Note 10 - Feminist Theory PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Note 10 - Feminist Theory PDF

Description

Denis Karasik CRM 102 Anke Allspach

Class 8 - Feminist Theory Feminist Criminology -

1970s and 1980s feminist movement Speaking out against: Increase in non-white (Aboriginal and Black) women’s and poor women’s criminalization and incarceration Prison conditions Criminal justice system is not gender blind but engages in gendered forms of criminalization and punishment Law (and lack thereof) condoning violence against women Liberal: equality, free choices, sexual liberation, civil rights movement (rights thinking) Radical Feminism: re-ordering of society Marxist: women are oppressed by their gender and class Critical Race Feminism: women are oppressed by their gender, class and race Critique theories such as: Lombroso and Ferrero: Women commit crime (or less crime) because they are less intelligent than men Comparisons between women versus men for part. kind of criminality (biological; psychological positivism and sociological determinism) Classical theories proclaiming that the CJS is gender neutral Marxist theories for not considering patriarchy Mainstream theories are predominantly “male-stream” theories: men study male offenders or men study female offenders Women-centred approaches Producing knowledge about women from women’s standpoint and women’s experiences Producing knowledge about structural conditions within which women’s crime committing emerges (patriarchy but also capitalism, racism) Women as both victims and offenders Women experience double punishment for crime committed and transgressions of gender roles

Patriarchy (Sexism) -

Structure whereby Males hold primary power positions in public and private domains Evokes ideologies that men are superior over women based on biology Asserts male dominance over women Enforces gender roles oppressive to women (and men)

-

Proclaims men’s natural superiority/domination over women Is an organizational principle of society Is a structure of oppression institutionalized in CJS

Feminism: From Sex to Gender -

Not biological Differences between men and women are socially constructed Gender is socially constructed based on dominant ideas how women and men should look and behave Crime is not rooted in wo(men)’s biology/ sex but How white male middle/upper class power and moralities define gender roles and crimes

Gendering Crime: Feminity and Masculinity -

Associating certain crimes with a certain gender

-

Women are criminalized deviating from their gender roles: deviations from notions of femininity and sexuality

-

Crime is a form of controlling women particularly their sexual freedom and class based income strategies

Gendering Crime: Men/Masculinity -

Men and violent crimes

-

Socialization

-

Dominant/hegemonic masculinity

-

Deviance from hegemonic masculinity

-

Subordinate masculinity

Socialization -

It is crucial…to think about power and the processes by which variety of masculine values are (re-) produced and become internalized, the processes of identification, the ways in which certain core values become associated with specific social groups, together as an historical analysis of masculinities and masculine practices. (Newburn and Stanko 1994: 2)

Hegemonic Masculinity/Femininity

-

Men = born sex

-

Masculinity = socially constructed: power relations, morals, historical socio-economic and political contexts

-

Producing myths about men using essentialism: attributing certain behaviour to men’s biol. make-up for example testosterone: men are violent or aggressive……

-

Often in relation to women: caring, mild mannered….

-

Ideal masculinities are produced: as the measuring stick how to be and become and how to act

-

= HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY:

-

Enactment of dominant ideas about masculinity

Hegemonic Masculinity -

Ruling groups maintain their dominance by convincing those they subordinate that they share the same values and interests as the ruling groups. This is accomplished through the organization of consent rather than direct forms of violence or coercion.

-

In modern western patriarchal culture the dominant or hegemonic masculine form is aggressive and misogynist.” (Newburn and Stanko 1994: 4)

-

Linked with sexual appeal and sexual objectification

Canadian Hegemonic Masculinity/Femininity -

Socially historically and geopolitically constructed ideal types:

-

Hegemonic masculinity: white, middle class, Anglo-Protestant morals, able bodied, heterosexual, head of nuclear family, provider, strong, assertive…..

-

Hegemonic femininity: white, middle class, Anglo-Protestant values, able bodied, heterosexual, gentle, empathic, sensitive, caring, sweet, compassionate, nurturing.

-

Has traditionally included long, flowing hair, clear skin, a narrow waist, and little or no body hair or facial hair.

-

Has been normalized and “the processes by which they become internalized, the processes of identification, the ways in which certain core values become associated with specific social group” (Newburn and Stanko 1994:2)

Subordinate Masculinity/Femininity -

Inverse hegemonic masculinity:

-

Non-normative

-

Non-white

-

Non-citizens

-

Lower class- working class

-

Homosexual or transgender/ sexual and gender fluidity

-

Not Anglo Saxon Protestant

-

Disabled

Subordinate Masculinity/Femininity -

Men with different positioning in terms of race, sexuality, class, gender

-

And different behavioural patterns

-

=subordinate masculinities/femininities

-

Bullied, name calling, exclusions…

-

Hate crimes against homosexuals and transgendered people

Masculine Violence and Crime -

Documentary

-

“Tough Guise”

Critical Race Feminism -

Crenshaw (1989)

-

Razack: Pamela George (2002)

Intersectionality (Crenshaw 1989) -

Intersectionality emerged as a research method in the context of 1980s critical race feminism:

-

This approach allows analyses of how multiple inequalities and structures of oppression interact to structure women’s lives in different ways (Crenshaw 1989, 140).

-

Crenshaw (1991) points out that intersectionality is not additive in its analysis, but rather traces how “systems of race, gender and class domination converge” (Crenshaw 1991, 1246).

Structures of Oppression -

Capitalism (classism)

-

Patriarchy (sexism)

-

White Supremacy (racism)

-

And other structures

-

Come together

-

And form sites/experiences of oppression and privilege

Capitalism (Classism) -

Structure whereby means of production is privately owned

-

Modes of production are dominated by the goal to maximize private profit and the accumulation of wealth

-

Class based society, Bourgeois order and reserve workers

-

Exploitation and Poverty as violence

Patriarchy (Sexism) -

Structure whereby

-

Males hold primary power positions in public and private domains

-

Evokes ideologies that men are superior over women based on biology

-

Asserts male dominance over women

-

Enforces gender roles oppressive to women (and men)

White Supremacy (Racism) -

Is an ideology and structure whereby white superiority is promoted based on biol. and cultural traits and that whites should politically, economically and socially rule.

-

Social, economic, political domination

-

Exploitation, segregation, exclusion…

Intersectionality -

WO(MEN) is not

-

A universal category but experiences of wo(men) differ according to race, class, immigration status, age, ability …. (intersectionality)

-

Situating wo(men’)s criminality within structural conditions such as patriarchy, capitalism and racism

-

Crenshaw:

-

Wo(men’s) crimes emerged within structures of oppression

-

Victims of structural oppression and male abuse

-

Responses to oppression

-

Women’s responses to their victimization is criminalized and punished

-

Differences amongst women based on race and class

Examples -

Domestic Abuse

-

The Murders and the disappearance of Aboriginal Women

-

Pamela George

The Disappearance and Murder of Aboriginal women

-

“Helen Betty Osborne was a 19-year-old Cree student from northern Manitoba who dreamed of becoming a teacher. On November 12, 1971, she was abducted by four white men in the town of The Pas and then sexually assaulted and brutally murdered. A provincial inquiry subsequently concluded that Canadian authorities had failed Helen Betty Osborne. The inquiry criticized the sloppy and racially biased police investigation that took more than 15 years to bring one of the four men to justice. Most disturbingly, the inquiry concluded that police had long been aware of white men sexually preying on Indigenous women and girls but “did not feel that the practice necessitated any particular vigilance.” (Amnesty International 2004)

The Disappearance and Murder of Aboriginal women: the Pickton Murders -

Pickton admitted to killing 49 women

-

Aboriginal women and prostitutes

-

Between 2002-2005: Charged with first degree murder of 27 women

-

2007: convicted of second degree murder of six women

-

Life sentence (25 years) without parole

The Disappearance of Aboriginal Women -

Amnesty International has found that

-

“Despite assurances to the contrary, police in Canada have often failed to provide Indigenous women with an adequate standard of protection.

-

The resulting vulnerability of Indigenous women has been exploited by Indigenous and non-Indigenous men to carry out acts of extreme brutality against them.

-

These acts of violence may be motivated by racism, or may be carried out in the expectation that societal indifference to the welfare and safety of Indigenous women will allow the perpetrators to escape justice” (Amnesty International 2004).

Case Study: Pamela George -

Use intersectionality as a framework and

-

Analyse how racialized, gendered and classed violence is a form of colonial violence

-

By drawing out sites of oppression, privilege and domination in the murder of Pamela George, policing practises, court room proceedings and punishments.

Pamela George

-

Pamela George, Sakimay First Nation, mother of two children,

-

occasional sex trade worker

-

Crime: Was raped and murdered in April 1996.

Racialized Policing -

Usual suspects: homeless person and Aboriginal men and common law partner

-

Blame the victims environment

-

Never Suspected: “Privileging White Innocence” (Jiwani 2006)

-

Steven Tyler Kummerfield, 20 years old, and Alexander Dennis Ternowetsky, 19 years old

-

Bragged about the murder and confided to friends and family

-

Tip to the police

-

Charge: were charged with first degree murder in her death.

Court Proceedings and Ruling -

Defense: two young guys who wanted to have fun: alcohol and testosterone

-

Justice Ted Malone, of the Court of Queen's Bench told the all-white jury to bear in mind that Pamela "indeed was a prostitute" when considering if she consented to having sex with the accused.

-

The jury returned a guilty verdict to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

-

From 6 ½ years, Kummerfield and Ternowetsky served under 4 years

Feminist Contributions -

Contributed to the criminalization of violence against women such as

-

Rape

-

Domestic violence

-

Reducing gender bias within the CJS

-

Women’s federal imprisonment in Canada

-

Gender specific programs

Contributions Cont. -

Think about how poverty is feminized, racialized and criminalized

-

How the relationship between women’s victimization and criminalization operates throughout the CJS (patriarchy institutionalized in the CJS)

-

Study women’s experiences in the CJS as gendered conjuring with race, class relations

-

Study gender which includes masculinities: “hegemonic masculinity” and “subordinate masculinity”

-

Study the control of women (incl. their sexuality and reproductive rights e.g. sex work, abortion, homosexuality) operates through law, policing practices, court procedures and forms of punishment...