Masculinity and Juvenile Justice*
| Author | Rob White,Chris Cunneen |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486589602900106 |
| Published date | 01 March 1996 |
| Date | 01 March 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Masculinity and Juvenile Justice'
Chris Cunneent and Rob Whitet
Feminists have challenged criminology with the demand to consider gender
relations as necessarily implying a focus on masculinity as well as on
femininity (Gelsthorpe and Morris 1990: 3-4). Despite the recognition that a
discussion of gender inevitably involves a consideration of masculinity, there
has been a failure when discussing juvenile justice to adequately address this
issue. Although there has been some recent overseas literature in this area
(Newburn and Stanko 1994), the absence of discussion in Australia has been
particularly marked. We want to show how notions of masculinity are useful
in discussing offending behaviour as well as the response by juvenile justice
agencies. For instance, Brake (1985) comments that young men tend to see
themselves in terms of masculinity, whereas young women are judged on their
femininity. This implies a complex relationship to the social world around
them, and significant differences in how young women and men engage with
each other as well as with mainstream social institutions.
An idealised male sex-role is to be tough, competitive, emotionally
inexpressive, public, active and autonomous. The specific content of these
characterisations does vary, however, depending upon the cultural, class, and
ethnic background of the young men we might be talking about. Thus, in
stereotypical terms, a 'working class' male might construe masculinity in
terms of brute strength, physical attributes, competency in using one's body
and machines (such as cars), and peer group solidarity. By way of contrast, a
'middle class' male may exhibit their masculinity through expressions of
intellectual agility, a detached 'professional' attitude, performance of 'mental
labour' and assertion of the importance of individual autonomy. The picture
gets more complex once we start to explore the variety of masculinities as
shaped by cultural, national and ethic backgrounds and histories (eg Greek,
English, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Vietnamese, Chinese).
It has been frequently shown thatboys make up the overwhelming majority
of young people brought before the Children's Court on criminal matters.
During most of the twentieth century, those theories which attempted to
explain male delinquency with respect to notions of masculinity tended to
assume that gender relations were 'natural' and as a consequence often
focused attention on the mother as a cause of male offending.This is because
delinquency was seen to reside in the formation of masculinity itself: if young
men were not socialised the right way, then they would not express their
'manhood' in the appropriate manner. Some writers such as Bowlby
concentrated on explaining delinquency through maternal deprivation:
delinquent behaviour could be understood as a form of compensation for
inadequate mothering. Others explained forms of masculinity and delinquency
*Received: 19 September 1995. This article draws on the authors' book, Juvenile Justice: An
Australian Perspective, Oxford University Press, 1995.
tInstitute of Criminology, University of Sydney.
tDepartment of Criminology, University of Melbourne.
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