NCJ Number
184399
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article provides insights into the attitudes and behavior patterns of poor black females who choose to join gangs.
Abstract
Over the past 30 years girl gangs appear to have evolved from a predominantly auxiliary status--functioning primarily to support male gangs--to a position characterized by greater autonomy and independent activity, with status confirmed on the basis of a girl’s ability to fight. However, some studies indicate that girls continue to function primarily as support for male gang members. The black female gang serves as a principal agent of socialization for poor black adolescent females, offering them the opportunity to learn important survival strategies as well as the subtleties of lower class black lifestyle, in order to function effectively within the black community. The study looked at a girl group that functioned as an auxiliary to a male gang, examining the girls’ occupational and educational activities, sexual delinquency, relationships with male gang members and status-seeking. Essentially, the girls had no interest in working or furthering their education, assuming that their “old man” would take care of them. A girl’s status appeared to derive from the status of her “old man” and his position in the gang. The article discusses how this girl gang both resembled and differed from other black girl gangs of the same era.