Women as Victims

Rhonda R. Dobbs

Victimization of women and girls is an amorphous category—it can be and is defined differently in diverse contexts and from dissimilar perspectives. That is, behavior defined as a form of victimization by a particular legal system may be viewed as acceptable conduct by the perpetrator. Likewise, certain actions may be viewed as a form of victimization from the perspective of someone outside the culture in which the behavior occurs, but they may be acceptable and even expected by those within the culture. Despite difficulties in defining the concept, criminologists have been able to describe and begin to explain aspects of the victimization of women and girls—generally from the perspective of either the legal system or the women and girls who experience the behavior. The victimization of women and girls takes many forms. Some of these are unique to women and are often related to traditional cultural customs. For example, an ...

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