Messerschmidt, James W.: Masculinities and Crime

Christopher W. Mullins

Gender is one of the most stable and pronounced demographic associations with criminality. Men commit the vast majority of most crimes, especially serious crimes. In hindsight, one may wonder why a book placing men's crimes and criminality in the context of their lives as men did not appear until 1993. After all, much criminology was done with all-male samples by male researchers. Yet the gendered (or sexed) nature of crime was taken for granted. While some early scholars examined social and cultural structures that would be linked to masculinities concerns by later researchers (e.g., Walter Miller's focal concerns or Albert Cohen's status frustration), at the time they were presented in an a-gendered fashion. As feminist criminology developed in the 1970s, the problem of women's and girls’ offending became central for the first time. Early feminist criminologists attacked the discipline as either ignoring the existence of female crime and criminality In ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.