SOSC 1350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Crown Attorney, Femininity, Moral Panic
23 Oct 2015
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Document Summary
Within the notion of conformity, there is inscribed a system of gender differentiation, which enables defendants to be judged for their identity as much as for or instead of a crime that they may have committed. To that extent, the question must be asked whether defendants are found guilty of the crime charged or of the betrayal of their gender. Alison young: violent women: hegemonic femininity and gender betrayal . Women are supposed to be kind working class women, and nurturing their children, and not violent which is betraying their gender because they are evil and bad. Femininity of violent women is always commented upon, whereas the masculinity of men is seen to be ignored. The law says that violent women pose challenges to recognize categories of violent offenders. Crown attorney and defense lawyers rely on the discourse of hegemonic femininity: femininity of violent women is always noticed. Violence by women and girls is seen as abnormal and deviant .
