Girls' Violence: Beyond Dangerous Masculinity

In this article, we review criminological perspectives of girls' violence. To do this, we first look at the 20th-century tendency to view violent girls as being the same as violent boys or as taking up dangerous types of masculinity. Second, we consider the contemporary ways that researchers have tried to move beyond male-centered and masculinized explanations of female violence. Noting potential problems with current perspectives, we argue that researchers need to address the contexts surrounding female offending, which includes understanding the effects and nature of gender, race, and class inequalities and how they (singly and in combination) predict popular representations and treatment of violent girls. We conclude by cautioning contemporary researchers to avoid returning to androcentric perspectives of girls' physical aggression. Not only are such perspectives logically problematic, they are also consequential. In particular, they have facilitated the masculinization and punishment of poor or working-class girls of color who are filling US detention centers and juvenile prisons in ever increasing numbers.