1. How do Feminists explain crime?
Invisible Female Offenders
Sociology of Crime and Deviance tends to focus mainly on men. Although that it is true
that approximately 80% of offenders are men, there is the other 20% who are women
that are simply ignored in many sociological theories. Frances Heidensohn has
criticized the male dominance of the subject and has suggested four reasons behind it:
1. Male dominance of offenders As the majority of offenders are men for many
sociologists it would therefore make sense to focus on the majority rather than the
minority of women offenders.
2. Male Dominanation of Sociology According to Heidensohn sociology topics of
investigation reflect a male view and interests. As it was usually the case that the
majority of academics were men.
3. Vicarious identification What interests males is what’s studied, and applied to crime
their interest lies in the lives of the marginal and the exciting.
4. Sociological Theorising Male sociologists constructed their theories without ever
thinking about how they could be applied to women. Most traditional theories are
‘gender blind’, which in effect means they ignore the specific viewpoint of women.
Feminist Debates and Criminology Though male sociologists have largely ignored
female offending, feminist writers have sought to include some criminology analyses
within their approaches.
Liberal Feminism
This approach to feminism is based on the idea that by bringing women onto the
agenda and by demonstrating how women have been ignored in research, then there
will be a greater understanding of female deviance. In particular, new theories can be
developed which will cover both men and women.
Radical Feminism
Radical feminists argue that the only way to understand crime is to see it through a
female perspective – and research should be based on the assumption that all men are
prepared to commit crimes against women if given the chance. Women should
construct their own unique approaches to explaining crime and deviance and this
should incorporate the threat from men.
Socialist Feminist

2. This approach stresses that the position of men and women in general and with
reference to crime, can only be understood by locating males and females within the
context of societies that are divided by both sexism and capitalism.
Postmodern Feminism
Smart and Cain argued that the very concerns criminology have (burglary, street crime
etc) are actually a reflection of male concerns and therefore women should be looking
beyond these to the things that are most harmful to them. In other words they should
look at how harm comes to women in the widest sense possible and not just accept the
(male) boundaries of criminology.
Postmodernism and Transgression
In response to the need for a feminist version of criminology Carol Smart introduced
the idea of transgressive criminology. She suggested that criminology itself as a
discipline was tied to male questions and concerns and that it could never offer answers
to feminist questions. Instead of looking at how feminism affects criminology, she said
that they should look at how criminology can affect feminists. This can be done through
looking at a range of activities both illegal and legal that harm women and to then look
at how they came about and how they can be changed. This idea led to feminists (and
sympathetic male sociologists) looking more closely at the way women stayed in at
night for fear of becoming victims, at domestic violence and how women were treated
by the law in issues of rape and harassment (where they form the overwhelming bulk of
the victims).
Male Roles, Postmodernity and Masculinity Smarts idea of transgression linked to the
growing importance of postmodern analysis. Some sociologists began to go beyond the
traditional confines and to revisit the issue of why most crime is male crime.
Some Criticisms of Feminist Theories of Crime
• Some feminist theories are accused of hypocrisy as they are said to over focus on
gender in their explanations of crime and deviance
• Some feminist theories are criticised for understating the issues of class and ethnicity
• Some feminists are accused of an over focus on victimisation and of simplifying the
causes of offending.