Female Deviance and the Female Sex Role: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

The primary questions towards which this paper is directed lie within that area Frances Heidensohn aptly described as 'obscure and largely ignored'l, that is, deviance in women. The intent here is to delineate certain of the parallels between the attributes of the female sex role and the eharacteristics of female deviance. Given that the participation of women in deviant roles is found primarily within the areas of prostitution, and given that prostitutes are almost exclusively female, any understanding of female deviance and therefore of prostitution can best be achieved through an understanding of the female sex role. The speeifie questions towards which this investigation is direeted are the following: what characteristics of the female sex role are conducive to the entrance of some women into the area of prostitution and why is prostitution a uniquely female form of deviance? Working from the interactionist approach to deviance as formulated by Edwin Lemert,2 this analysis will (a) delineate the complexities of prostitution and specifically distinguish the eall girl form of prostitution, (b) point out past inadequacies in the analysis of prostitution, and (c) utilize the call girl pattern to illuminate the charaeteristics of the female sex role. It vill be argued that prostitution utilizes the same attributes characteristic of the female sex role, and uses those attributes towards the same ends; that the transition from non-deviance to devianee within prostitition requires only an exaggeration of the situation experienced as a non-deviant woman; and that given Lemert's definition of primary deviance, all women, to the degree to whieh they refleet the contemporary female sex role, are primary deviants. For a period of nine months I spent most of my leisure time with a group of five 'outlaw' call girls,3 i.e., call girls operating without pimps. While I will frequently use my experience with this group to provide examples of specifie points, the discussions and eonclusions are based primarily on the published literature.