domestic Violence law is in terms of initiation, ‘’studies show that in half of all reported domestic abuse cases it is impossible to determine who initiated the violence, and in the other half of reported domestic violence cases, males and females initiate physical aggression at an equal rate’’ (Domestic Violence Law, NA). This however cannot be applied to all cases of violence as the source is only referring to cases involving domestic violence. Another subtopic in the expressive versus instrumental debate is that of remorse, Stuart and Stuart (NA, p.1) says that ‘’expressive aggressors often experience genuine remorse’’ this suggests that as women usually commit expressive crimes they are the ones that feel guilty, this might help to explain why their crimes are taken less seriously. This source however must be viewed with a critical eye as it is undated so findings may be incomplete or outdated. The whole above argument must be taken as a basis as ‘’It is also recognized that both men and women may, at times, use aggression or violence instrumentally and expressively’’ (Correctional Service Canada, 2013, NA) although this happens to a lesser extent. Another reason why similar acts committed by opposing sexes are seen differently is due to stereotypical differences in size and strength, ‘’Young men were keenly aware that violence towards women was wrong because men were physically bigger and stronger’’ (Sundaram, 2014, p.NA). A man defending himself against a women may be punished a lot more severely than a women when defending themselves against a man. In same sex violence women are also likely to get a lesser punishment than if it were two men fighting ‘’men on average receive 63 percent longer prison sentences than women who commit comparable crimes’’ (Cohen and Rozsa, 2015, p. NA). However this idea is hugely problematic because it suggests that all men are physically stronger than women, Hinman argues the opposing view that ‘’some women are stronger than some men are’’ (Hinman, 2016, p.304). It also suggests that violence is based on strength alone whereas there are other factors involved, to successfully defend oneself strength may not be the most important factor. McCann says other factors are just as important such as ‘’balance, speed, agility, coordination, flexibility, intensity and so on — have more variability between people than between genders.’’ (McCann & Washington, 2016, p. 24-25). The idea of women being let off because they’re weaker so cause less harm doesn’t explain why a physically weaker man isn’t given the same privileges. A further problem surrounding the strength debate is that all violence doesn’t involve physical fighting but could involve weapons which you do not have to be strong to yield.

On the other hand though, Women’s violence can be seen as more shocking in some cases, this is because it is not the norm, men are shown being violent in mainstream media all the time, especially in films and television programmes ‘’over 65 percent of major television characters are involved in violence, most of them male’’ (Lynch and Kilmartin, 2011, p.63). This quote is useful in giving us a basis however saying over 65 percent makes it very unreliable as it does not say how much over, it could be 66 percent or 99 percent which would alter the results a lot. Signorielli (2005) also argues against this point, in television programmes in the twenty-first-century seen between 8pm and 11pm, men and women were equally likely to be involved in crime. This however doesn’t specific the type of crime and as I am focusing on violent crime it must be taken with caution. Society has become desensitised to male’s violence as it is seen as a normal thing. This helps to explain why a case about women’s violence in the news may come as more of a shock to a society socialised to believe that it is men who are violent. This point is summed up well by Quarmby ‘’the image created by female offenders can be more powerful, because it is seen as transgressive of gender. It leaves a longer-lasting impression’’ (Quarmby, 2016, NA). So when a women is violent they may be branded abnormal or as the title of this essay suggests a psychopath. Boyle (2005) argues that Men’s violence is also normalised through pornography, some would even go as far to say that ‘’evidence clearly points to a causal relationship between pornography and male violence’’ (Boyle, 2005, p. 15) however sex positive feminists such as MacKinnon (1988- cited in Boyle, 2005, p.15) would say there is no causal relationship present. As previously stated men’s violence is so common it is not seen as shocking any more, Easton (1994, p.10) says men’s violence is normalised whether that be through physical harm, direct or indirect, or psychological or emotional violence. Pornography is viewed by a colossal proportion of society ‘’About 70 percent of all men between the ages of eighteen to twenty-four watch pornography’’ (Paine, 2014, p. 24), if this many people view pornography it helps to explain why it is seen as normal for men to be violent, this however doesn’t take into consideration the violent women in porn. Following on from my previous point about men’s violence being portrayed as normal, this is also shown through statistics, primarily men are statistically shown to commit violent crime, Walker and Maddan (2013, p.99) say that statistics have consistently supported the idea that men commit more violent crime than their female counterparts, so this is what society believes. This can be criticised for various reasons, one being that they don’t specify where these statistics came from. Even if we did know what organisation these statistics were from we would have to be very cautious because they may not be valid, this is because a lot of males wouldn’t report if they had been a victim of violence by a women. Snow says this is because ‘’ it is not considered manly in this country to admit that a woman beat you up’’ (Snow, 1997, p.73). This is supported with findings from the Office for National Statistics (2013, p.29) that found women were twice as likely as men to report violence, this may be because men are embarrassed or ashamed to be hit by a women ‘'men might feel embarrassed to report abuse suffered at the hands of a female’’ (Sparks and Gruelle, 2016, p, NA). This again shocks society because of the fact that women are statistically shown to be less violent than men so when they are very violent it provokes a negative reaction.

Another factor influencing how violent crimes are viewed differently between genders is the type of violent crime, for example abuse involving children. Women’s abusing their own children is seen as a lot more severe than a man abusing his children, this may be because women are seen as stereotypically more nurturing and compassionate. ‘’women, on the whole, are more compassionate than men’’ (Jacob, 2011, p.NA). This however must be taken with caution because not all women are nurturing and some men can be a lot more nurturing than women. Women are socialised to be nurturing from birth when as children they are given dolls to look after as opposed to males who are given super hero’s, it is a common conception that all women are maternal and would protect their child. This helps to explain why this type of violence is all the more shocking when carried out by a mother ‘’mothers who kill their children present a significant challenge to the cultural ideas of femininity and motherhood’’ (Mallicoat & Ireland, 2014, p.235). This form of women’s violence can be linked to the idea of a women perpetrator being viewed as a psychopath ‘’the presence of a psychological disorder makes it easier for society to understand that a mother could hurt her child’’ (Mallicoat & Ireland, 2014, p.235). A women who violently abuses or kills her child may be found not guilty by reason of insanity, she would not be punished as harshly on the ground of mental instability. This is backed up by Meyers (2015) who said that most of these women did have a mental instability, her work focused mostly on psychopathy ‘’I can only hypothesize that some—but not all—of the subset of women who kill their children are psychopaths’’. This could also fall into the category of innocent because they did not harm their children out of a conscious choice but due to external factors. This was the case with Andrea Yates who drowned her five children one by once in the bath of her family home, her punishment was not as harsh based on the history of her mental wellbeing. She was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison but this was over turned due to her severe depression and psychosis so instead she was not found not guilty by reason of insanity and was sent to a state mental facility for treatment. All of the above points apart from the mother and child violence have been based around the view that violence is between males and females rather than members of the same sex. So is violence between two women and between two men viewed differently? It has been found that men are more likely to experience violence by other men. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). This idea can be related back to the normalisation of men’s violence, if it’s normal for a man to fight, then it is normal for two men to fight, this was shown in a news report where two British men on holiday, fought in the street and nobody tried to stop them and even encouraged the fight ‘’Baying mob cheers as two men have bloody fist fight in the street’’ and ‘’One spectator films the bruising encounter’’ (Scott, 2016). It has become so normal that some people enjoy men fighting, this is shown through boxing when ‘’a shiver of delight ran across the arena. A man to my left started laughing’’ (Zushi, 2016). This however differs to men fighting in public and doesn’t explain whether this is the same reaction to women’s boxing. To contrast this though, a women fighting another women in the street is frowned upon, ‘’Shocked shoppers stared in disbelief after a fight erupted between two women’’ and ‘’Two men step in after a few seconds’’ (KentOnline, 2016). This shows how normalised fights between men have become and how women’s violence is seen as more of a shock, leading them to hold the label of psycho. The size argument does not come in to play between the same sexes, earlier in this essay it was mentioned that men fighting women is worse because of size differences but if two members of the same sex are fighting then stereotypical gender size ratios don’t come into

account. The main factor effecting whether fights between two men or two women are viewed differently is the size of each person who is involved in the violence, a bigger women being violent towards a very petite women may be seen as more shocking than two men the same size fighting, this can also be reversed. However, Jameison and Orr (2009) highlight the importance of the famous saying ‘’It is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog’’ (Jameison and Orr, 2009 ,p. 218). To conclude, it is of extreme importance to take into account all factors when assessing the different meanings behind the violence of both genders. There is evidence to suggest that women’s crimes are relatively invisible however there is also evidence to suggest that women’s violence may be treated as more severe as stated by a number of reasons above. There is growing evidence to suggest that violence is viewed different depending on the situation rather than the gender of the perpetrator, this helps to explain why it is still not entirely clear as to why one gender carries different meanings to another gender. In my opinion it depends on your personal viewpoint, what one person may find shocking or acceptable for a certain gender to do another may not, this may differ depending on your own gender, age, and ethnicity etc. For example, ‘’female fighting is reported to be particularly prevalent among the Siriono’’ (Kelly, 2000, p,32) thus seen as normal . Why does society tell us what to think rather than us thinking for ourselves? In order to find a grounded, more definitive answer more research must be done in the field.

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McCann, K., & Washington, M. (2016). Self-Defense Is Genderless. Black Belt. Volume 54(5), ...