The Invisible Woman. Joanne Belknap
gender notes the racism and sexism of “gangs” being perceived as synonymous with African American men’s criminality. Additionally, they are troubled by the invisibility of African American women’s roles in gang life. Wing and Willis (p. 244) identify six “frequently overlapping” roles of African American women’s gang involvement: (1) full-fledged members of their own, female-only gangs; (2) auxiliaries to male gangs; (3) gangsters in coed gangs; (4) girlfriends and wives of male gang members; (5) mothers of male gang members’ children; and (6) mothers, sisters, and daughters of male gang members. Thus, they conclude that African American women “have the capacity to affect gang members on profoundly intimate levels” and thus must play a pivotal role in providing solutions to the gang problem (p. 243).
Research on LGBTQI+ gang members is very new and Vanessa R. Panfil and Dana Peterson have been key in drawing attention to this gap (Panfil, 2014; D. Peterson & Panfil, 2014). Panfil’s (2017) book The Gang’s All Queer is not only ground-breaking in criminology and gang studies but also in queer studies, women studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Her sample is entirely gay men/boys in gangs that are partially or fully gay, and the participants are primarily African American (77%), then white (11%), biracial (9%), and Latinx (2%). One of the many fascinating comparisons with girls in gangs is society’s resistance to think someone could be a gay man/boy and be in a gang. Some of the men and boys reported their parents being far more upset that they were gay than that they were in a gang.
A Brief History of Feminist Gang Scholarship
Joan W. Moore and Anne Campbell are the first feminist gang scholars. J. W. Moore (1991) warns against sociologists who “treat gangs as if they were totally isolated delinquent phenomena, in fact gang members go to school, and their group is one of many in the school youth-culture setting” (p. 41). J. W. Moore (1991) and A. Campbell (1991) caution against essentializing gangs, regardless of gender, but also in terms of gender. Until Campbell’s work in the 1980s, if gang researchers included women/girls, they were only as afterthoughts in studies on boys/men, and the studies viewed them through sexist, racist, and sexualized lenses (Chesney-Lind & Hagedorn, 1999). Not surprisingly, then, women and girls’ participation in gangs has typically been viewed as an extension of men and boys’ gang membership, with the female gang members viewed as sidekicks and sex objects for the male gang members (see A. Campbell, 1990, 1991; Chesney-Lind & Hagedorn, 1999), where their sexual experiences, pregnancies, and motherhood are used as indicators of their delinquency, while their sexual victimizations (including gang rapes) are presented as consensual experiences (A. Campbell, 1991; Chesney-Lind & Hagedorn 1999). More recent research suggests that “girls in gangs” are more dynamic, independent, and interesting than the criminologists from the 1970s and earlier would have us believe (Belknap & Bowers, 2016; A. Campbell, 1990; Chesney-Lind & Hagedorn, 1999; L. A. Hughes, Botchkovar, & Short, 2019; Laidler & Hunt, 2001; J. Miller, 2001; J. Miller & Brunson, 2000; J. W. Moore, 1991; Wing & Willis, 1997).
At the same time, Panfil and Peterson (2015) note that individuals can gain entrée into gangs through “their familiar or other longstanding relationships,” such as by being “‘born in,’ ‘blessed in,’ or ‘walked in,’” or they can be “‘jumped in,’” wherein they must fight other members of the gang for a designated period of time, but only girls/women are “‘sexed in,’” that is, having sex with male gang members to gain entrée (p. 213). However, they note that this is rare because of the cost that comes with it of being looked down on by other female and male gang members for doing so.
Fishman’s (1999) analysis of the Vice Queens in Chicago in the 1960s reported that although the members would accompany the Vice Kings to their fights and subsequently fight the Vice Kings’ enemy’s auxiliary female gang members, the Vice Queens were far more likely to participate in their own fights with other women gangs, independently of what was going on with the Vice Kings. Most of the fights the Vice Queens engaged in had to do with issues of loyalty and integrity, with integrity involving a “threat to or attack on their public reputation” (p. 75). Notably, “fighting a male, and especially winning, carried a particular status among the girls” (p. 75). Consistent with J. Miller’s (2001) classic study of girls in gangs, L. A. Hughes and colleagues’ (2019) more recent analysis of historic Chicago girl gangs from 1959 to 1962 found their friendship networks were not as close as other girl gang research suggests, and they were in the gang more for peer backup on the streets. The girls’ offenses included some more masculine-associated crimes such as strong-arm robberies and purse snatchings. Also consistent with J. Miller’s (2002) more recent research on girls in gangs, L. A. Hughes and colleagues (2019) reported that while sex was “used to gain favor with boys, we found no evidence of it being valued and rewarded with prestige” among their own gang members (p. 1), and J. Miller (2002) reported also that sex devalued their status in boys’ views.
Gangs and Criminal Behavior
Being in a gang is not a crime, but gang membership is typically associated with delinquent and criminal activities. Indeed, regardless of gender, “involvement in delinquent behaviors” is the “strongest predictor of gang membership” (Bjerregaard & Cochran, 2012, p. 45). A study using national data from the United States reported that of delinquent girls, 6% are gang members, while 11% of delinquent boys are gang members (H. N. Snyder & Sickmund, 2006). Research consistently reports delinquency and criminal behavior are more prevalent in young men’s than young women’s gangs (Bjerregaard & Smith, 1993; A. Campbell, 1991; Esbensen & Winfree, 1998; Joe & Chesney-Lind, 1995; J. Miller, 2001, 2002; J. Miller & Brunson, 2000; Morash, 1983; Watkins & Melde, 2018), with the exception of a study reporting equal levels of drug use (Esbensen & Winfree, 1998). One study found 90% of boys and 75% of girls had been arrested (Joe & Chesney-Lind, 1995), and others that young men were more likely than young women gang members to carry guns (J. Miller, 2001; J. Miller & Brunson, 2000: Watkins & Melde, 2018). However, a recent study found being in a gang (“gang membership”) increased girls’ more than boys’ likelihood of serious offending, violent victimization, and carrying a weapon (although girls’ offending was still significantly lower) (Watkins & Melde, 2018).
For both girls and boys, peer influence/pressure is the motivation for committing offenses (Joe & Chesney-Lind, 1995). As expected, the more time girls spend with delinquent girls, particularly girl gang members, the more likely they are to commit delinquent acts (Giordano, 1999). Notably, although girl gang members’ offending is influenced by boy gang members, research indicates that these girls are more influenced by the other girls in their gangs (A. Campbell, 1991; Giordano, 1999). Significantly, some girl gang scholars identify their violence (when they use it) as a way of doing femininity (Laidler & Hunt, 2001; Messerschmidt, 1999). Messerschmidt (1999) claims that girl gang members’ use of violence can actually be used positively to portray their power, and can be considered feminine in certain cases where, for example, it is to defend their neighborhood or gang. Laidler and Hunt (2001) believe the girl gang members work to maintain not only their femininity but also their autonomy from others, particularly boys and men: “In their eyes, a man has to have respect for her as a woman and as an individual” (p. 674).
Hagedorn and Devitt’s (1999) study of primarily Latina gangs in Milwaukee found they were evenly divided between the gang members who “liked to fight” and those who fought to maintain solidarity with their gang members. The few women who reported that they were “not fighters” were frowned upon by their gang peers for violating the gang norms. Notably, the women who “liked to fight” had less of a male-centered outlook on life (e.g., were less likely to agree that all women “need” a man to order their lives), whereas the women who fought for gang solidarity were more likely to be in a current intimate relationship with a man. Latina gangs were most likely to fight because of turf battles or a rival gang “representing,” whereas fights with other gangs constituted less than half of African American women gang members’ fights. African American women gang members’ fights were more likely over “respect” and “jealousy” issues than were the Latina women’s gang fights.
A gender difference in gang members’ fighting is that compared with boys, girls are more likely to fight when their personal,