Angry Women and Empathic Men: How Individuals "Do Gender" in a Criminal Justice Context Through Conformity or Resistance to Gendered Feeling Rules

Shannon Dodd

doi:10.21428/88de04a1.c32f0300

Abstract

Studies on gender differences in public punitiveness show that women generally hold less punitive attitudes toward offenders than men. The reverse is true, however, when it comes to âback-endâ criminal justice processes, like parole, that involve the early release of prisoners. With evidence to suggest that differing emotional responses may help to explain gender gaps like these, this study draws on the concepts of gendered feeling rules and emotion management, together with the notion of gender as a performance, to explore how men and women enact their gendered identity through emotion in a criminal justice context. The findings highlight the salience of emotions like fear, anger, and empathy to gender differences in public support for parole. Further, they show that while both men and women perform gender by conforming to gendered emotion expectations, they also resist traditional emotion norms.

Highlights

Many criminological studies have explored gender differences in public punitiveness, offering some insight into men’s and women’s views on issues of crime and punishment
With evidence to suggest that differing emotional responses may help to explain gender gaps like these, this study draws on the concepts of gendered feeling rules and emotion management, together with the notion of gender as a performance, to explore how men and women enact their gendered identity through emotion in a criminal justice context
While these research findings are worthwhile, less empirical attention has been given to what is arguably the more important issue—why do men and women hold diverging criminal justice attitudes? There is evidence to suggest that differences in men’s and women’s affective experiences may provide an answer to this question (Gault & Sabini, 2000; Labor & Gastardo-Conaco, 2017; Whitehead & Blakenship, 2000)

Summary

Introduction

Many criminological studies have explored gender differences in public punitiveness, offering some insight into men’s and women’s views on issues of crime and punishment. While these research findings are worthwhile, less empirical attention has been given to what is arguably the more important issue—why do men and women hold diverging criminal justice attitudes? There is evidence to suggest that differences in men’s and women’s affective experiences may provide an answer to this question (Gault & Sabini, 2000; Labor & Gastardo-Conaco, 2017; Whitehead & Blakenship, 2000). For example, that “gender differences in emotion influence gender differences in policy preferences” The affective dimensions of public punitiveness and the gendered nature of emotions are, an important avenue for research. Though, one must decide how best to conceptualize the key construct of gender

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