Why Men are More Criminally Inclined (Essay Sample)

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9/12/2014
WHY MEN ARE MORE CRIMINALLY INCLINED
Introduction
There has been a lot of research in the past few years that have been mainly concerned with the relationship between gender and crime. These studies have been initiated in efforts to establish some of the ways in which the gender of individuals might in one way or another might influence likeliness of getting into the life of crime or even criminal activities in any way. These studies have also been started in the attempts to try and establish the gender that is more prone to criminality or more prone to fall into the criminal behavior, and some of the factors that might contribute to this tendency. Studies especially on men and crime have been undertaken for a long time, and it was only in the past few years that scientists became interested in the relationship between women and crime (Dana 2011). Social scientists have realized that there is another side to the gender and crime cases; one that is of great importance when it comes to examining the tendencies of criminality among the human race, and some of the issues around it. From this studies for instance, it has been established that more men contribute or take part in criminal behaviors and actions than women. When the number of the men found to be in this matter is compared to that of the women, more men are found to be involved in this behavior or tendencies. Scientists began asking, ‘why are men more criminally inclined and violent than women’? and ‘How is hegemonic masculinity involved in the committing of a crime? (Wykes & Welsh, 2009).
Gender identity can be described as part of the sense of self that individuals have and they are always striving to make sure that their femininity or masculinity is known and appreciated. Individuals might try to make known of their femininity or masculinity in a number of different ways or manners. Some of the ways that people use in efforts to establish or make known of their masculinity of femininity might be appropriate and even sometimes inappropriate depending on the ways that such individuals will choose. Research for instance indicates that men commit crime as a way of constructing their masculinity and expressing this to themselves as well as to their friends and other individuals with whom they relate within the society (Mooney 2000). This occurs in situations whereby an individual chooses to commit crime or get into criminal activities, not for another reason, but actually to portray his masculine nature or aspect, to his friends or other people. However, there are numerous factors that can shape the masculinity, these include; the ethnic background of an individual, age, social class and the sexual orientation.
Men in the society have more power over or more than their counterparts, the women in a number of different and rather complicated ways. This does not however mean that they are better of superior to the women, but rather that a majority of the society’s setting is set in manner that is rather incline to portraying men in a more advantageous position than their counterparts, the women. Due to this fact, it can rather be proved that this setting ends up providing men with vast opportunities for getting access to numerous resources in different ways than the women. This access to resources makes the men more dominant in their activities and constructions hence the emergence of various violent activities. Hegemonic masculinity is the most dominant type of masculinity (Karen & Janet 2008). Hegemonic masculinity is mainly defined by the subordination of women in the society, paid labor, heterosexism and the uncontrollable sexuality of men (Connell 2005). All these definitions are goals that every man in the society wants to achieve. They in turn tend to increase their propensity to engaging in criminal activities.
Behavioral patterns and beliefs that are based on gender influence the way an individual carry themselves around and how they relate to their family members and friends. This is due to the fact that our beliefs are more than just the untouchable world but also about the physical one in which we live and therefore such beliefs affect or influence a lot when it comes to how individuals act or behave. Studies have indicated that women who engage and excel in activities that are stereotypically considered men’s end up earning the respect of their male counterparts (Sandra 1995). On the flip side, men are often harassed when they tend to engage in activities that are considered feminine in nature (Kimmel 1994). This societal definition of what activities men and women should participate in fosters the dominance of hegemonic masculinity (Sandra, 2004). In order to cope with this, men tend to engage in activities that maintain hegemonic masculinity while at the same time they suppress feeling and emotions that tend to make them be considered by their friends as feminine in nature (Marisa & Chris 2008) . The society’s expectation of the male to be a less emotional gender also plays a major role in this part. An example of ways in which one can act or can behave so as to be considered less emotional for instance to someone can be to acting in ways that are considered by the society as ways in which individuals with less emotions act. Majority of such actions that are viewed in this way by the society are, in fact, mostly criminal actions.
The sex role theory supports the prevalence of hegemonic masculinity as men are forced to look around and see the general behavior of other men in the society and behave and emulate this. Men are bestowed with the obligation of controlling female sexuality and also to react to cases that involve the women disrespecting societal values. Men not only exercise this kind of power over women but also over men who are considered weak (DeKeseredy & Schwartz 2005). These men can be stigmatized and victimized due to their perceived weakness that arises from what the society defines as masculine engagements. Activities that are considered of masculine in nature include smoking of cigarettes, alcohol consumption and also engaging in social deviant behavior such as fighting as well as their ability to control the women that they are in a relationship with (Demetriou 2001). Looking at these perspectives, it is a clear indication that men think that they own women, and they are entitled to sexual intimacy from their partners. As a result, any man who feels that their partner is not fulfilling their sexual obligations may tend to react to the situation in a violent manner (Meda 1997).
This subordination of women extends to the men in the society who are perceived as being weaker than average. These are men who are rather viewed as having more of feminine aspects than masculinity. These men on their side however, will tend to react negatively to such kind of treatments; a scenario that on many events leads to fights, rape and even murder in the worst case scenarios (Connell 1983). Patriarchal societies have constructed women as being very pure and clean hence engaging in violent activities is considered an abnormal occurrence (Cohen 2010). On the other hand, men are constructed to being aggressive and engaging in violent activities such as fighting when the need arose. Men are often praised when they fight and if one wins a fight they are praised more and even treated to some benefits such as free tickets and even free alcohol. How men are raised is also a contributing factor to the prevalence of violent activities (Storey 2006). Men are raised to believe and p...