“In the '60s and '70s, people didn't pay a lot of attention to gangs. I think gangs still existed, but gangs had fallen out of criminological favor.” PeopleThinkingStillsPayAttentionFavorsFallenGang Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“When some of the gangs got involved with the drug trade, particularlythe crack cocaine trade, and the lethal violence started to flare up in the '80s, then there was a great deal of public attention on gangs and a great deal of concern about what was going on in these social groups.” SocialDealsAttentionViolenceGroupsInvolvedDrugConcernTradeCracks80sGangCocaineFlareSocial GroupsFlare Up Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“Girls come to the gang for very different reasons than boys. For boys in marginalized communities, they have a gender problem, and they solve it often through gang membership. They find an ability to do masculinity in a way that reasserts their importance in a society that mostly ignores them. For girls, they're coming out of more damaged backgrounds. Their families are often the reason they get propelled into gang membership.” WayDifferentReasonProblemGirlCommunityAbilityBoysImportanceGenderSolveBackgroundsComing OutMasculinityGangMembershipMarginalized Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“The girls go to the gang in order to get protection from victimization that's occurring in their lives. And also it's a place to be, because they're often rejected from and rejecting their families.” OrderGirlProtectionRejectedGangRejectingVictimization Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“The gang may be a safer place than home, but it's not without its problems. In some instances, especially in the Latino community, the boys have very traditional views of femininity even though they are gang members. The girls can be [seen] as sexually available, but not the good girl that you want to take home to your family, even by young men in the gangs.” MenWantMayProblemHomeYoungGirlCommunityViewsBoysMembersAvailableTraditionalInstanceOur FamilyYoung ManFemininityGangLatinoSexuallyGood GirlGang Members Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“One of the differences between boy gangs and girl gangs is for girls it's much more relational and much less violent.” GirlDifferencesBoysViolentGang Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“The most dangerous kind of girl involvement with gangs is one where the girls are just sort of hanging around the gang boys or even being part of the male gang.” KindGirlBoysDangerousMalesGangInvolvementHanging AroundKind Of Girl Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“There's only one thing worse than not paying attention to girls in gangs - it's paying attention to girls in gangs. The public reaction to girls and women who engage in nontraditional behavior - the hysteria that often surrounds girls in these groups - is almost as interesting as the behavior itself.” GirlInterestingAttentionOne ThingGroupsBehaviorReactionsPay AttentionSurroundGangHysteria Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
