NCJ Number
184396
Date Published
1999
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This essay examines the role of sex in gang life.
Abstract
The influence of sex upon life in the gang varies with the age and biological development of its members. In some younger gangs a girl may play the same role as a boy. Among gangs of younger adolescents, there is definite indifference or hostility to girls, although sex interests may be evident in various types of auto-erotic activity. Members of older adolescent or young adult gangs usually have a definite though half-concealed interest in girls. Dates and dancing become important, girls’ groups may enter into alliance with the gang and certain girls may be taken under its protection or in other ways may actually become members of the gang in their sexual capacity. On the whole, sex is a decidedly secondary activity in the gang. Particularly in the adolescent group, it is subordinated to the primary interest of conflict and adventure. As the gang grows older, however, sex gets more attention; in most cases it ultimately supplants the gang entirely, to the extent that its members marry and enter into family relationships.