Feminist perspective of crime – revision notes with evaluative points
Social control
Heidenson (1985) agreed with Carlen by saying that women are less likely to commit crime as they have more to lose than men and also that in a male dominated society:
- the control of women from men discourages deviance
- Heidenson also looked into the agencies of social control, and suggests that there is an ideology of different spheres, with men dominating the public spheres such as work, and women the private sphere of the home
- the private domestic sphere of the home means that domestic responsibilities provide less time and opportunity for women to go out and commit crime
- in addition, teenage girls are likely to be more closely supervised than boys by their parents, again reducing their chances of getting into trouble and committing crime
- The public sphere outside of the home means that women are faced with the fears of physical or sexual violence if they go out at night, and so will be more inclined to stay at home, consequently reducing the opportunity to commit crime.
Evaluation
(-) It presents women as being passive and accepting their position, failing to recognise the feminist movement -> women are no longer like this now.
(-) It makes generalisations about men and women, failing to recognise individual differences
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