Keeping out of trouble: Female crack cocaine dealers in England
| Date | 01 January 2014 |
| Published date | 01 January 2014 |
| Author | Jennifer Fleetwood |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370813491177 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2013
Article
European Journal of Criminology
2014, Vol 11(1) 91 –109
Keeping out of trouble:
© The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permissions:
Female crack cocaine
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1477370813491177
euc.sagepub.com
dealers in England
Jennifer Fleetwood
University of Leicester, UK
Abstract
This paper offers a rare insight into women’s experiences dealing crack cocaine. Drawing on
interviews with eight women, this research finds that, although the retail-level crack trade is male
dominated, it is not simply a man’s world. This paper examines the strategies that successful
female dealers employed, demonstrating that women reflexively took their gender into account
to made cognizant choices about what, when and how to deal. Dealing strategies were a response
not solely to the gendered nature of the drug market but also to women’s gendered social
positions, relationships and identities. Performing respectable femininity was a key strategy for
keeping dealing hidden and keeping out of trouble. This paper is underpinned by the concept of
‘doing gender’.
Keywords
Crack cocaine, ‘doing gender’, drug dealing, England, women
Introduction
Drug dealing is generally thought to be a ‘man’s world’ that is male dominated and vio-
lent (Adler, 1993; Davis et al., 2005; Hutton, 2005; Maher and Hudson, 2007;
Mieczkowski, 1994; Sharpe, 2005). Since women lack the requisite ‘muscle’
(Steffensmeier, 1983), or are perceived to lack it by men who act as gatekeepers to crimi-
nal opportunities (Mullins and Wright, 2003), their participation is supposedly limited to
minor and peripheral roles. Crack cocaine markets are seen to be particularly problem-
atic, since they are characterized by ‘constant exposure to violence . . . Duplicity on the
part of customers and sellers is so common as to be institutionalised. Overall, instability
reigns and predatory arrangements thrive between all actors at all levels’ (Jacobs, 1999:
Corresponding author:
Jennifer Fleetwood, Department of Criminology, University of Leicester, The Friars, 154 Upper New Walk,
Leicester, LE1 7QA, UK.
Email: j.fleetwood@kent.ac.uk
92
European Journal of Criminology 11(1)
43; see also Inciardi et al., 1993: 77). Women are particularly vulnerable to violence in
crack cocaine markets by virtue of their gender (Bungay et al., 2010; Dunlap et al., 1994:
12; Mieczkowski, 1994; Sterk, 1999). The violence endemic to the market limits wom-
en’s participation to minor or peripheral roles, producing a gendered hierarchy (Maher
and Hudson, 2007).
Research has questioned this established account of women in drug dealing. Denton
(2001) found that, although the drug trade in Melbourne was male dominated, this did
not preclude women’s involvement (Denton, 1999). Women employed ‘gendered orien-
tations, attributes and skills’ and drew on kin networks to succeed (Denton, 2001; see
also Dunlap et al., 1994)). Sandberg and Grundetjern (2012) examined the strategies
employed by female dealers in Norway. Their respondents downplayed their femininity,
for example by creating a desexualized, violent persona to counter victimization from
dealers and clients. Jacobs and Miller (1998) examined the gendered strategies female
dealers employed to manage risk, focusing on arrest avoidance. However, situating their
research within the arrest avoidance paradigm offers a truncated view of female dealers’
lives. Although they acknowledge that the drug trade is characterized by sexism and a
gendered hierarchy, they give relatively little consideration to the question of whether
‘street antagonists’ or police present greater risk.
Research on female dealers in the UK is relatively scarce. A handful of studies have
explored women’s involvement in the recreational drug trade (such as MDMA, cannabis
and cocaine) connected to the rave scene,1 with very little known about heroin and crack/
cocaine.2 Broadly, research finds that women are present but that women’s gender shapes
the nature of their involvement and strategies for dealing. Hutton reports (2005: 554):
‘To be a woman and a drug dealer carries a double risk: the need to avoid the police and
also the need to avoid aggression and suspicion from other male dealers.’ She reports that
her respondent Melanie minimized risks by pooling her resources with a male dealer.
Similarly, Ward’s (2010) retrospective ethnography of the 1990s rave scene notes that, in
general, women occupied lesser roles. Nonetheless, she describes two women who were
‘front line drug sellers and who were both running their businesses in line with the gen-
eral rules of the trade, and in the same firm and calculated style as the men’ (Ward, 2010:
109). Although women ‘could be viewed as equal participants’, few women occupied
these roles, possibly because they were less inclined to take risks. Lastly, Hobbs’ (1995)
ethnography of organized crime describes a female marijuana dealer. He concludes that,
‘although it is difficult to analyse precisely, traditional limitations imposed by gender
expectations would appear to be breaking down. As Moira’s story suggests, there are
now more opportunities for women within serious crime via the drug trade’ (1995: 121;
see also Fagan, 1994).3 Nonetheless, Hobbs does not take account of the ways in which
Moira’s gender shapes how she deals, aside from hinting that she can operate in the same
way as a man. Although ethnographic research enables in-depth appreciation of culture,
the above studies encountered just one or two female dealers.
Available research on women and crack cocaine in the UK mainly comes from medi-
cal perspectives (Gossop et al., 1994; Hay et al., 2009; Hope et al., 2005), except for a
handful of sociological studies. Briggs (2012) reports that crack users in London experi-
enced violence relating to dealers and debts, but others (May and Hough, 2004: 556;
May et al., 2000) found that that, although violence was a feature of the trade, it was
Fleetwood
93
unclear whether it functioned as a method of formal control as prior research suggests
(for example, Dorn et al., 2005; Goldstein, 1985). Nonetheless, extant UK research has
generally not considered the significance of gender (although see McGovern, 2010). In
part this can be attributed to the fact that research on dealing has made ‘masculinist,
misinformed assumptions about how capable women are in conducting successful busi-
nesses’ (Hutton, 2005: 548). These assumptions underpin research design. For example,
Coomber’s otherwise excellent research on crack and heroin dealing only recruited
respondents in a men’s prison (2003: 948). The gender of his respondents barely gets a
mention, let alone analysis. Similarly, May et al. (2000) did not recruit any female
respondents. According to a footnote, ‘no interviewee disclosed any knowledge of
female sellers within the market’ (2000: 14, fn 14). Arguably, research on crack markets
in the UK has tended to assume rather than question women’s marginalization, but per-
haps women’s participation in drug markets is especially hidden and hard to research
(Anderson, 2005; Morgan and Joe, 1996).
The present research therefore addresses a significant empirical gap regarding wom-
en’s experiences in the street-level cocaine trade in the UK. Drawing on interviews with
eight women who had been involved in the street-level crack trade in a small town, this
research first seeks to examine the claim that the violent nature of the drug trade margin-
alizes women’s participation. Secondly, this research explores the strategies that women
employed to deal crack in a male-dominated market, and in particular the role of gender
in women’s dealing strategies. This research is underpinned by ‘structured action’ theory,
and in particular the concept of ‘doing gender’ (Miller, 2002). Messerschmidt (1997) and
Miller (2002) have been at the forefront of the development of this theory in criminology,
building on West and Zimmerman’s (1987) concept of ‘doing gender’. In brief, this eth-
nomethodological approach sees gender as a continuous undertaking tailored to each
situation (West and Festernmaker, 1995; West and Zimmerman, 1987). Although gender
is ‘done’ by individuals, they do it ‘in the virtual or real presence of others who are pre-
sumed to be oriented to its production. Rather than as a property of individuals, we con-
ceive of gender as an emergent feature of social situations’ (West and Zimmerman, 1987:
127). For example, Miller’s (1998) research on street robbery found that women made
pragmatic decisions about how to make use of their gender in order to accomplish rob-
bery in an inner-city, urban street context characterized by gendered hierarchies. She
found that women chose female targets or posed as prostitutes to rob men as a way of
minimizing risks. This was an important theoretical development that drew attention to
the contingency between the street and women’s undertaking of gender in order to do
crime. It also provided useful tools for seeing women’s active engagement with dealing
markets and contexts. However, by focusing solely on the street, Miller may have missed
out the role of other ‘real or imaginary others’. For example, Brotherton’s (1996) research
on female gang members found that, by and large, women were invested in ‘mainstream’
roles and identities as mothers, daughters, parents, employees and neighbours in addition
to gang membership (1996:...
To continue reading
Request your trial