Gender & Subculture

• Messerschmidt


  • Hegemonic masculinity values that men need to ‘accomplish’ to be a ‘real man’
  • Men struggle to transition from childhood to adulthood as these values are difficult to achieve and so they use criminal and deviant subcultures to demonstrate them
  • Examples: drugdealer = breadwinner, violence = protector, sexism = dominance
• Batchelor et al 


  • Found no evidence of girl gangs 
  • Not one out of 800 girls were in a gang or knew a girl who was 
  • Physical violence by girls was very rare but most had witnessed male violence 
• McRobbie & Garber


  • ‘Bedroom culture’ where girls practice a ‘cult of femininity’  
  • More likely to form close friendships that involve activities such as magazine reading in their rooms  
  • Focus upon are friendship, looks and appearance, romance and relationships 
• Mirza 


  • Some young black women in comprehensive schools in London did not rebel against the system despite being marginalized by sexist or racist teachers 
  • Despite negative labelling, most black girls were concerned with academic success and worked hard to achieve it  
• Haenfler


    

  • Alternative versions of masculinity are available in the virtual world, and this provides respite from the need to excel at sports or sex
  • Nerd masculinity - young boys can use gaming to get status and rewards
  • Young people have unprecedented choices on how to create an identity, so not all young men are more deviant than young women 
• Pollack 


  • 'Chivalry thesis’ women more involved in crime than we think but police are more lenient or chivalrous
• Hey 


  • Groups of young women in her study had distinct norms and values towards clothing, sex, and education
  • Without her feminist study, little would be known about these intense groups 
• Harding 


  • Girls use their social skills to gain street capital and carve out a role
  • They become 'fixers' but can never be leader - e.g. hiding drugs and trading information with other gangs.
  • Physical and sexual violence is used regularly to 'keep them in line'
• Jackson



  • Rise in girls involved in gangs, violence and anti-school subcultures
  • New types of assertive femininity emerging - studied the 'Ladettes' who rejected the traditional 'good girl' model
• Cieslik and Pollock



  • Secretive online subculture, Pro-Ana websites, used by young women suffering from anorexia 
  • Risky and difficult transition to adulthood due to digital media - young women may become obsessed with taking control over their bodies as a reaction to the lack of control they feel elsewhere 
  • virtual subcultures demonstrate women may form more secretive groupings than men, but they may be just as deviant 
• Archer


  • Studies on gangs should focus on victims - people get badly addicted to drugs like crack, and women are forced into prostitution and abuse.