Category: Gender

Introduction

Within this end of course assessment, I am going to be talking about Gender and Crime. A brief explanation into the differences in male and female criminals, criminological theories including the chivalry thesis. Crime & media in popular culture also falls into the category for this assessment which talks about cultural criminology and representations. The main body of this assessment will fall around the infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos and how she was represented by the media, popular culture, and society in her portrayal as a psychotic serial killer who prostituted herself and prayed on wealthy men. This assessment will conclude with female criminality portrayals, the evil woman hypothesis and Summarised accordingly with the findings made within the body of this assessment.

Gender & Crime

In 1997 a study was published by Lisa Broidy and Robert Agnew surrounding the questions generally raised with the link between gender & crime. The study applies GST (Agnew’s general strain theory) to the two most common questions asked about gender and crime:

1. How can we explain the higher rate of crime among males?
2. How can we explain why females engage in crime? (Broidy & Agnew, 1997)

The authors of the publication suggest that gender differences in different sorts of strain and the reaction to strain helps to understand the overall gap within criminal behaviour. Regarding question number 2, there’s arguments that the several types of strain could lead to female crime under proper circumstances. In this area, general strain theory has a lot in common with various accounts that can explain crime in females in terms of oppression. (Broidy & Agnew, 1997)

Criminological theories on gender & crime

Crime, Media, and popular culture

The analysis of crime, media, and popular culture is arguably one of the most important and satisfyingly enlightening areas of criminological inquiry. (Dowler, 2006)

There is not much doubt that the media has become the centre of attention when producing and filtering ideas of crime for national television. The media’s selective nature on produces televised and readable crime, like, emphasising on the violence and sensationalism and also playing to the fears, both fabricated and real life of both viewers and readers, has produced a very distorted picture of crime and criminality that happens in real life. Furthermore, true crime book genres, has seen a mas growth, with hundreds of titles appearing on shelves every year. All of these are a big contribute to the public’s never ending thirst for knowledge on the weird and most violent crimes. Beyond this, crime related news stories tend to be repetitive with its nature, reporters tend to recycle well known stories that can be used in related stories or new developments within the original story itself. (Dowler, 2006)

The Karla Homolka case provides a really good example of what Soothill and colleagues (Soothill, Pearson, Francis, Peelo and Acklerley 2002; Soothill, Francis, Pearson and Peelo 2004) deem as “mega cases,” which is cases that produces relative longevity with the media because they produce an amazingly strong response with the audience the reporter is writing to. Homolka’s case generated over 1,100 stories and reports in the Toronto Star since 1995. This yielded measure of both the simple mindedness of repeating popular and well understood themes and to draw the audience in, this is a common practice in journalism. (Fleming 1983, 1996, 2006)

Gender and serial murder

Serial killers have been deemed as loners who tend to stalk strangers at night to snatch, torture and sexually assault their victims before evidently killing them. They tend to have nicknames like “Jack the Ripper” or “the Yorkshire Ripper”. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Consider Jane Toppan, a young woman who lived in the US working as a nurse, She killed around 31 people, a lot of them were under her care. Her niche was the use of poison and loved watching her victims die, she was even reported to lie down by their sides as they were losing their lives. Toppan’s modus operandi fits the pattern of a typical female serial killer which was identified by researchers in a paper published in 2015. Women tend to kill people they know, are often care givers and well educated. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Marissa Harrison, psychology professor at Penn State Harrisburg, argues that these gender variances can by explained through evolutionary psychology – that human brains are hardwired through how our ancestors lived within the prehistoric era. According to Marissa’s theory, Male serial killers are hunters, they follow their victims like they did with their prey in nomadic communities. However, female serial killers, are gatherers, according to the article published in the journal Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences. (Kozlowska, 2019)

The paper shows that men and women serial killers do kill differently, it also offers an interesting theory in to why that exactly is. In 2015 a paper published showed that 39% of female serial killers worked in healthcare. They tend to stay in one place and use less violent methods of culling, like poison.

Marissa does state that these are just a generalisation as America’s most famous female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, who was portrayed in the movie ‘Monster’ in 2003, conducted her killings in more of a similar way to that of a male serial killer. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer convicted of murdering around 7 people between 1989 – 1990. Her case drew attention from all around the world to issues relating to gender and violence and the legal treatment of acts of self defense by women. Her life became the subject of two documentaries and a film named ‘Monster’ which came out in 2003.

Aileen’s start in life was not a great one. Her parents separated before she was born and shortly after that, her father spent a lot of time in various mental hospitals for child molestation. At the age of 4, Wuornos and her brother were sent to live with their grandparents. When she was a teenager she spent some time at home for unmarried mothers before dropping out of school and becoming a prostitute.

In 1974 she was sent to prison for driving under the influence and for firing a gun from a moving vehicle. She was arrested and charged various times for crimes including check forgery, armed robbery, and auto theft.

By the end of 1980 she was a drifter and in 1989-1990, whilst posing as a prostitute hitchhiker, she killed 7 middle aged male motorists who had picked her up and left their bodies along the Florida and southern Georgia highways.

Wuornos was arrested in the early months of 1991, she admitted killing the 7 men put protested that she only acted in self defense when the men assaulted her. Wuornos had supporters who viewed the killer as a strong independent woman, they even branded her a heroic figure for being able to defend herself against male aggression.

She was convicted and sentenced to death for one of the murders in 1992 and she later pleaded guilty to 3 more of the murders.

Aileen Wuornos kept herself defense claim, speaking publicly ‘I’m supposed to die because I’m a prostitute? No, I don’t think so. I was out prostituting, and I was dealing with hundreds and hundreds of guys. You got a jerk that’s going to come along and try to rape me? I am going to fight. I believe everybody has a right to self-defend themselves.’ – Aileen Wuornos.

Aileen Wuornos was executed via lethal injection.

Mental health issues

From the contents of Wuornos’ biography, some of her criminal activities conducted and violent behaviours shown in her youth could be contributed by factors like the abuse she was succumbed to in her early childhood, and also the neglect she received from the bad parenting techniques inflicting by her grandfather as a research conducted on Wuornos through an interview found that Aileen’s grandfather was both physically and emotionally abusive towards Wuornos. He often beat her up then called her insulting names like a whore (Myers, Gooch & Meloy, 2005).

In a study carried out by Knutson et al. (2004), it points out that, deficient parenting, more towards neglectful parenting was a major predictor for the growth of anti-social behaviour for children and teenagers/young adults in their later life.

Furthermore, with the combined factor of the abusive parenting mixed with the natural aggressive nature Aileen possesses, it made her even more prone to the growth of exhibiting anti-social behaviour. According to relatives of Wuornos, she has various different behavioural problems going back from as far as childhood, she has a really bad, short temper which caused her to get into fights with people all the time. She also stole from family and friends and exhibited property destruction behaviour when she set her home and the girls toilet in her school on fire. (Myers, Gooch, & Meloy, 2005)

According to studies conducted by Andershed, Narusyte, Lichtenstein, and Neiderhiser (2007); Schaffer, Clark, and Jeglic (2009); Shek and Ma (1997), the use of bad parenting could heighten the growth of anti-social behaviour in children, especially when they exhibit signs of an aggressive nature.

Biological Factors

As mentioned in Wuornos’ biography, her biological father was a psychopath, so there is a possibility that Aileen could of inherited some psychopathic traits of her father, things like lack of remorse and empathy, poor behaviour control, which can be a factor in her causes for committing her more serious crimes, as according to Blonigen, Hicks, Kreuger, and Iacono (2008); Brogaard (2012); Hicks, Veaidyanathan, and Patrick (2010), psychopathic traits can be genetically inherited and predisposed to the child of a psychopath. In the study which was conducted by Gooch, Myers, and Meloy (2005), Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist Revised was employed by the researchers so they could assess Wuornos, the generated results from the PCLR indicated that Wuornos’ tendency of becoming a psychopath was significantly high as she ticked a high amount of numbered criteria within the checklist, like, pathological lying, lack of remorse, conning, need for stimulation, impulsivity, parasitic life and promiscuous sexual behaviour.

Furthermore, in an interview which was performed by Gooch, Myers, and Meloy, the researchers found Wuornos’ mother to be an alcoholic. Hence why there is a possible chance that Wuornos may have suffered from central nervous system damage of dysfunction due to alcohol exposure whilst in the womb, this may have been a contribute to Wuornos’ aggressive nature.

As stated by Pinel (2004), prenatal alcohol exposure can cause neurological damage to a baby once born, and the occurrence of disorders such as difficulty to communicate and/or understand each other as well as lack of impulse control can happen. In summary of this, by looking at the case of Wuornos from a biological perspective, there is a chance that these factors could be a major contribution towards her criminal behaviour.

Literature Review

Active Passive: How does the Conan the Barbarian (1982) being a fantasy work, depict and challenge gender roles?

Abstract

This literature review aims to examine the various works around the gender roles in John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian (1982), yet because of the gender roles within the reel world as within the universe. The review conjointly makes a shot to focus on the hassle of the movie to place a “female” in the equally powerful role if not the lead. “At the time of its release, Conan the Barbarian was the logical product of nearly a century of orientalist fantasy”- (Hardy, 2019: 62)

Introduction

The review is split into three components for comprehensive analysis; the primary half (Active-Passive) examines the main male and feminine characters of the flick i.e. Conan and Valeria. The second half (Setting the Stage) examines how the flick paved a path for the long-run works of fantasy and S&S Genre, and the third half (The Father of Conan) investigates the first author Robert E. Howard W.R.T. his most noted created character-Conan. In the seven times, Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Conan whereas Sandahl Bergman compete for the character of Valeria. The Characters are referred to as Conan and Valeria in numerous sources and this review from here on.

“If someone says that Conan the Barbarian was a good movie, you may ask why he thinks so. The answer must be some account of the qualities of the movie that support that critical judgment. Those reasons can be examined, weighed, and in this case almost certainly found wanting.” (Rachel, 2007:232)

Active-Passive

There is an antique norm of males being active whereas females are passive members of society. However, the flick may be a solid necromancy fantasy movie; it touched the sensitive strings of society throughout its time. For the first time, the feminine within the flick was not a ‘helpless, good for nothing person heavily relied on the male lead’. “Valeria is a woman of movement. She is best, she is the master of the sword”- (Sandahl Bergman, one among the interviews for Conan the Barbarian- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adxYxHFG_VU). “The organization of gender roles habitually seen in action cinema is reassuring in that it upholds the traditional male/active, female/passive dichotomy. Men can feel safe in their role of deliverer, and women can be comforted by the knowledge that they will be protected.” (Wright, 2012: 402)

In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in gazing has been split between active/male and passive/female. The crucial male gaze forecasts its fantasy onto the feminine figure, which is titled consequently. In their ancient exhibitionist roles, women were checked out and displayed for their look coded for sturdy visual and sexy impact so they would be same to connote to-be checked out.

Cohan and Hark criticize film theory for this equation of the male with activity and therefore the feminine with passivity, and so the character of Valeria is not designed to be checked out for ‘passive’ feminine options.

Yes, Valeria and different feminine characters in Conan (such as King Osric’s perverse blue-blood daughter) conjointly show a substantial quantity of skin; however, they neither dance nor portray the ‘buxom helpless damsels’ of the peplum. Still, from her debut, we tend to understand Valeria as the ‘freelance’ hero until the end. She conjointly carries a weapon (somewhat Smaller than Conan’s blade and matching her slender appearance) and is in a position to climb, run, ride, and fight even as well because of the male protagonists. “Violence and nostalgia are common tropes of the New Hollywood movement to which Milius belonged.”- (Leotta, 2018: 70)

Her gear is additionally more civilized than Conan’s; however, the materials square measure similar: rough metal and animal skin straps, very little armor, and no superfluous ornamentation. Valeria guarantees Conan to return from hell if she were dead and he requires her that show her determination. This promise she is going to eventually keep when her death, once Conan battles Thulsa Doom’s warriors. Eventually within the battle, Conan stumbles and falls: an instant one among his enemies would possibly profit off.

The depiction of the feminine protagonist as a helper of the male leading figure is not uncommon in journey films, but here Valeria takes the lead and takes a dominant position not possible in earlier productions. In line with Neale – the portrayal of muliebrity in movies is problematic; but, this position, originating in an earlier era of flicks, does not appear to use Conan, though it had already been recorded.

Valeria does not match this description in the least. The romance she has with Conan would be a fellow male hero.

All of Conan’s attributes are exaggerated: his speech and behavior are harsh; his weapon system is extra-large (naturally conjointly functioning as a logo of masculinity); and no matter the ornament he dons is hyperbolically rough and unsophisticated. Withal, Conan ne’er seems wild, savage, or in real-time dangerous. He is a fierce enemy; however, he includes a code of honor that makes him likable enough. Therefore, his attractiveness is pushed to the boundaries by reducing the civilized components of his character to a minimum and at a similar time maximizing the ‘rough’ aspects of masculinity. “Starting in the 1980s the peplum hero is vulnerable both psychically and physically.” (Rushing, 2016: 103)

Conan is about in stark distinction to the characters of the Italian peplum or the yank ‘spectacular.’ In these genres, the male hero employs his bodily strength (and wits) to understand ideals bigger than he will. “He never fully swears himself to any cause but rather seeks calculated vengeance and opportunities that lead to personal wealth.”- (Flanagan, 2011: 100)

These square measure ideals of leadership, sacrifice, justice, romance, or other human qualities, which will be symbolized by the attributes of his body, weaponry, and so on. Conan is completely very different, using body, strength, and determination (not essentially wits) for his or her own sake. the sole exterior feature that shapes his temperament is the origin of his motivation, specifically the deeds of his enemies or friends, that causes him to hate, befriend, or love the folks he encounters, reckoning on the motivation behind and effects of their actions. “Masculinity, whether in terms of ideology, gender politics or sheer spectacle, is central to discussions of the peplum.”- (O’Brien 2012: 29)

Otherwise, Conan is driven by intense egocentrism. He is even masculine just for his own sake, one would possibly say, as his options set him apart except for all different men. “Conan is not an altruist; he is a solipsist.”- (Falkof, 2012: 109)

Setting the Stage

All of the foremost qualities that highlight the newly established distribution of gender roles – the mortal as the protagonist, the sturdy body reference (i.e. personal attributes), the social references (i.e. cluster attributes), and material references (i.e. item attributes) – would seem and re-emerge in future works of the S&S genre. “In S&S, the role models generally change due to the overwhelming domination of both sexes by the male principle: both men and women may equally fill the role of the merciless warrior.”- (Ipsen, 2012: 04)

The following things and characteristics so became canonical: the large, super-sized sword; the muscle-packed body of the male protagonist and the equally grammatical body of his feminine partner, evincing a match in strength; exotic gear (leather-strapped consumer goods, visible skin); and the ‘quest’ to be consummated. Notably, the attainable absence of a romantic affair characterizes the gender roles, too. Within the 1984 sequel, Conan still seeks his Valeria, not desirous to become involved with the other girls. nearly all S&S follow-ups on the massive screen have followed the Conan pattern, representational process heroes with massive swords and muscle-packed bodies, supernatural appearances associated with dark magic, a search leading the hero through associate degree Arcadian and/or apocalyptic landscape, and a decorative art form. Also, “To avoid one-sidedness and partial vision, one should learn how to employ a variety of perspectives and interpretations in the service of knowledge”- (Kellner, 1998: 21)

Semiotically, Conan resembles the installment of an associate degree experiential object, or a part of a film expertise horizon, that became the initial sign to be derived thenceforth.

To conclude, firstly, post-Conan works have similarities with the enduring illustration of Conan: muscles, animal skin gear, big swords, explicit plots, and subplots, explicit settings, imaginations of antediluvian worlds, and so on, clear purpose towards Conan the Barbarian.

Secondly, after Conan, it was impractical to make an S&S movie while not referencing – by choice or not – the instruction of Conan. Additionally, to simulate Conan, S&S as a genre likewise as every individual piece of S&S art so purpose toward Conan as their purpose of aesthetic origin. Conan set standards within the genre.

Thirdly, and most curiously, Conan made a group of symbols that are the most attention-grabbing considering gender roles. In post-Conan S&S, a return to the once-mounted gender roles was not possible. Each, of the weaknesses and the strengths of the gender roles would forever be shared equally between the sexes. Weapons would not be signs for men only; masculinity and femininity intrinsically were modified within the context of journey films. Thus, Conan and Valeria became the prototypes for brand-spanking new masculine and feminine.

The father of Conan

Robert E. Howard, also known as the father of Modern Fantasy, was a pulp fiction writer. He was obsessed with his Irish heritage, “many of the scholarly texts about Howard describe his obsession with his Irish heritage.”- (Dowd, 2016: 16)

“Some mechanism in my subconsciousness took the dominant characteristics of various prize-fighters, gunmen, bootleggers, oil field bullies, gamblers, and honest workmen I had come in contact with, and combining them all produced the amalgamation I call Conan the Cimmerian”- (Van Duinen, 2016: 340)

Three-quarters of a century after his death, Robert E. Howard has finally stepped out of the shadow of his most notable creation, Conan the Cimmerian, and is rising at his rightful place, that of a start father of the Fantasy genre, rivaled solely by J.R.R. Tolkien in terms of importance and influence. Fifty years of editorial abuse could not check the grim Cimmerian’s vitality and forestall Henry Martyn Robert E. Howard from eventually earning the long-overdue recognition he merited. “In all versions, the background of Conan is the pseudo mythical Hyborian Age character created in the 1930s by pulp writer Robert Howard, even if the live-action TV serial uses backgrounds and toponyms that are unknown to the Howard universe.”- (Bertetti, 2014: 2347)

In the summer of 1930, Wright declared his intention of launching a replacement magazine managing ‘‘tales of the Orient.’’ something east of the Yankee coast was deemed oriental enough, however, Wright had a particular request for Howard. He had been quite affected by a number of the Texan’s recent tales combining the Fantasy component with a historical (or pseudo-historical) setting. Howard’s vision of History was a red and somber one. His selection of protagonists were exiled or broken men. Also, “In 1955, L. Sprague de Camp published a posthumous collaboration with Howard titled Tales of Conan.”- (Look, 2012: 93)

In tales like ‘‘Red Nails’’ and ‘‘Beyond the Black Watercourse,’’ Howard’s pessimism way transcends any wool gatherer price one could realize within the texts. The latter is commonly cited as Howard’s most satisfying Conan tale. In this thinly disguised tale of Yank pioneers and wronged Indians, the purportedly irresistible and unbeatable barbarian is outwitted and captured by the savage Picts. He can eventually manage to flee, however, the many men and women he has solidified his ton with will not be therefore lucky. Few are the writers of Fantasy stories who succeeded in mingling Fantasy and realism with such mastery. The story may be a masterpiece as a result of Howard’s refusal to resort to pulp conventions and carry his grim gap plight through to its bitter conclusion: ‘‘Barbarism is that the state of humans… Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. Moreover, inhumanity should always ultimately triumph. For readers who had been fed with the illusion that every girl is lovely during the Hyborian Age empty of philosophical puzzles, the jolt must have been a violent one, indeed.

It was so with the Conan stories that Howard ensured his literary gift. By their terrible nature, these transcend the genres they are derived from, whether or not Western, history, or high-adventure. By displacing them from their historical context and cloaking them with a Hyborian color, Howard gave them a Catholicity they would not have had in another kind. They became unchanged.

Almost eighty years later, the character has achieved international fame. The stories are revealed in nearly every country and language within the world. One success resulted in another, the character spawned several derivations and embarrassing illegitimate children: he was featured in major motion photos, many comic books, cartoons, pastiches, TV series, toys, and role-playing games. within the method, Howard’s creation has been diluted to the purpose that it’s typically nearly possible to acknowledge the initial character within the picture image of the semi-illiterate, fur-clad, super-hero he has become within the public’s mind. “The Conan stories are thus not about the character himself, but about the events that his arrival set in motion, acting as a catalyst.”- (Louinet, 2011: 169)

Conclusion

The movie was the initiation to break the stereotypical norm of what a woman can do and what a man can do. The character of Valeria is equally exerted in the movie if not more. The modern woman can be seen as Valeria, she walks equally with men in each sphere of life. Conan the Barbarian became a role model for future projects in the fantasy genre. Today, we see the female leads in real life as well as in real life, all thanks to the efforts of Valeria. Lastly, Robert E. Howard looked ahead of his times and created characters that were not orthodox heroes. This helped tons in shaping the writing in modern times, with no rigid norm that men will always be active and women will always be passive.

Methodology

I would like to approach my essay using the same theme of Gender roles with an extension to race, masculinity, character engagement, narration, semiotics, politics, cultural relevance, and ideology. During my research themes I found very interesting are the masculinity, ideologies, and transmedia characters (Ipsen, Rushing, and Bertetti), also the politics and ideology of the modern Hollywood era (Kellner). I have various unique ideas about these themes that I would add to my essay. I plan to make a blend of my ideas with those I have researched; this will produce a bright presentation of ‘gender roles’ in Conan the Barbarian.

The parts I would want to focus on include the climax scene as well as the opening sequence, the scene where Conan meets Valeria, and how Valeria helps Conan when Conan being a barbarian tries to learn the civilized ways squatting down for hours. I will pay close attention to the dialogue where preconceived gender roles are challenged and it is frequently done in the movie. I also intend to note down how the character of Conan as a man develops, the different stages of Conan from the start to the climax bind the audience.

Bibliography

1. Rachels, J. (2007). Movies. In S. Rachels (Ed.), The Legacy of Socrates: Essays in Moral Philosophy (pp. 223–234). New York: Columbia University Press.
2. Falkof, N. (2012). Arnold at the Gates: Subverting star persona in Conan the barbarian. In: J. Prida, 1st ed., Conan Meets the Academy: Multidisciplinary Essays on the Enduring Barbarian. McFarland & Company, ch.2, pp. 104-123
3. Ipsen. G. (2012). Conan the Blueprint, The Construction of Masculine Prototypes in Genre Films. In: K. Ross, 1st ed., The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
4. Van Duinen, J. (2016). Robert E. Howard, the American Frontier, and Borderlands in the Stories of Conan the Barbarian. Extrapolation,57(3), Charles Sturt University. pp. 339 – 353.
5. Rushing, R. A. (2016) Skin Flicks: Haptic Ideology in the Peplum Film, Cinema Journal, 56(1), pp. 88-110
6. Bertetti, P. (2014). Toward a Typology of Transmedia Characters, International Journal of Communication, vol. 8, University of Southern California, pp. 2344–2361.
7. Hardy, M. (2019) Conan the Constructor: Building Eastern Worlds in Fantasy Film, Fastitocalon, vol. 8(1-2), pp. 61-73
8. Dowd, C. (2016). The Irish American Identities of Robert E. Howard and Conan the Barbarian. New Hibernia Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas, pp. 15-34.
9. Wright, A. (2012) A Sheep in Wolf`s Clothing? The Problematic Representation of Women and The Female Body in 1980s Sword and Sorcery Cinema. Journal of Gender Studies, 21(4), Routledge, 401-411.
10. Kellner, D., Ryan, M. (1988) Camera Politica: Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film
11. O`Brien, D.P. (2012). Heroic Masculinities: Evolution and Hybridization in the Peplum Genre., University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities Film, PhD, ch.5, pp. 193-228.
12. Leotta, A. (2018). The cinema of John Milius. Lexington Books.ch.5, pp. 70-79.
13. Louinet, P. (2011). Robert E. Howard, Founding Father of Modern Fantasy for the First Time Again., Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 15(2), Taylor & Francis (Routledge). pp. 163–170.
14. Look, D.M. (2012). Statistics in the Hyborian Age: An Introduction to Stylometry via Conan the Barbarian, In J. Prida, 1st ed., Conan Meets the Academy: Multidisciplinary Essays on the Enduring Barbarian, McFarland & Company, ch.1, pp. 92-103
15. Flanagan, K. M. (2011) “Civilization…ancient and wicked” Historicizing the Ideological Field of 1980s Sword and Sorcery Films, in Of Muscles And Med: Essays On The Sword And Sandal Film, ed. Michael G. Cornelius, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, pp. 87-103.

Introduction:

The division of labor in the family has always been contentious (Phillipov, 2008). The man has usually been seen as the household breadwinner, and the role of the woman is to take care of the household (Boehnke, 2011). However, in recent decades, this particular model of family has become less prevalent. In recent years there has been a determined societal shift towards greater gender role equality (Phillipov, 2008). It has become more common for women to be part of the paid labor force and share the burden of the family income. Yet the shift has not correlated to household labor, women are still doing most of the work, particularly related to childcare. It has become the modern debate, whether to work or to have a family.

Along with this transition, there has been a general increase in the total female labor force participation in the majority of developed and developing countries in general, along with an increase in the labor force participation of women who are mothers (Artazcoz, Borell, Benach, Cortes & Rohlfs, 2004). In recent decades western developed countries have made large steps forward in including mothers and also the female labor participation rates in Asian societies have also developed as these nations have grown and in particular the service sectors of these countries have needed a wider employment market (Quah, 2008). There are a range of factors that are responsible for this spike including education, changing values, diversity in living situations, and changing labor markets (Jalal-ud-Din & Khan, 2008).

Despite these changing factors, with questions regarding What a woman’s role is? And whether she should stay at home or work? And whether she should have children and when? There has been a push to postpone having children with this rise in labor force involvement (Phillipov, 2008). These questions have been explored in the public forum for years. If we look at the 1950s, researchers like Parsons and Bales recorded that a woman is a wife a mother, and a runner of the home (Parsons and Bales, 1955). The way that gender roles are understood as the expectations placed on individuals based on their societal gender and the attitudes that individuals have towards men’s and women’s roles have been the subjects of much research.

Even with the general improvement of women’s percentage in the workplace, there is still a rather large difference between countries (Haller and Hoellinger, 1994; Atrazcoz, et al. 2004). Given this situation, there is room to explore the gender role attitudes in different countries and how those perceptions affect a woman’s involvement in the workforce.

In this paper, we will be discussing the attitudes towards gender roles in the home family dynamic that are considered to be related to the compatibility of having a career and a family. In the selected countries women are able to participate in the paid labor but still regularly are expected to do most of the duties around the home as well (Boehnke, 2011). As such women have a dual burden of paid and unpaid labor while men have less of an expectation.

Methodology:

Research Questions:

This paper will look at data from the World Values survey to see the comparative gender role attitudes across three countries, Australia, China, and Pakistan, and what the significance is for families.

• How do countries differ with regard to gender role attitudes and family?
• How are the consequences of egalitarian gender roles in the family perceived?
• Does a country’s development status and subsequent economic values affect the division of labor in the family?

Sampling Method:

The World Values Survey collects data relating to gender roles in the family by using specified gender-related questions within a broader question series. Each question is presented to engage with an attitude related to a specific gender role, and the answer to each question is sorted on a three-part scale (agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree). The five selected questions for this paper are recorded below.

Question

• Gender Values
  • When jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to a job than women.
  • Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay
• Family Impact
  • When a mother works for pay, the children suffer
• Economic Impact
  • If a woman earns more money than her husband, it’s almost certain to cause problems
  • Having a job is the best way for a woman to be an independent person.

The five chosen questions were broken into three categories following the example of Braun (2004 in Philipov, 2008). They are gender values, the impact on family of gender attitudes, and the economic impact of gender attitudes. We do this as the questions are formulated to be general and do not necessarily reflect the situation of the respondent.

For this study, agreement with the questions in the gender values category shows that the respondents have a positive attitude towards a woman’s role being bound to the house and caring for the children and family, and respondent disagreement would indicate that paid work is of equal importance to women as family. If the respondent is to agree with the question from the family impact category that would illustrate a negative attitude towards having women in paid work rather than with family. Agreement with the first question in economic impact would show that the push for egalitarian division of labor is causing family conflict. Disagreement in the second question would demonstrate a negative attitude towards women in paid work.

As such in category one or two agreement reveals negative consequences of women’s involvement in paid work. It is evident that the two categories are related, and there should be a level of correlation between the two. The third category will allow for inference to be made about the economic correlation to family dynamics.

Results:

Descriptive Statistics

The results show that for category one, gender values, in Australia the mean for question one was 2.67, in China 1.99, and in Pakistan 1.45. The majority of respondents in Australia disagree with the statement. For China and Pakistan, the mode was in agreement with the statement. The second question recorded a mean of 2.19 for Australia, 2.21 for China, and 2.57 for Pakistan. With the mode for Australia, China, and Pakistan neither agree nor disagree with the statement.

The question for Category Two, family impact, recorded a mean of 2.96 in Australia, 2.51 in China, and 2.07 for Pakistan. The majority of respondents in both Australia and China disagreed with the statement and for Pakistan, they neither agree or disagree with the statement.

For the first question of Category three, economic impact, Australia recorded a mean of 2.59. The mean for China was 2.25 and Pakistan was 1.96. Pakistan’s mode was in agreement with the statement while Australia and China had a majority of respondents disagreed. The final question for economic impact recorded a mean of 1.81 for Australia, 1.75 for China, and 2.06 for Pakistan. With the mode for the respondents from both Australia and China were in agreement with the statement and the mode for Pakistan was in disagreement.

For the questions relating to gender values, statement one recorded a p-value of 0.000 for Australia and China and 0.327 for Pakistan. Statement two recorded a p-value of 0.000 for Pakistan and Australia while China had 0.037. Therefore there is significance (p The family impact question recorded a p-value of 0.000 for Australian respondents, 0.726 for Chinese, and 0.000 for Pakistani. The response of Australian and Pakastini respondents to the statement is significant (the p-value for the first question of the economic impact category was 0.159 for Australia, 0.000 for China, and 0.006 for Pakistan. The second question recorded a p-value of 0.558 for Australia, 0.000 for China, and 0.397 for Pakistan. The impact of gender attitudes on family economics is significant for China across both statements and for Pakistan in the first.

Discussion:

Our study was centered around a comparative investigation of gender role attitudes in three countries and what impact these attitudes have on families in those countries. The results of our analysis point towards the gender values category being able to provide the best description of attitudes for men and women in regard to gender roles compared to family impact and economic impact.

As the descriptive analysis shows modern gender roles are not as prevalent in less developed countries. The data shows that for the first attitude category, Australian respondents have a positive attitude towards women being a part of the paid labor force. This can be seen in their mean response towards gender value statements being 2.43. Given that the gender values category aims to look at the beliefs about the role of women, it is not surprising that a developed country like Australia has a significant positive attitude towards women being involved in the workforce. The factors that are often associated with these attitudes are more likely to be championed in developed countries, whereas more conservative beliefs and attitudes are commonly associated with countries that are still developing (Kangas & Rostgaard, 2007). Unsurprisingly both China and Pakistan have a mixed response to gender values and as such their view on the ultimate role of women is less clear, but leaning towards more traditional values (Jalal-ud-Din & Khan, 2008). The first question of category one was investigating the respondents’ attitude towards job priority and both Chinese (1.99) and Pakistani (1.45) respondents agreed that men should receive employment before women. This does not mean that they do not support women in paid positions but does suggest that they favor the role of men as the family breadwinner (Roder, 2014).

When the response to question one was tested for interaction with the response to the second question regarding whether being a housewife is as fulfilling as paid employment, the data showed that both countries’ respondents landed in the middle. However male respondents trended towards more traditional attitudes of the role of women being to care for the children and the home (Boehnke, 2011). This would suggest that as these countries continue to develop their attitudes would begin to align with developed countries, like Australia.

It was interesting to see that even in developing countries the statement that there could be harm to children with women coming into the labor force was still a fairly even split. The family impact category indicates that traditional family attitudes are still battling against modern egalitarian gender roles and division of labor expectations. While the regression results were not satisfactory, the regression does suggest that in Pakistan particularly traditional attitudes around family dynamics with children are still prevalent.

In regards to the economic impact of gender attitudes, it was clear that a country’s development status affected how the respondents viewed a woman’s role. Australia showed that it had positive support for women working and earning more than men. China and Pakistan both recorded less support towards that first question regarding economic impact. However, China supported a woman’s ability to gain independence through work which supports modern gender attitudes. Pakistan interestingly while being a more religiously conservative country did not show significance for keeping women from gaining independence by work but did in regards to arguments around earning differences between men and women (p= 0.006). This suggests that countries who are less developed cling more to their traditional values as it is a form of security as they continue to attain economic growth, while countries like Australia are able to be more open to change as the increased levels of wealth provide access to the factors for change like education and workplace expansion (Jalal-ud-Din & Khan, 2008).

The aim of this study was to see if gender role attitudes in different countries affected family dynamics and labor force involvement. Unfortunately, the study had several shortcomings, namely the chosen gender category model was not uniformly applied to the selected countries and the analysis was restricted by the selection of variables to be tested within the model. However, it can be summarized that the gender values category regarding attitudes towards gender had primary significance when applied to understanding the issue of paid work or family.

Bibliography:

1. Artazcoz, L., Borrell, C., Benach, J., Cortès, I., & Rohlfs, I. (2004). Women, family demands and health: the importance of employment status and socio-economic position. Social science & medicine, 59(2), 263-274.
2. Boehnke, M. (2011). Gender Role Attitudes around the Globe: Egalitarian vs. Traditional Views. Asian Journal of Social Science,39(1), 57-74.
3. Haller, M., & Hollinger, F. (1994) ‘Female Employment and the Change of Gender Roles: The Conflictual Relationship between Participation and Attitudes in International Comparison’. International Sociology 9: 87- 1 12.
4. Jalal-ud-Din, M., & Khan, M. (2008). Socio-economic and cultural constraints of women in Pakistan with special reference to Mardan district, NWFP province. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 24(3), 485-493.
5. Kangas, O., & Rostgaard, T. (2007). Preferences or institutions? Work—family life opportunities in seven European countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 17(3), 240-256.
6. Parsons, T., & Bales, R. (1955) Family, socialization and interaction process. Glencoe: Free Press
7. Philipov, D. (2008). Family-related gender attitudes. In People, population change and policies (pp. 153-174). Springer, Dordrecht.
8. Quah, S. (2008) [2003] Home and Kin: Families in Asia. London and New York: Routledge
9. Röder, A. (2014). Explaining religious differences in immigrants’ gender role attitudes: the changing impact of origin country and individual religiosity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(14), 2615-2635.

Introduction:

Gender segregation is a powerful phenomenon of childhood. The extent of its occurrence depends on interactions arranged by adults for children and therefore cross-cultural and within-culture situational variations make a great deal of difference in the amount of interactive contact male and female children have with one another. (Macooby, Jacklin, 1987). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Gender is the distinction of sex, and segregation is the act or policy of separating people of different races, religions, or sexes and treating them differently. (Fowler, Fowler, and Thompson, 2000) Therefore gender segregation can be defined as separating sexes, perhaps treating those sexes differently. In many countries around the world, the health of future generations is at risk due to the growing problem of obesity and overweight. The World Health Organization [WHO] has identified physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. (WHO, 2010). Physical education programs in schools are designed to promote lifelong habits of physical activity by providing children with both the opportunity to be physically active and positive experiences of that physical activity. In many nations, including Ireland, there is a general concern that levels of physical activity decrease during adolescence, and that girls, in particular, are less active than boys. (Smiley, 2015) Perhaps it is worth examining if schools need to segregate their Physical Education (PE) classes by gender to increase female participation.

Gender Differences:

It is commonly accepted that there are physiological and morphological gender differences. (Lewis, D.A., Kamon, E. & Hodgson, J.L, 1986). The differences between the sexes in body composition are well known: males typically have proportionately more muscle mass, more bone mass, and a lower percentage of body fat than women. Men have larger lungs, wider airways, and greater lung diffusion capacity than women, even when these values are normalized to height. (Blair, 2007). Generally, these differences mean males are stronger, taller, and faster than females. This is the main reason for many popular sports being segregated, it seems intuitively obvious, given the physiological differences that exist between men and women,( Batterham AM, Birch KM. 1985., Shepard RJ.,2000) that athletes should compete against others of the same sex, unless otherwise specified by rule—for example, in coeducational contests—or in disciplines for which the physiological differences between men and women offer no competitive advantage or disadvantage. In keeping with the ethic of fair play, most international sports federations (including the FIVB) organize their major competitions along sex-restricted lines. (Reeser, 2005). The average woman has a smaller inherent aerobic power and less muscular strength than a man, reflecting sociocultural influences, physical size, body composition, and hormonal milieu. (Shepard,2000) Nevertheless, the best-trained women can outperform sedentary men, proving that research has caused girls to become scared of participating in sports with their male peers. This is something that needs to be revisited, as many female students feel far more confident in playing with one another, without the presence of males. Females favor single-sex classes because they are less self-conscious of how they look and how they perform in games as opposed to coeducational classes. (Vargos, 2017) They aren’t scared to make a mistake and receive criticism from their male teammates in a game setting, or from males criticising their skill in general.

Gender segregation in a PE teaching setting:

The country that we live in has an attitude towards segregating genders in sports when they reach secondary level education. Even Nicole Owens, a highly regarded Dublin Ladies Gaelic Football player, talked about how she “benefitted from playing with boys” (Owens, 2019). She says that the “coaching was way more advanced” and how segregating the genders from the ages of 13 and onwards has left a “skill gap”. (Scally, 2019). It is possible to derive the lack of female participants in PE classes from the issue of separating females from males at such a young age. However it can then be argued that gender issues in PE remain in some schools, despite advances in PE research and curricula aimed at engaging females in PE, so there has been effort made to try to combat that skill gap. (Murphy, B. & Dionigi, Rylee & Litchfield, Chelsea, 2014) Teaching practices that support the ability of students to be autonomous in their learning behaviors and strategies are referred to as autonomy-supportive. Autonomy-supportive practices have resulted in increased motivation, as reflected in motivational indices, this was reflected in a study completed by Prusak and Darst in 2002 where the notion of choice led to an increase in female participation. Perhaps it is time to remove the common and competitive sports outlined in the Physical Education Curriculum Specification (Curriculum, 2020), and introduce more social activities like group walking.

Levels of Participation in PE in gender-segregated schools:

Treanor et al. (1998) and Lirgg (1993, 1994) found both boys and girls preferred single-gendered physical education formats. Gender differences in physical activity levels during secondary school physical education might be due to subject matter variations, student biological and motivational changes, societal (peer and teacher) expectations, and increasing differences in motor skill development. While physical activity is an important goal for physical education, it is not the only desired outcome. Current results suggest that girls-only classes can provide more emphasis on building the motor and sports skills many girls lack. (McKenzie, T. L., Prochaska, J. J., Sallis, J. F., & Lamaster, K. J.,2004). A study found that many girls are uncomfortable in their PE class. They feel that they are judged by their peers. They feel like not only are they pressured to participate and pass the class by their teachers, but they also worry about their peers. Constant judgment can force girls to close up and not want to participate. They concluded that coed physical education classes seem to be the main source of the problem. (Staveland, Hassan, Williams, Fenumiai, Wilson, 2016). Perhaps these co-ed classes are the reason for boys being more active in PE classes- in one particular study, contact with the ball during team games was observed. Results revealed that males received contact with the ball more often than females did during gameplay (Turvey and Laws, 1988). Males tended to pass to one another as opposed to passing to a female, even if she was open during the game. Many females stated that the males did not pass to them in class because they did not think that they were “good” at the sport (Turvey and Laws, 1988) Findings in another study reported that females felt as if they executed skills and team sports more efficiently, had more opportunities to practice skills, and felt less afraid of injury in single-sex PE classes compared to coeducational classes (Treaner et al., 1998). If there are so many studies expressing the reasoning for the lack of female participation in PE classes, shouldn’t we stop talking about it and do something about it?

Research question:

Students who prefer single-sex classes are more comfortable with peers who are the same gender, learn skills better, and are less afraid of injury (Treaner et al., 1998), which may help to raise female participation levels in PE. Females in the coeducational classes had extremely low perceived physical competence, and low levels of satisfaction in PE, and displayed minimal effort. In 2006, Evans found that females recognized males in a coeducational class as the audience, which may have led to incompetence. McKenzie (2004) discovered that males interrupted females’ learning in PE, causing incompetence and less time to practice skills. Conversely, when females are in class together without males, they may help and encourage one another as opposed to interrupting one another. This can lead to higher perceived competence (Lyu and Gill, 2011). Therefore, after gathering data and discovering that a vast majority of females prefer same-sex classes, the purpose of this research is twofold; to evaluate the differences in female students’ Physical Education participation and enjoyment from gender-segregated and coeducational Physical Education lessons.

Research Design

The research design is clearly outlined in the literature. The research design is elaborated on throughout the papers. There is a reference to the literature

Context and Participants

The context and participants of the study are comprehensively described. The demographic of participants and ethical procedures are evident. There is also reference literature.

Data Collection

The procedures of the data collection are described with some critical analysis. The analysis of the instruments supports them and establishes their validity and reliability. The procedures are in alignment with the research design. There is also relevance to relevant literature.

Data Analysis

The procedures of the data analysis are described with some critical analysis. The purpose for choosing these methods is clarified. The procedures are in alignment with the research design. Relevant literature is relevant.

Research Design:

This project seeks to evaluate the differences in female students’ Physical Education participation and enjoyment from gender-segregated and coeducational Physical Education lessons. This study will measure participation and enjoyment levels in Physical Education for female-level students who went through Secondary School.

The participants will complete a survey that will provide information including their age, gender, college course, ethnicity, and year of study. Although these variables will not be analyzed as part of the study, they will provide data that can be compared with the national averages (Babbie, 2010). It is important to note that the study will not take into consideration information such as socio-economic status, relationship status, living situation, and culture. This depth of analysis is not possible within the timeframe for the study, however, future longitudinal research could allow for such an examination. They will complete a second part of the survey consisting of qualitative data collection based on enjoyment levels in Physical Education and opinions on gender segregation in Physical Education. A final third part of the survey will be completed based on quantitative data collection where students will rate their participation and well-being levels during Physical Education.

Accompanying Program Scope and Evaluation:

Notes; This fits into this program as Gaelic4Girls is a 10-week programme incorporating coaching sessions with fun non-competitive blitzes aimed at increasing participation in Lady’s Gaelic Football. The program targets girls aged between 8-12 years who are not currently registered with a Ladies Gaelic Football club. In essence, this is a tool to attract new players. (Ladies Gaelic Football, 2020). It is a regime to up female activity levels in sports, quite like this project which seeks to raise participation levels of females within school sports settings.

Research questions:

• Why do girls tend to participate in Physical Education less than the male gender?
• Would a gender-segregated class help girls to feel more confident in participating?
• Do all female-gender schools have higher levels of participation levels in Physical Education? I.e. how many students sit out of a class in comparison.

Data Collection Techniques:

Qualitative: Qualitative research is a form of inquiry that analyzes information conveyed through language and behavior in natural settings. It is used to capture expressive information not conveyed in quantitative data about beliefs, values, feelings, and motivations that underlie behaviors. (Berkwits and Inui, 2020)

In this project, a Google Docs Forum will be used in which participants must answer questions based on their own experience in Physical Education during their secondary school years and questions based on their opinions of segregated Physical Education classes. The participants will consist of female University Cork College students between the ages of 18-24.

Quantitative: Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques. (Libguides.usc.edu, 2020) This collection method will be used in the form will be used in the form of a survey, detailing questions rating the participants’ participation and enjoyment levels in Physical Education from 1-10. This will be a ‘tick the box’ style survey in which participants will answer five questions rating participation level and enjoyment.

Digital and Social Media: The survey will be distributed via an online link to students in various WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups.

Locations of Data Collection: Via a Google Forums account where all answers to the survey are collected.

Time of Data collection: The collection of data will occur over eight months from September to May 2019 during the college year. Therefore the study will be considered cross-sectional, due to the short period over which it will take place.

Data storage: Data captured are stored under Program Scope and Evaluation file No.: 1

Instruments:

• WEMWS

The WEMWS was developed in 2005 to measure well-being. The results of the WEMWS are used to evaluate policies and programs and aim to improve well-being. The scale can be applied to many settings, locations, and contexts. Therefore it is a suitable instrument to utilise for this study.

• IPAQ

The IPAQ is a series of 4 questionnaires that is used to determine the physical activity levels of individuals aged 15-69. The IPAQ was devised in Switzerland in 1998. On its completion, it underwent rigorous testing across 14 locations to test its validity and reliability. It was found that the measures were acceptable for national studies of physical activity levels (IPAQ 4 Group, 2002). For this reason, elements of it will be used in this project to record participation levels in Physical Education for this population.

Data Analysis:

Themes:

• Gender- Gender is seen regarding females as the project is based on female participation levels.
• Physical Education- This is seen as the project measures participation levels in Physical Education.
• Segregation- This is seen as the project proposes splitting genders in Physical Education classes to raise female participation levels.
• Wellbeing- This is seen as the survey asks about wellbeing levels.
• Physical Activity- This is seen as the survey measures Physical Activity levels.
• Enjoyment- This is seen as the survey measures enjoyment levels.

The qualitative method ensures that the data collected is objective, quantifiable, easily interpreted, and summarized. The quantitative method ensures that bias does not affect the data in any way. The analysis will begin by identifying the scales as ordinal as this will determine the organization of data. There will then be a summary of results through the use of descriptive statistics which include percentages, mediums, modes, frequencies, etc. Inferential statistics will also be utilized to analyze variants and examine correlations between variables. The collection of data will be carried out via Google Docs Forums. The data collected will then be examined using descriptive statistics. To summarize the differences between male and female participants, a two-way contingency table will be used. MANOVA software will be 5 utilized to investigate the results. The MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) is a form of multivariate analysis used to analyze data that involves more dependent variables at a time. MANOVA allows for the testing of hypotheses regarding the effect of one or more independent variables on two or more dependent variables. Therefore, it is considered most appropriate for the study and its research. The analysis of the data will be descriptive to give meaning to the statistical findings. This will enable a simpler, more comprehensive interpretation of results. Both measures of central tendency and spread will be used for the description of data. The use of graphs, charts, and tables in addition to statistical discussion will be used to clarify the data further.

Outcomes:

The outcomes of this survey are to understand if and why students did or did not enjoy or participate in Physical Education during secondary school. It will highlight if gender separation in Physical Education is suitable and if it would be a tool in raising females’ participation levels in Physical Education.

Ethics:

The research shall adhere to the ethical principles of the university Ethics Committee (UEC) to support the reliability, validity, and integrity of the findings. Before the commencement of the research project, the participants will be provided with an informed consent form and reserve the right to withdraw at any time. All subjects of the study will be ensured full confidentiality and will remain anonymous throughout the entire process. Throughout the paper, acknowledgment of studies and the work of others will be referenced accordingly. The project objectives and aims will be as honest and transparent as possible and the analysis and discussion of the study will be of high objectivity to ensure ethical standards are maintained (Bryman & Bell, 2003)With specific regard to quantitative and qualitative methods, there will be certainly that the results are not changed to come to particular conclusions.

Limitations:

There are several limitations of this study. The primary limitation is the unknown sample size, which may limit the identification of the results at the end of this project. In the future, a more solid sample size would provide more data for a more accurate and in-depth analysis. The data may be considered subjective due to self-assessment by participants and bias. This may alter or affect the results however, by establishing good rapport and trust with the target group, this may be prevented (Blaikie, 2003). Due to time constraints, the timeframe for the study is limited to cross-sectional, this will mean there is little time to reach into many communities to obtain a diverse range of results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this research design establishes its process and objectives. The target groups and context are clearly outlined. The research approach is explained and evaluated. The data collection and analysis are discussed with appropriate detail thus, providing a core process for the course of the study. Finally, the research design evaluates the ethical considerations and limitations. 

Introduction

Within this end of course assessment, I am going to be talking about Gender and Crime. A brief explanation into the differences in male and female criminals, criminological theories including the chivalry thesis. Crime & media in popular culture also falls into the category for this assessment which talks about cultural criminology and representations. The main body of this assessment will fall around the infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos and how she was represented by the media, popular culture, and society in her portrayal as a psychotic serial killer who prostituted herself and prayed on wealthy men. This assessment will conclude with female criminality portrayals, the evil woman hypothesis and Summarised accordingly with the findings made within the body of this assessment.

Gender & Crime

In 1997 a study was published by Lisa Broidy and Robert Agnew surrounding the questions generally raised with the link between gender & crime. The study applies GST (Agnew’s general strain theory) to the two most common questions asked about gender and crime:

1. How can we explain the higher rate of crime among males?
2. How can we explain why females engage in crime? (Broidy & Agnew, 1997)

The authors of the publication suggest that gender differences in different sorts of strain and the reaction to strain helps to understand the overall gap within criminal behaviour. Regarding question number 2, there’s arguments that the several types of strain could lead to female crime under proper circumstances. In this area, general strain theory has a lot in common with various accounts that can explain crime in females in terms of oppression. (Broidy & Agnew, 1997)

Criminological theories on gender & crime

Crime, Media, and popular culture

The analysis of crime, media, and popular culture is arguably one of the most important and satisfyingly enlightening areas of criminological inquiry. (Dowler, 2006)

There is not much doubt that the media has become the centre of attention when producing and filtering ideas of crime for national television. The media’s selective nature on produces televised and readable crime, like, emphasising on the violence and sensationalism and also playing to the fears, both fabricated and real life of both viewers and readers, has produced a very distorted picture of crime and criminality that happens in real life. Furthermore, true crime book genres, has seen a mas growth, with hundreds of titles appearing on shelves every year. All of these are a big contribute to the public’s never ending thirst for knowledge on the weird and most violent crimes. Beyond this, crime related news stories tend to be repetitive with its nature, reporters tend to recycle well known stories that can be used in related stories or new developments within the original story itself. (Dowler, 2006)

The Karla Homolka case provides a really good example of what Soothill and colleagues (Soothill, Pearson, Francis, Peelo and Acklerley 2002; Soothill, Francis, Pearson and Peelo 2004) deem as “mega cases,” which is cases that produces relative longevity with the media because they produce an amazingly strong response with the audience the reporter is writing to. Homolka’s case generated over 1,100 stories and reports in the Toronto Star since 1995. This yielded measure of both the simple mindedness of repeating popular and well understood themes and to draw the audience in, this is a common practice in journalism. (Fleming 1983, 1996, 2006)

Gender and serial murder

Serial killers have been deemed as loners who tend to stalk strangers at night to snatch, torture and sexually assault their victims before evidently killing them. They tend to have nicknames like “Jack the Ripper” or “the Yorkshire Ripper”. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Consider Jane Toppan, a young woman who lived in the US working as a nurse, She killed around 31 people, a lot of them were under her care. Her niche was the use of poison and loved watching her victims die, she was even reported to lie down by their sides as they were losing their lives. Toppan’s modus operandi fits the pattern of a typical female serial killer which was identified by researchers in a paper published in 2015. Women tend to kill people they know, are often care givers and well educated. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Marissa Harrison, psychology professor at Penn State Harrisburg, argues that these gender variances can by explained through evolutionary psychology – that human brains are hardwired through how our ancestors lived within the prehistoric era. According to Marissa’s theory, Male serial killers are hunters, they follow their victims like they did with their prey in nomadic communities. However, female serial killers, are gatherers, according to the article published in the journal Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences. (Kozlowska, 2019)

The paper shows that men and women serial killers do kill differently, it also offers an interesting theory in to why that exactly is. In 2015 a paper published showed that 39% of female serial killers worked in healthcare. They tend to stay in one place and use less violent methods of culling, like poison.

Marissa does state that these are just a generalisation as America’s most famous female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, who was portrayed in the movie ‘Monster’ in 2003, conducted her killings in more of a similar way to that of a male serial killer. (Kozlowska, 2019)

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer convicted of murdering around 7 people between 1989 – 1990. Her case drew attention from all around the world to issues relating to gender and violence and the legal treatment of acts of self defense by women. Her life became the subject of two documentaries and a film named ‘Monster’ which came out in 2003.

Aileen’s start in life was not a great one. Her parents separated before she was born and shortly after that, her father spent a lot of time in various mental hospitals for child molestation. At the age of 4, Wuornos and her brother were sent to live with their grandparents. When she was a teenager she spent some time at home for unmarried mothers before dropping out of school and becoming a prostitute.

In 1974 she was sent to prison for driving under the influence and for firing a gun from a moving vehicle. She was arrested and charged various times for crimes including check forgery, armed robbery, and auto theft.

By the end of 1980 she was a drifter and in 1989-1990, whilst posing as a prostitute hitchhiker, she killed 7 middle aged male motorists who had picked her up and left their bodies along the Florida and southern Georgia highways.

Wuornos was arrested in the early months of 1991, she admitted killing the 7 men put protested that she only acted in self defense when the men assaulted her. Wuornos had supporters who viewed the killer as a strong independent woman, they even branded her a heroic figure for being able to defend herself against male aggression.

She was convicted and sentenced to death for one of the murders in 1992 and she later pleaded guilty to 3 more of the murders.

Aileen Wuornos kept herself defense claim, speaking publicly ‘I’m supposed to die because I’m a prostitute? No, I don’t think so. I was out prostituting, and I was dealing with hundreds and hundreds of guys. You got a jerk that’s going to come along and try to rape me? I am going to fight. I believe everybody has a right to self-defend themselves.’ – Aileen Wuornos.

Aileen Wuornos was executed via lethal injection.

Mental health issues

From the contents of Wuornos’ biography, some of her criminal activities conducted and violent behaviours shown in her youth could be contributed by factors like the abuse she was succumbed to in her early childhood, and also the neglect she received from the bad parenting techniques inflicting by her grandfather as a research conducted on Wuornos through an interview found that Aileen’s grandfather was both physically and emotionally abusive towards Wuornos. He often beat her up then called her insulting names like a whore (Myers, Gooch & Meloy, 2005).

In a study carried out by Knutson et al. (2004), it points out that, deficient parenting, more towards neglectful parenting was a major predictor for the growth of anti-social behaviour for children and teenagers/young adults in their later life.

Furthermore, with the combined factor of the abusive parenting mixed with the natural aggressive nature Aileen possesses, it made her even more prone to the growth of exhibiting anti-social behaviour. According to relatives of Wuornos, she has various different behavioural problems going back from as far as childhood, she has a really bad, short temper which caused her to get into fights with people all the time. She also stole from family and friends and exhibited property destruction behaviour when she set her home and the girls toilet in her school on fire. (Myers, Gooch, & Meloy, 2005)

According to studies conducted by Andershed, Narusyte, Lichtenstein, and Neiderhiser (2007); Schaffer, Clark, and Jeglic (2009); Shek and Ma (1997), the use of bad parenting could heighten the growth of anti-social behaviour in children, especially when they exhibit signs of an aggressive nature.

Biological Factors

As mentioned in Wuornos’ biography, her biological father was a psychopath, so there is a possibility that Aileen could of inherited some psychopathic traits of her father, things like lack of remorse and empathy, poor behaviour control, which can be a factor in her causes for committing her more serious crimes, as according to Blonigen, Hicks, Kreuger, and Iacono (2008); Brogaard (2012); Hicks, Veaidyanathan, and Patrick (2010), psychopathic traits can be genetically inherited and predisposed to the child of a psychopath. In the study which was conducted by Gooch, Myers, and Meloy (2005), Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist Revised was employed by the researchers so they could assess Wuornos, the generated results from the PCLR indicated that Wuornos’ tendency of becoming a psychopath was significantly high as she ticked a high amount of numbered criteria within the checklist, like, pathological lying, lack of remorse, conning, need for stimulation, impulsivity, parasitic life and promiscuous sexual behaviour.

Furthermore, in an interview which was performed by Gooch, Myers, and Meloy, the researchers found Wuornos’ mother to be an alcoholic. Hence why there is a possible chance that Wuornos may have suffered from central nervous system damage of dysfunction due to alcohol exposure whilst in the womb, this may have been a contribute to Wuornos’ aggressive nature.

As stated by Pinel (2004), prenatal alcohol exposure can cause neurological damage to a baby once born, and the occurrence of disorders such as difficulty to communicate and/or understand each other as well as lack of impulse control can happen. In summary of this, by looking at the case of Wuornos from a biological perspective, there is a chance that these factors could be a major contribution towards her criminal behaviour.

Introduction

A serial killer is a person who “kills on at least three occasions, with what can be called an emotional cooling-off period between the incidents” (Alvarez & Bachman, 2017, p129). I have always been interested in criminal justice as a whole from both points of view: the criminal and the system. There are a few specific topics that I am particularly intrigued by and serial killers is one of them. The mind of a serial killer, the motive, the way a serial killer chooses to kill and whatever else comes with a serial killer interests me. As we all know, serial killers kill people, but according to the textbook, it is extremely hard to estimate how many people serial killers in one year due to the fact that serial killers often kill in different geographical locations and it is difficult to connect. The text talks about how, in order to identify a murder as part of a serial case, the murderer would have to leave identifiers such as “signatures”. Signatures could include folding the victim’s clothes or leaving an item at the scene (Alvarez & Bachman, 2017, p130). Another reason it is hard to catch a serial killer is because it is very expensive to conduct long term investigations, especially considering the killings are sometimes in different locations. Some well-known male serial killers we know of are Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, Gary Ridgway, and more. Some well-known female serial killers include Aileen Wuornos, Nannie Doss, Kristen Gilbert, and more. These serial killers had their own ways of killing, and also their own ways of staying out of trouble for as long as they did for the murders. In my research, I will be talking about the different types of serial killers, characteristics of both male and female serial killers and also, the different types of serial killers broken down using many different sources to support.

Serial Killer Typologies

The textbook, “Violence: The Enduring Problem” by Alex Alvarez & Ronet Bachman (2017), talks about serial killers in chapter four and gives the six different typologies of a serial killer based on Holmes’ and Holmes’ classifications. The first typology is the Hedonistic Lust Killer. These killers are “distinguished by their effort to obtain sexual pleasure from killing” (Alvarez & Bachman, 2017, p132) meaning these types of serial killers kill because it satisfies them sexually. Either the killing in itself is enough to satisfy or to actually engage in intercourse with the corpse and cutting off sex organs. The next typology is the thrill killer. This killer kills because it’s fun, in a nutshell. This could include sexual satisfaction, but the victim needs to be alive because this killer wants to torture, humiliate, dominate, and terrorize the victim. Comfort killers are the third typology and they kill because it brings comfort, “such as financial gain” (Alvarez & Bachman, 2017, p132). Power/Control killers murder to dominate and have control over their victims. Sex is also sometimes involved here, but it comes from having complete control. Mission killers make it a mission to eliminate a group of people they feel are unworthy. An example of this type of killer is a killer who hates women and simply feels like they should not have to share the same earth as them. The last type of killer is the visionary killer and this person kills because they suffer from some type of psychosis, however this is a rare type. These killers “perceive noises that command them to kill” (Alvarez & Bachman, 2017, p133). After going over all of those, we can see serial killers kill based off of their own wants and needs most of the time, not because they have a mental problem which would cause them to plead insanity.

Characteristics of Female Serial Killers

I was able to find a peer-reviewed article called “The Personality Characteristics of Female Serial Murderers” by Meagen M. Hildebrand and Scott E. Culhane. In the article, they chose to issue surveys to twenty incarcerated females and four of them declined. By the end of it all, they only ended up with four female serial murderers to answer the questions they asked on the survey. In the survey, they used measures related to demographics, psychopathology, psychopathy, and personality features. The results for inmate A were that she lived a very regular life. She married three times and had children. Her third husband worked the night shift at a hospital, and she got a job there as an LVN with her LVN certificate she got while attending community college. This is when her killing spree began. She started killing at age 34 and killed 20 of the patients under her care from the ages of 15 to 101 years old (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, 37). The way she killed these patients was to use an “intravenous drug used to paralyze the respiratory system in patients” (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p37), but was able to go undetectable by hospital staff because of her great work history. She was caught after trying to kill an elderly man who ended up living and was able to identify her as the nurse who put something in his IV. Her highest scores when it came to personality were in paranoia at 113, schizoid at 83, avoidant at 90, self-defeating at 79, anxiety at 87, and delusional disorder at 83. The 46-year old’s total PPI-R score was 265. Inmate B was 53-years old and caucasian who was serving two 50-year prison sentences. This inmate confessed to killing two elderly patients with potassium overdoses through injection (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p40). At first neither of them were suspected as a homicide because of their age, but this inmate couldn’t keep quiet about what she had done and ended up telling her husband who kept quiet about it for five months then ended up telling their pastor and marriage counselor which caused her arrest (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p40). Inmate B showed elevation for depression at 72 and elevation for social discomfort at 76, repression at 78, overcontrolled hostility at 66. A three-point code of 170 was established based on her elevations (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p40). Inmate C is serving life for killing her husband. This inmate was abandoned by her father soon after birth and her mother committed suicide while she was a baby which caused her to live with her grandmother. From age six on, her uncle sexually abused her and forced her to drink alcohol which caused her to develop alcoholism and was then gang-raped at 14. She dropped out of high school at 15 and began working the streets protituting and stripping to make ends meet (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p41). She had elevated scores on depression at 72, anger at 76, type-a behavior at 77, low self-esteem at 73, social discomfort at 80, family problems at 83, and negative treatment indicators at 79. One of her highest scores was on marital distress scale at 93 which could explain her killing her husband considering he was also someone who was abusive to her. Her highest score overall was avoidant at 99

(Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p41). Lastly, inmate D was a 39-years old, caucasion woman who is serving two consecutive life sentences. She began murdering at 17 with her on and off boyfriend. Her and her boyfriend tempted a store assistant manager to meet them on a road outside of town where her boyfriend ended up shooting him in the back of his head and robbed him of all of the money he had on him (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p42). After this incident, the two decided to rob again and decided to leave the victims alive. They stole two silver dollars from the house and left. The victims reported this and inmate D and her husband were caught quickly after paying for gas with the silver dollars. Her boyfriend confessed to everything and she was sentenced (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p42). She showed elevations on hypochondriasis at 80, psychopathic deviate at 71, paranoia at 70, and schizophrenia at 66. Her highest scores were hypochondriasis and compulsive at 88 (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015, p42). After looking at all of the inmate facts, I notice that all of the inmates they surveyed were close to the middle of their life during the time of the crime and I also notice all of the women they surveyed were white women. I noticed that the scores that came up the most were for repression, anger, and paranoia.

Characteristics of Male Serial Killers

The article I found on this topic was called “Critical Characteristics of Male Serial Killers” by William B. Arndt, Tammy Hietpas, and Juhu Kim. The purpose of this article was to unfold a male serial killer. Some of the studies they found were that the process begins with “predispositional factors which may be biological” (Arndt et al, 2004, p120). They talk about how in the years before the killings, the killer is traumatized by factorssuch as “physical and sexual abuse, negative parenting, divorce, or the death of a parent… the consequences of these traumas are mistrust of others, feelings of being rejected, worthlessness, and inability to cope with stress.” (Arndt et al, 2004, p120). The article talks about various facilitators such as violent pornography and excessive use of drugs and alcohol which further the deviant process and expedite the urge to kill. The text says that 84% admitted to assaults on adults during adolescence, 62% on destruction of property, and 52% to fire setting. 28% had a history of being treated for mental health problems and 21% were treated for alcohol and drug abuse. They mentioned that the age of onset was from the late 20s to the mid 30s and the median age of the first murder is age 27. Most male serial killers, as stated in the textbook and this article, are white, but African Americans ranked between 13% and 20%, while Hispanics and Asians are very seldom instances (Arndt et al, 2004, p121).

Gender Differences in Serial Murderers

The article I found on the gender differences is called “Gender Differences in Serial Murderers: A Preliminary Analysis” by Belea T. Keeney and Kathleen M. Heide. Their studies found that the female murder rate had increased from “5.1% in 1965 to 9.8% in 1991.” (Kenney et al, 1994, p384). They said that the number of women arrested for homicide in 1991 was 36% greater than the number arrested in 1965. Their studies show that female killers are more likely to kill their family than males are, and they also have a tendency to be older than the males who kill and they usually kill their victims in their own homes (Kenney et al, 1994, p384). Studies show that male serial murderers tend to inflict a lot of victim damage along with causing death and engage in the torture of their victims. Male serial killers have also been known to stalk their victims and commit organized or disorganized murders (Kenney et al, 1994, p386). Males even attend their victims funerals as a way to relive the murder they committed. Males have been proven to be the first-born in their family and also have been victims of childhood abuse or neglect including parents who were alcoholics or drug addicts (Kenney et al, 1994, p386). Female serial killers have been known to have endured much sexual abuse, broken homes, chemical abuse history, and psychiatric diagnosis as children (Kenney et al, 1994, p391). The average age that women committed their murderers was 32.9 years-old. Unlike males, the female serial killers did not show any stalking of their victims and they also left the crime scene. Another thing about the female killers was the fact that most of them had a reason for murdering their victims such as insurance money (Kenney et al, 1994, p390). As we can see, female murderers and male murderers have many differences such as their motives for killing, if they know the victim, and what they do after they killed the victim.

Conclusion

The different types of serial killers were a very interesting topic. Most people expect serial killing to be a male hobby, but specific females do it, too. We have looked at the different characteristics of both male and female serial killers and also, some of the gender differences between the two and found things that were very surprising. The differences of male and female serial killers were significant which is probably due to the fact that women have more emotion than men do at times and that could explain why women usually know their victims while men usually do not, but just simply kill to kill. The results from the test with the women surprised me knowing that many different things can affect one’s mindset and also change the way they think. As we saw, inmate D had no reason to kill her victim, but because her boyfriend was with her while inmate C killed her husband because of how abusive he was to her while they were married, along with the abuse of all kinds that she endured as a child. Inmates A and B killed elderly patients with no real intent which almost confuses me on how women usually have a reason for killing, according to Heide Kenney in 1994, but this could be because this research was done before the research for female serial killers that I included. Studying this was very interesting because I am very interested in the study of serial killers and why they do what they do and this research helped to put it in perspective, especially after seeing statistics.

Bibliography

1. Alvarez, A. and Bachman, R. (2017). Violence: The Enduring Problem. (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC.
2. Arndt, W. B., Hietpas, T., & Kim, J. (2004). Critical characteristics of male serial murderers. American Journal of Criminal Justice : AJCJ, 29(1), 117-IV. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.uccs.edu/10.1007/BF02885707
3. Hildebrand, M. M., & Culhane, S. E. (2015). Personality characteristics of the female serial murderer. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 5(1), 34-50. Retrieved from https://libproxy.uccs.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.uccs.edu/docview/1648514193?accountid=25388

The discrimination against ladies has been exceeded via specific generations, gender inequality in this evaluation main to insufficient representation of women in leadership positions. The fact that guys occupy the majority of senior positions is a substitute for women. Leadership is an integral count in advertising management. It is the principal thing how nicely the agency runs and how easily the facts will be delivered to the consumers.

The idea of gender inequality is inextricably linked to the thought of leadership, simply as the concept of marketing is inextricably linked to that stereotype. Gender stereotypes mold society’s perceptions and beliefs about the concept of a girl in a position of leadership. And who is one of the major disseminators of these stereotypes? The advertising business is dominated by the heads of marketing who use advertising for their product to be known and inform the consumers.

Advertising creates a big effect on society, such as psychology, sociology, and philosophy. The majority of marketing has historically portrayed human beings primarily based on the ways of gender stereotypes. A cultural concept focused on stereotypes, it is generalized and ordinary with the aid of society, based on gender or sex. Due to beliefs created through the gender stereotype, ladies have concerns about rejection, situation in enterprise or job, and mental and emotional distress.

Women are commonly represented as incapable, weak, inclined, and handy to manipulate (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008) stereotype set the variations in society’s point of view and faith between guys and women, which put ladies at a dis gain rather than guys in the workplace. Thus, understanding the obstacles and impediments of women can change the perspective of society towards girls that they are incapable of being a leader.

Gender stereotypes portrayed females in a common role, ladies greater possibly to be unemployed (for example, housewives and caretakers of their children). Thus, an organization that tolerates gender stereotypes finds inequality less offensive and has a greater fine effect than acquiring ladies than can show that they are certified and has the capacity and functionality to help in the enhancement of the company. Gender stereotypes create gender inequality and discrimination against women’s skills and capabilities. Assuming they are more in a position than what we assume they are, women are less likely to practice for jobs until they are assured that they meet most of the listed qualifications. Gender stereotype divides gender or intercourse into dominators and subordinates. It isn`t only in everyday existence or in the administrative center that woman figure struggles with the bias inherent in society. Gender stereotypes impact the choice and competency of girls whether they permit the common role or believe in their competencies and skills that they can be equal with males and be a leader.

Leadership refers to the person’s capacity to affect others closer to the fulfillment of some goal. Leader leads, motivate guide, aggregates people, recommendation, and ideas. The foremost impediment to lady management is precipitated by using stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Women are constantly seen as inferior beings (Davidson and Burke, 2011).

The women wreck expectation and the gender stereotypes about them can create reactions and modifications to society’s perspective and beliefs, due to stereotypical look at them that they ought to stay in their common position the work of a lady figure. As a result, the ideas of the creator focuses on gender stereotype towards leadership. In this analysis, it concluded that both women and guys are equally advantageous as a leader, each has unique methods of being a leader in their very own way.

Introduction

Tourism that is based on gender and sex has become one of the hottest topics in social studies that have aroused interest in many researchers who wish to find out the relationship between the two and the reasons for its development.

Tourism has developed as a phenomenon since the 19th century when it was first organized by Thomas Cook from a tour to cure curiosity by the rich into an activity that is currently affordable by almost all classes due to the different packages that come with it.

Different places in the world attract different types of tourism from sightseeing to sports tourism and many other forms. Tourism has been further developed by globalization, which can be described as the integration and interaction of the people of the world on different platforms at the global level through government relations, business, and education among other activities aided by information technology.

Eroticism tourism has also emerged among many other forms of tourism attractions. It has found a place in such places like Amsterdam and other cities in the South American States. The Dominican Republic has come out as one of the best-known sex haven tourism spot in the world. The study therefore finds out the contribution and views of Dominican women towards sex tourism and the masculinity of tourism as a factor.

Effects of Globalization and Tourism

Gregory’s work reveals the impact of globalization on “the lives of real people, communities, and nation states” (2007, p. 245). Globalization has developed in recent times due to the information technology explosion that has seen the whole world interconnect seamlessly with so much ease. The development of the internet technology has led to an easy and faster communication processes, which has enabled the whole world to access and exchange information over the internet in real time.

Therefore, the internet can be credited with the fast growth of globalization due to its conveyor effect to information from one point to the other. Globalization has also been accentuated by the liberalization of almost all the economies of the world with capitalism taking the center stage as the most preferred form of the economy by world countries.

Capitalism leans heavily on independence of the mind, which can further be described as liberalism. It allows parties to engage their ideas on the economic scale liberally without being constrained by such issues like social ethics. According to Bear, Freedom is associated with specific forms of capitalist activities (n.d, p 4.).

Globalization and Neoliberalization have changed the living conditions of the poor by further marginalizing them and subjecting them into mere survival and existence.

Although globalization has made the world become seamless with easy movement and interaction of people in the world, it has made it more difficult for the lower class to go up the ladder because it only provides a thriving environment for the ‘have’ who in turn use their economic advantage to exploit the ‘have not’.

According to Gregory, in his book The Devil Behind the Mirror, he explains that an average Dominican family toils and survives on less than $2 per day yet Western tourists pay $200-$300 per night for an endless supply of food. Such inequalities are the epitomes of globalization, which thrives on capitalism.

Under such circumstances, men and women of society are forced to struggle to survive. This survival ends up being survival for the fittest. Women in this case are the most vulnerable. They are forced into commercial sex activities to earn a living for themselves and for their families. Acceptance of this practice is what has fuelled sex tourism in countries like the Dominican Republic.

Role of Dominican Women

Statistics indicate that an average of 60000-100000 Dominican women engages in prostitution, which is a great attraction to sex tourists. The Dominican Republic has been christened as the Thailand of the West in terms of sex tourism.

It is neither legal nor illegal to practice prostitution in this republic leaving it ‘open’ to individuals to decide for themselves. Dominican women have played a big role in promoting the sex tourism business of their country.

They are known to package and or advertise themselves as beautiful, sexy, and ready to fulfill sexual satisfaction of their clients. The biggest notion that has made the Dominican Republic thrive as a sex tourism destination is that its women are beautiful, sexy, and cheap. To add onto this issue, most Dominican women practice prostitution as an accepted social practice.

In the Dominican Republic, it is easy to pick a woman off the streets and pay her for sex especially if one is a foreigner. Foreigners are known to pay much more for sex in relation to locals. The attraction that drives Dominican women to tourists is the generosity that tourists have when it comes to spending on them and the fees that they are ready to pay for the sex, which are premium rates.

The picture of desperate Dominican women struggling with poverty has been one of the greatest contributory factors to sex tourism in that poverty has led them into descending into prostitution. The availability of prostitution on demand and at every corner has given the country a name as a sex tourism destination and hence a great attraction to tourists who want to satisfy their pleasurable desires.

Dominican Republic is one of South America’s poor countries with very low literacy levels. It main stay economic activities like agriculture does not pay well with most of the agricultural industries that used to run the economy closing down or going under the privatization hammer. Poverty leads to women moving from their villages to the city to earn whatever living they can afford.

Due to lack of education and a limited number of employment opportunities, they end up in the bars and clubs of the city from where they become available for prostitution. Most of the women in Dominican Republic are single mothers and heads of their households. Therefore, they have to provide for their households.

These women earn much more working with tourists than when working in factories and hence the reason why so many of them can be found in tourist spots (Gregory 2007, p.34).

Although some of them are not in the sex industry, it is difficult to differentiate them because the hospitality industry encourages them to provide all the services the tourist might demand. Women always play subordinate roles to men. This nature of submissiveness has seen them become vulnerable members of the society in danger of exploitation by other men and women who run prostitution rings.

Masculinity of Tourists

Masculinity of tourists is one of the biggest catalysts for sex tourism in the Dominican Republic. Masculinity in this case can be described in two forms the first one being the masculine nature of the tourist or simply male desires of the tourists. The second one is the economic power that the tourists wield over the locals.

The Dominican Republic has been structured by a history of colonial legacies that led to unequal social strata after the colonialists had gone (Appadurai, 1990, p. 55). Combining this issue with unequal economic and political relations leaves the majority of the people of the Dominican Republic with little control over their social political affairs.

The old age social practices left behind by colonialists have left the women in the Dominican republic a vulnerable lot who have to live outside the accepted ethics for them to survive. This challenge has therefore left many of them with no option other than to turn to tourism. The location of the Dominican Republic close to the United States of America has made the country easily accessible to tourists chasing eroticism.

Most tourists coming in from the West are well off enough to afford the adventures offered by the Dominican tourism packages because they are cheap compared to other exotic destinations in the world. The ability of many budget tourists or backpackers to afford to come to the Dominican Republic has risen the profile of sex tourism because it come in as one of the cheapest forms of pleasure one can afford.

The tourism masculinity has adopted an oriental form of discourse that tends to follow into the footsteps of the main driving forces of the tourism destination (Said, n.d, p. 48). Tradition in the Dominican Republic has been sold to foreign corporate interests who come in to do business under the license of investors.

Foreigners who market businesses to their fellow nationals with promises of bottomless erotic pleasures to be offered own most of them (businesses) in the tourism circuit in the Dominican Republic. They go ahead to employ beautiful Dominican women as waitresses to serve the clientele that will be coming in.

The masculinities of tourists, which can be described as male tourists therefore feed on the availability of Dominican women who earn more by working with tourists than by working with companies. In this case, most tourists coming are male tourists specifically seeking eroticism. Imperial masculinity, as brought about by tourism thrives on gender, racial, national, and class differences.

It subjects women to subordination towards men. Most Dominican women working in the tourism industry are poor. They try to find prospects from the tourists as a source of a better life. Tourism offers some women hope of finding love and marriage to able foreigners who will take them out of their country and or poverty to new prospects of a good life. The economic power of male tourists is able to buy any activity from a woman.

How do women challenge this representation?

There have been concerted efforts by women scholars to dispel the picture of Dominican women as being a sex market for tourists. These efforts have been in the line of academia from where female researchers have tried to paint a different picture of the Dominican sex industry.

In doing this effort, they have tried to explain the set up of the situation by showing that it is beyond these women’s will to engage in the practice. They have blamed the matter on globalization and the liberalism associated with it.

To prove their point, they have come up with examples of how globalization has opened up other closed cultures like those of the Indian women into a form of eroticism liberalization. Women tend to be the main subjects in this case because they are portrayed as the weaker sex between them and men. Thus, when it comes to survival, women tend to struggle a lot to survive (A Biocathography, n.d, p. 197).

In her book, Reworking the National in Global Capitalism, Bear paints a picture of how women in Kolkota embrace any prospects that can better their lives. In her opinion, gender plays a big role in defining roles in society. More often, women are always disadvantaged when it comes to them competing with men.

Although such scholars have come out to the defense of women, the defense has been found to be largely hypothetical because it picks from the minority of the group as the representation of the whole group.

To most women on the ground, prostitution has been embraced as a source of income that has changed the cultural set up of the community to fit into the changes brought to the community by globalization.

As much as academicians try to paint a picture of an enforced practice because of poverty and other challenges, ethical morals of the community have been left open because prostitution in the Dominican Republic is neither legal nor illegal.

Conclusion

Sex tourism has cut a niche for itself as a form of tourism that is able to move the economy of a given country forward. In countries like Netherlands, it is an organized business that formally pays tax from its income. Thus, its illegitimacy is relative to ones ethical subscriptions. Women tend to be affected most in the case of sex tourism, as they are the most targeted for sex by men who make up the majority of sex buyers.

Reference List

A Biocathography (n.d). Maids, Neoslavery and NGO’s. New York: Word Press.

Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture in the Global Economy. London: Sage Publication.

Bear, L. (n.d). Rewriting the National in Global Capitalism: Freedom and Consumption in the Lives of International Call Centre Workers in Kolkata. Oxford: Oxford UP.

Gregory, S. (2007). The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic. London: University of California Press.

Said, A. (n.d). Orientalism: Introduction. London: Sage.

One should mention that race and gender play a primary role in physical education and sports. Perhaps these are some of the most significant characteristics without which it would be impossible to develop and promote sport and physical activity. These factors create the diversity of cultures and nations, and inclusiveness, giving access to the best talents and disclosing the individual’s potential, abilities, and strengths.

Sport unites and connects people, regardless of personal, physical, or mental qualities. It is enough to look at how people of various skin tones, other origins, and regions work together in one team, glorifying each other, rejoicing, or grieving together (Coakley, 2017). Sport has imperceptibly changed the consciousness, and mentality of citizens, forcing them to think about themselves and the individuals around them (Coakley, 2017). In particular, sport is not just enjoyment and an escape from routine but also a way to unite citizens regardless of race, gender, nationality, and other elements.

Nevertheless, the inner part and the “underside” of sport are not what it seems at first glance. Hence, based on the experience of the famous hockey player, one must remark that hazing and discrimination based on nationality actively continue to flourish in sports (Aliu, 2020). Viewers cannot participate in the feelings and sensations shared by young athletes, particularly at the beginning of their careers. These athletes can be gifted, talented, different, and unlike each other; in some way, based on pluralism and diversity, a conflict may arise within a team. In addition, all races on Earth have their peculiarities of physiology, and this is noticeable both externally and in the results of sports competitions.

Often, not only race and age remain the subject of discussion, but also the identification of some individuals. Sports principles have turned out to be almost the main stronghold of “sexism,” “ageism,” and “racism.” If earlier sport was divided exclusively into “male” and “female.” Still, this concept remains in doubt at the moment due to rapidly changing trends and the high dynamics of social development. For instance, transgender people in sports are the basis for a clear understanding of human rights and opportunities.

In contrast, some people believe that promoting transgender people in sports destroys the aesthetics of women’s competitions and undermines the foundations of civilization. Although, indeed, this is a fundamentally incorrect statement since some women also have elements inherent in men (Turban, 2021). The performances of such “characters” in major matches were isolated and perceived as exotic, and they did not affect the distribution of medals. Nevertheless, as soon as former men and intersex people began to break into leading positions in women’s sports, the topic took a scandalous turn. In short, the boundaries between gender and age cannot be erased as if by magic, and some sports only continue to strengthen the sexual binary (Turconi, 2017). At least, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the indicators for running, jumping, or throwing will be different for men and women, despite the same allotted time for training.

References

Aliu, A. (2020). Hockey is not for everyone. The Players’ Tribune. Web.

Better locker rooms: It’s not just a transgender thing. (2017). The Society Pages (TSP). Web.

Coakley, J. (2017). Unity for what? The togetherness created by sports. The Society Pages (TSP). Web.

CBC News. (2020). 5 years after truth and reconciliation, indigenous athletes say sports programs have not done enough. CBC/Radio-Canada. Web.

Turban, J. (2021). Trans girls belong on girls’ sports teams. Scientific American. Web.

Turconi, L. (2017). Quidditch: ‘Spelling’ out the gender in sport. The Society Pages (TSP). Web.

Introduction

Majority of the sicknesses that people suffer from result from their failure to exercise their bodies. Although they are aware of this fact as well as the role that sports play concerning the immune system of their bodies, they have neglected sports based on claims of issues of gender and racism that dominate the world of sports.

Sports psychology has become increasingly interested in evaluating the differences in the sports enrollment and participation. Birrell notes, “…despite the recent increases in female sports participation, girls and boys still do not participate equally in the same sports (32).

Even in their most preferred sports, boys and girls differ in enrollment in sports depending on the nature of the sports. As Lever claims, “…boys are more likely than girls to engage in sports-related activities that involve teams, complex rule systems, and high levels of interdependency” (475). Racial differences significantly account for sports involvement differences.

To this respect, Jon points out that “While Asians comprise 57% of the world’s population, they “are virtually invisible in the most democratic world of sports, running, soccer, and basketball” (Para. 7). According to Jon, Africans who only represent 12 % of the population of the world dominate soccer, basketball and running.

From the above scholastic arguments, it stands out that differences in sports participation and enrollment exists along racial and gender lines. However, as opposed to what many believe, these discrepancies can be reduced to tolerable levels thereby attracting more people into joining sports and consequently boosting their immune system.

Gender differences in sports

The results from State Association Summary of 1989 on a study of 712 high schools of the large mid western state, found out that 42, 299 boys had the probability of playing foot ball, 26, 662 likely to pay basket ball while 19, 368 boys were likely to take part in base ball game. On the other hand, according to the State Association Summary, “…girls were most likely to play basket ball (17,011), volley ball (16306), and outdoor track field (13,478)” (45).

On one part this results are paramount in that they actually reflect the obvious scenarios on the ground. For instance, why do different people choose different sports activities from the numerous alternatives available on their table? Gender is one of the reasons.

Different genders possesses different motivational factors which solicit their decisions making process which are expected to be reflected in the decisions made about life indulgencies not only in other activities but also in choice of sporting activities.

The influence of self-concept is crucial in as much as explaining the gender instigated sports decisions making process is concerned. As Harold laments, “…self concepts of ability are critical predictors of performance and task choice” (10).

Self-concept is however, a determinant criterion of sport choice contributed largely by inculcation of myths and stereotypical arguments about existing abilities of humans based on gender.

In as much as it may appear to be true that soccer is principally dominated by men, women soccer teams have also been participating in female soccer competitions worldwide. Many would not agree that women world-cup games, in particular soccer, could attain the recognition and popularity as the male soccer world’s cup competitions.

All that matters are our willingness and enthusiasm to see the other side of the story. Gender inequality in sports choice is a problem of making especially by considering an example of boxing sports. For many years, women were secluded from this game.

The question is, with the incorporation of women boxing sports activities at international level, are there no boxing competitions as entertaining as those conducted by men are? The masculine traits correlation with boxing is actually a stereotypically formulated idea!

An argument may ensue that gender sports choice differences is fueled by the perceived differences in the capabilities of gender based criteria and since nothing can be done to ensure biological equity and the physical differences between females and males, the gender differences will persist.

Despite the facts that people are to the tasks that are moderately hard as opposed to very difficult or very easy tasks, as Harold argues, “ whether perceived tasks difficulty relates negatively or curvilinear to tasks choice should depend on individuals motivation orientation, goals and the value the individual attaches to creativity” (10).

Goals and values attributes are found not to be any way universal among a particular, gender but rather depend on personalities and talent endowments. In particular, essential to note is the fact that stereotypes of gender roles are salient issues, which are value free. “Women are stereotyped as less competent especially in intellectual and athletic domains even when they perform equally well” (Harold 12).

These stereotypical perceptions serve to discriminate rather than provide evidence of women incapacity to compete with men in sporting activities. According to Harold, “stereotypes influence children’s developing self concepts, then incorporation of these biased cultural gender role stereotypes could well result in girls having lower self concepts of their intellectual and athletic abilities than boys” (12).

Women consequently can amicably raise and dominate the sports activities historically perceived as province of men if these stereotyped minds are altered. The society teaches such beliefs at an early age through the way various genders interact and the way of doing gender roles differentiation (Deeter 89).

In the modern world, things have immensely changed. As a result, we have seen the generation of women who can equally bit men in athletics further giving evidence that gender based discrepancies on the sporting abilities of women and men is a mythical and self-making problem, which can easily change based on the general change of the way people perceive issues.

Racial based sports discrepancies

On a different angle, Jon suggests a model of explaining the differences in sports based on racial grounds. Through his work, he appreciates that gender is not a big determining factor in sports choice.

By citing race, he does not subdivide an individual capacity to participate in sports based on gender since within a given race two genders exist. Even though, the East African does well in long-range athletes, it is not imperative to classify the trend in various talents endowment in terms of whether one is black or white.

“The belief that black athletic ability is inversely proportional to black intellectual ability has been used to justify slavery, colonialism, and segregation” (Jon Para. 10). Furthermore, Jon tends to foster the much-opposed position that white men are associated with excellence in tasks that pay the biggest lamps of money.

For instance, he claims that athletes from Kenya come from a radius of 60 miles around Eldoret town and that the Kalenjin community focuses on athletics as a way of looking for an alternative way of refocusing their energy after objecting to comply with the colonial rule demands.

If this approach was something to concur with, ‘why then does the modern ardent global focus on athletics?’ Even though Jon’s approach does not entail gender-based segregation of the population, it is not acceptable.

Conclusion

A more acceptable way of rating the observable differences in people’s enrollment participation in various sports could be focused on environmental, social and geographical characteristics bearing in mind that different places or countries are characterized by different availability of sporting equipment and facilities.

Jon’s approach, though not entangling gender based analysis of differences in the sports enrollment and participation, uses a racial approach, which seems greatly fought against by people.

By taking into consideration the modern attempts to incorporate all genders equally at all sports both at national level and with willingness to change gender and racial stereotypical perceptions, the existing beliefs on dominancy of differences in the sports enrollment and participation can be eroded.

Works Cited

Birrell, Susan. The Psychological Dimensions of Female Athletic Participation: In M Boutilier & L. San Giovanni: The Sporting Woman. Champaign IL: Human Kinetics, 1983.

Deeter, Trevor. Re-Modeling Expectancy and Value in Physical Activity. Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychology 12.1 (1997): 86-91.

Harold, Rena. Gender Differences in Sports: Applying the Eccles’ Expectancy Value Model. Journal of Applied Sports Psychology 3.1 (1997): 7-35.

Lever, Janet. Sex Differences in the Complexity of Children’s Play and Games. American Sociological Review 43.4 (1978): 471-483.

State Association Summary. 1988-89 sports participation survey. Michigan high school: school athletics association, 1989.

Jon, Entine. Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We Are Afraid to Talk About It? New York, NY: BBS Public Affairs, 2000.