Gang Girls: Agency, Sexual Identity and Victimisation ‘On Road’

Deficit or Credit? A Comparative, Qualitative Study of Gender Agency and Female Gang Membership in Los Angeles and Glasgow

“…Like much of the existing literature exploring female roles in drug supply, this study similarly found the majority of participants, on either site, to occupy low-level roles in the drug-supply chain: typically street-level dealing, renting their homes out for drug storage, or acting as a runner. However, contrary to portrayals of subordinate gang roles, subject to the male gaze (Laidler & Hunt, 2001; Young & Trickett, 2017), a few female participants played more agentic roles in supply and even operated at the top of hierarchical gang structures:As I got older, I just wanted to be part of [the gang] and I said, “I’m gonna be the leader and I’m gonna be the best” . .…”

“…The majority of U.K.-based gang research (cf. Batchelor, 2009; Harding, 2014), for example, has presented the female experience as one characterized by “subordination and abuse,” with gang rape often used as a weapon by males and/or social status and enhanced protection offered to young women who engage in sexual activity with their male counterparts (Densley, Davis & Mason, 2013; Disley & Liddle, 2016; Young & Trickett, 2017). This perspective is succinctly captured by HM Government’s (2016) rebranding of their gang strategy from “Ending Gangs and Youth Violence” to “Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation,” and a renewed focus on “contextual safeguarding” of abused young women (Firmin, 2018).…”

“…In the United States, in both Miller’s (2008) and Valdez’s (2007) research, it was found that young women of color often found themselves exposed to a male gang culture that endorses male dominance and control of women’s bodies and demands submissiveness, leading Valdez to conclude that gangs are “patriarchal microcosms” that punish those who violate gender norms (Young & Trickett, 2017, p. 232). While such findings might confirm male privilege, they also obscure female agency.…”

“…Furthermore, Laidler and Hunt’s (2001) earlier insights suggest that girls’ participation in gangs offers an avenue for challenging normative gender roles and asserting “emphasized femininity” (p. 658; Connell, 1987), whereby a particular notion of femininity constructed as the “bad girl” is promoted. In enacting this form of “bad girl femininity,” young women operating within the patriarchal power structure of gangs gain a form of status through, for instance, resorting to violence to defend their sense of honor (Young & Trickett, 2017, p. 235).…”

Street gangs and coercive control: The gendered exploitation of young women and girls in county lines

“…This study contributes to the growing literature on female gang involvement in Britain (e.g. Batchelor, 2009; Beckett et al, 2013; Deuchar et al, 2020; Firmin, 2011; Harding, 2014; Young, 2009; Young and Trickett, 2017) and the criminal exploitation of children and young people in ‘county lines’ drug sales (Harding, 2020; McLean et al, 2020; Spicer, 2021). In-depth interviews and focus groups with criminal justice and social service practitioners in London, England, revealed that an evolving county lines business model of drug distribution (Whittaker et al, 2018, 2020a) has facilitated the recruitment of girls and young women into gangs, exposing them to uniquely gendered risks of victimisation and ill treatment.…”