Project Proposal - women in criminology

I plan to focus my project on women in criminology. However, this doesn’t necessarily only include women from a traditional backing, for example Carol Christine Smart who is a published sociologist figurehead of the feminism movement within criminology, personally working on multiple theories. I’d like to include women who are unconventional, yet still have an effect on the criminology world. The main inspiration for this decision was the news of Kim Kardashian taking part in writing criminal legislation with the US government. (Trump, 2018) Initially, some may have laughed at this at first, questioning what Kim Kardashian could offer, but with a unique perspective and personal experience with crime, such as her robbery in Paris (Corinthios, 2018) and the release of a private tape (Extra TV, 2007), she has used her position and public power to shed light on people facing long sentences, in her view, unjustly. (Pye, 2018) Unsurprisingly, this was met with a strange sex-fuelled disdain by poking fun at Kardashian’s status a female known for her body confidence. (NY Post, 2018) This interested me due to the potential for other women to be goaded in a similar way. Another example of a woman unconventionally involved with criminology is actress and activist Laverne Cox. With her work on shows politically motivated, such as prison drama Orange is the New Black and legal drama Doubt, she has the interpersonal experience with the daily situations of a transgender woman’s problems in the US prison system, or the troubles faced by a transgender attorney passionately working for minorities and civil rights cases. (Nandi, 2017) Her interviews and social media accounts are all rooted in the awareness for LGBT+ causes as well as issues such as the gun debate, which opens a new generation of young followers to the political world.

Historically, women haven’t received sufficient recognition for their contributions to the world outside of their physical beauty. People will remember actress Hedy Lamarr for her beauty in My Favourite Spy, or Ecstasy, but her scientific contribution into technology was a great deal of what allowed the Allies to win WWII. (Famous Women Inventors, 2008) The only reason she isn’t celebrated for her technological genius is due to society deeming her looks more important than something that ultimately saved thousands of lives and was developed further into what gives us wireless connections to the internet, benefiting millions. Another source of inspiration was my interest in horror, growing up with an excess of silly, but beautiful, women running up the stairs instead of out the door from a killer. This, and other common tropes, was poked at in satirical horrors like Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) but I saw a more serious female horror character came into play, directly combatting these expectations, with Clarice Starling in Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs (1991). I can’t recall when I first saw this film, old enough to understand what she felt when the lingering eyes from a group of policemen tell her she’s out of place, but it stuck with me. I’d go to classes diligently, learning early theory when criminology was coming into itself as a science, but everything still had a focus on the male perspective. Classical theories such as strain theory or differential association theory were all from a male perspective or set women in a double standard. Women, until very recently, have not had a comfortable place in the criminology community.

With this project, I’d like to highlight these issues of minimal or inaccurate representation, delve into the wonderful women forgotten by mainstream criminology, and their contributions that will likely fade out of the history books completely until female researchers achieve the same recognition as male researchers.

Ideally, I’d use Instagram to write out my thoughts. Initially, I believed a blog would be a good idea, but I couldn’t imagine too many people having the interest to switch from one platform to another to read my words with no audience. Instagram has a character limit of 2200, which would keep my posts shorter, but challenge me to compact details into smaller chunks, easily digested. This would hopefully lead to a more regular flow of posts, I’m aiming for at least a bi-weekly post flow. The formatting of the platform makes for a great way to find an audience with up to thirty hashtags per post and an aesthetically pleasing view of pictures someone could click on, immediately knowing who they’re going to read about. Because posts allow up to 10 images, I could even utilise them for sources to save using up my character limit on links to journals or articles. There’s also the ability to comment thoughts on posts and repost things.

As a woman in the 21^st century of criminology studies, I think this project is close to my heart both personally, but as a duty in pursuit of knowledge. Letting important findings go forgotten is, to me, akin to lighting another fire to The Great Library of Alexandria.

The Crime Conversation (The Crime Conversation, 2018) is a cool blog with great articles, and specifically a tag for women in criminology. I think something like this would be a good place to source inspiration from. Regarding the Instagram layout, I really love @Makerswomen’s (Makerswomen) display with posts about trailblazing women, throughout all professions. So far, I haven’t found exactly what I’m doing, so surely that’s a good thing, but it’s a little unnerving to step into unfamiliar territory.

Bibliography

Corinthios, A. (2018, October 3). Kim Kardashian Was Robbed at Gunpoint in Paris 2 Years Ago — Here's How She Rebuilt Her Life. Retrieved from People: https://people.com/tv/kim-kardashian-robbed-gunpoint-paris-2-years-ago/

Extra TV. (2007, February 7). Kim Kardashian on Sex Tape: 'A Tape Does Exist'. Retrieved from Extra TV: http://extratv.com/2007/02/07/kim-kardashian-on-sex-tape-a-tape-does-exist/

Famous Women Inventors. (2008). Hedy Lamarr. Retrieved from Famous Women Inventors: http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp

Makerswomen. (n.d.). Retrieved from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makerswomen/

Nandi, A. (2017, February 15). Actress Laverne Cox opens up about transgender rights, her new role. Retrieved from CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/laverne-cox-transgender-timeline-doubt/

NY Post. (2018, May 30). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1001968236966137857

Pye, J. (2018, May 31). Kim Kardashian goes to Washington. Retrieved from The Hill: https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/390044-kim-kardashian-goes-to-washington

The Crime Conversation. (2018). Category: Women in criminology. Retrieved from The Crime Conversation: https://www.thecrimeconversation.com/category/women-in-criminology/

Trump, D. J. (2018, May 30). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1001961235838103552

https://prezi.com/view/meNWbFxLJlWHX9yAITgI/