Gender and Crime

Catalog description

This course explores the intersection between gender and crime by focusing on the experiences of women as crime victims, criminal offenders, and criminal justice professionals, experiences which are very often interrelated and overlapping. Such experiences can only be fully understood through careful examination of gender constructionism, women's historically disadvantaged status in a patriarchal society, and the multiple ways through which law, and the criminal justice system in particular, help maintain modern systems of patriarchy. Topics include gender inequality, social and cultural constructions of gender, women's sexualization and objectification, masculinities, gender differences in offending, and several specific to crime issues such as rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment. The course encourages ideas and suggestions that can be put in place to end gender based inequality and crime, and to promote social justice.