Institutional Control of Girls and Boys: An Attempt at a Gender-Specific Approach (From Growing Up Good: Policing the Behavior of Girls in Europe, P 129-144, 1989, Maureen Cain, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 119757
• Author(s): J Kersten
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

This study examines how West Germany's custodial institutions and their staffs manage juveniles of both sexes according to gender-related differences.

Abstract

Data on gender-related differences in the treatment of detained boys and girls are primarily taken from another study (Kersten et al., 1987). Within the institutions studied, normalcy for boys and girls is defined according to gender role conformity. For boys this means training for physical labor and sports, physical development, and the repression of emotions. For girls it means training in housework, relationship maintenance, and the cultivation of a stereotypical pattern of feminine emotionality. The institutionalization itself, however, works against the cultivation of such normalcy, as the juveniles are deprived of family and community role modeling and access to school or vocational careers. Overall, they are deprived of the social and relational resources necessary for the development of the traditional roles of maleness and femininity. This means that institutionalization per se ensures that both girls and boys will fail to develop according to the standards of society's gender roles. 7 notes.