Accomplishing femininity among the girls in the gang

Sociologists and criminologists in America have had a longstanding interest in youth gangs dating back to the pioneering work of Frederick Thrasher th rough to the subcultural theories of the 1960s -1970s to the present. Until recently, the primary focus was on the role of male gang members. In contr ast, discussions about young women's involvement in gangs, with a few notab le exceptions, have been typically shallow and sexist. In this paper we exa mine the meanings, expressions and paradoxes of femininity as they are unde rstood and experienced by Latina, African American and Asian-Pacific Americ an female gang members. The analysis, based on in-depth interviews with 141 gang members, is part of a long-term study (1990-present) of youth gangs i n the San Francisco Bay Area.