Nov 4 (mid3)

Subjectivist: Feminist Perspectives

following slides

Youth, Gender, and Deviance

• Girls/ women engage in indirect, relational, or socially aggression deviance at rates similar to/somewhat higher than boys/men i.e. ostracization, spreading rumors, or psychological manipulation

• Minor forms of deviance, such as skipping classes, underage drug use have small differences based on gender

• Male youth crime rate is significantly and consistently higher than female youth rate in Canada

  • the more serious/violent the offense, the wider the gender gap becomes

• Public concern that girl violence is increasing = “product of a moral panic”

Media and Moral Panic

• Media play significant role in shaping public attitudes toward youth crime

• Stanley Cohen (1972) media analysis of youth crime in England demonstrated sensationalist coverage:

  • Moral panic: Exaggerated fears about social problems, including youth deviance, partly generated by the media

  • Folk devils: Any group that is unjustifiably perceived to pose a threat to the traditional values and institutions of society

• The media contributes to the public’s perception of youth crime

Stanley Cohen Moral Panic

• Analyses the role media plays

  • use of exaggerated stats i.e. big numbers

  • promotion of “folk devil” account i.e. not reporting despite many witnesses and demonization of groups

  • promotion of actors who protect moral boundaries i.e. judge who was critical of deviant and bystander youth, and pastor who said it wasn’t parents’ fault — each mentions what they believe is a moral boundary

  • gives voice to experts who diagnose, provide solutions and prognoses i.e. highlighting the conferences because it institutionalizes the situation

Media and Kelly Ellard: Gendering Violence, Restorative Justice

• Analysis of media accounts of the Reena Virk case with focus on treatment of Kelly Ellard

• Finding: Warren Glowatski received much less media analysis suggesting male violence is less interesting because it’s more common

• Kelly Ellard was focus because behaviour was violation of traditional constructions of girlhood/femininity:

  • “Killer Kelly”

  • notion of ‘sisterhood’

Nasty Girl Moral Panic

• Barron and Lacombe

• This moral panic is a projection of the late-modernity anxieties (sudden changes in society) onto criminals

• Nasty Girls seen as bad products of feminism

  • Western culture promotion of “bad girls” and “girl power” i.e. Avril Lavigne smashing a guitar