Outline and assess Feminist views on crime and deviance. (50)

Within Feminism itself there are many different approaches to crime and deviance including Liberalism, Radicalism and Post-modernism. Each of them believes that crime, or the lack of crime, is a result of the patriarchal dominance in society. Feminists believe that the patriarchy generates crime against women whilst discouraging deviancy amongst women.

The official crime statistics show that men tend to commit more crime than women, and some Feminists would agree with this. One theory put forward is that this is because of the differential socialisation of males and females. Oakley argues that males are socialised to be aggressive, self-seeking and individualistic, which can therefore lead to them taking more risks and committing criminal acts. For example, if a boy is socialised into an aggressive role then he might express this through domestic violence against his partner when he is older. In the same way, a self-seeking male will do anything to satisfy his needs, which may explain male rape against women. Oakley states that females, however, are socialised into non-criminal norms and values that stress co-operation, tenderness and caring for others. This tells us that women are much less likely to commit crimes that would hurt another person, such as murder and rape, and this is reflected in the statistics.

Moreover, Radical Feminist Heidensohn claims that most academics in the area of sociology and crime are men and so the research produced is ‘malestream’ and ignores the subject of female criminality. She believes that females are conformist because the patriarchy imposes greater controls over their behaviour. This idea can be supported by the fact that girls are more strictly supervised by their parents when they are younger; McRobbie and Garber concluded that a teenage girl’s life revolves