What, if anything, has the discipline of criminology...

What, if anything, has the discipline of criminology learned from the inclusion of a gendered perspective? Gender and Crime Module: Soci308 Deadline: 13/01/2014 Assignment 2: 2,500 words Word Count: 2,500 Module Leader: Dr Karen Evans Student I.D. 200187509 What, if anything, has the discipline of criminology learned from the inclusion of a gendered perspective? In order to whether the discipline of criminology has learned anything from the inclusion of a gendered perspective, this essay will outline historical criminological discourses, addressing key perspectives that differentiate men and women based on biological make-up. This essay will focus on early criminological theorists need to prove criminology as a science,†¦show more content†¦According to Smart (1990), Lombroso (1895) paid little attention to women who committed crime, believing that female crime was mainly of a sexual nature, such as prostitution. Lombroso (1895) argued that female crime was biologically determined, relational to atavistic ‘abnormalities’ in biological make-up, such as masculine physical traits, muscular build, dark facial/body hair, and lacking in maternal instincts as being more likely to commit crime (Smart, 1990). Pollak (1950) elaborates further, offering a stereotypical, narrow vision of female criminality, suggesting that women who commit crime are pathologically deviant and as such, are more conniving than men. Pollak (1950) argues that women are believed to commit less crime than men is because they are so well equipped for lying, deception and trickery, therefore, when they do commit crime, they are rarely apprehended. Pollak (1950) claims that women’s ability to conceal emotion and fake orgasm is a product of their ‘natural’ ability to deceive and manipulate others, thus giving them power to entice men into committing crime (Pollak, 1950). Similar sentiments are echoed in the work of Cowie et al (1968) that suggest masculine personalities are prone to be aggressively dominant, thus when faced with methods of survival or need to prove dominant status, normalises criminal behaviour. In contrast, feminine personalities are ascribed with a submissive, docile nature. Whe n women do not conform to these