Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Keeping the ‘Lady’ Safe: The Regulation of Femininity through Crime Prevention Literature

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rape and the fear of rape have been understood by numerous feminists as an ideological weapon used by men to subordinate women. This paper argues that this analysis of power is overly reductive. The omnipresent threat of rape for women encourages them to engage in multiple ‘safe-keeping’ acts which have come to be a performative condition of normative femininity. These restrictive bodily acts (not dressing in certain ways, avoiding certain public locales) promoted through some strands of rape prevention literature, are not merely a reaction to the reality of rape, rather, these advisory narratives unwittingly operate to install rape as a fixed reality. Rape prevention literature (re)produces gendered bodies – the vulnerable/indefensible feminine and the potent/unstoppable masculine – which does not disrupt the possibility of rape, more exactly, it makes rape seem evermore inevitable and unstoppable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aardvarc (2004). About Women and Marketing, 1/31/1996 9(7), 1–3. On-line http://www.aardvarc.org/

  • P. Bart T. Beneke (1982) Men on Rape St. Martin’s Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Bohmer A. Parrot (1993) Sexual Assault on Campus: The Problem and the Solution Macmillan New York

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Bordo (1991) Docile bodies, rebellious bodies: foucauldian perspectives on female psychopathology Silverman Hugh (Eds) Writing the Politics of Difference SUNY Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Patricia L. Brantingham Paul J. Brantingham (1990) ArticleTitleSituational crime prevention in practice Canadian Journal of Criminology 32 IssueID1 17–40

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Butler (1990) Gender Trouble: Subversion and Identity Routledge London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Butler (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex Routledge New York

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Cahill (2001) Rethinking Rape Cornell University Press Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • R.V. Clarke M. Felson (1993) Routine activity and rational choice, Advances in Criminology Theory, Vol. 5 Transaction Publishers, Inc New Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Clarke P. Mayhew (1980) Designing Out Crime Home Office London

    Google Scholar 

  • L.E. Cohen M. Felson (1979) ArticleTitleSocial change and crime rate trends: a routine activities approach American Sociological Review 44 588–605

    Google Scholar 

  • Cosmopolitan (2000). September

  • D. Craven (1997) Sex Differences in Violent Victimization US Department of Justice Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Dekeseredy H. Burshtyn C. Gordon (1992) ArticleTitleTaking woman abuse seriously: a critical response to the solicitor general of Canada’s crime prevention advice International Review of Victimology 2 157–167

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Dowling (2000) The Frailty Myth: Redefining the Physical Potential of Women and Girls Random House Trade Paperbacks New York

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Fausto-Sterling (2000) Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality Basic Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Foucault (1977) Discipline and Punish Penguin London

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Gardner (1990) ArticleTitleSafe conduct: women, crime, and self in public places Social Problems 37 IssueID3 311–328

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Gauntlett (2002) Media, Gender, and Identity: An Introduction Routledge London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Gerbner L. Gross M. Morgan N. Signorelli (1980) Violence Profile No 11: Trends in Network Television Drama and Viewer Conceptions of Social Reality 1967–1979 The Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA

    Google Scholar 

  • Grauerholz, E. (1989). The Repeated Crime of Intra-Familial Rape. North Central Sociological Association

  • E. Grosz (1994) Volatile Bodies: Towards a Corporeal Feminism Indiana University Press Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Grosz (1995) Space, Time, and Perversion Routledge London

    Google Scholar 

  • Haber, H. (1996). Body politics and the muscled woman. In S. Hekman (ed.), Feminist Interpretations of Michel Foucault. Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 135–158

  • J. Hanmer S. Saunders (1984) Well-Founded Fear Hutchinson London

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Hollander (2004) ArticleTitle‘I can Take Care of Myself’. The impact of self-defence training on women’s lives Violence Against Women 103 205–235 Occurrence Handle10.1177/1077801203256202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Jewkes (2002) ArticleTitleIntimate partner violence: causes and prevention The Lancet 359 IssueIDApril 9315

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Kapur (2002) ArticleTitleThe tragedy of victimization rhetoric: resurrecting the native in international/post-colonial feminist legal politics Harvard Human Rights Journal 15 IssueIDSpring 1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Kilpatrick C. Edmunds A. Seymour (1992) Rape in America: A Report to the Nation National Victim Centre Arlington, VA

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Lauritsen R. Schaum (2004) ArticleTitleThe social ecology of violence against women Criminology 42 2–323

    Google Scholar 

  • C. MacKinnon (1987) Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law Harvard University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Madden Margaret Thomas J. Sokol (1997) ArticleTitleTeaching women self-defence: pedagogical issues Feminist Teacher 11 IssueID2 133–151

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Madden T. Sokol (1997) ArticleTitleTeaching women self-defence: pedagogical issues Feminist Teacher 11 IssueID2 133–158

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Madriz (1997) Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women’s Lives University of California Press Berkeley and London

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Marcus (1992) Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory of Politics of Rape Prevention J. Butler J. Scott (Eds) Feminists Theorize the Political Routledge London 385–403

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Mawby S. Walkgate (1994) Critical Victimology Sage London

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Mynatt E. Allgeier (1990) ArticleTitleRisk factors, self-attributions, and adjustment problems among victims of sexual coercion Journal of Applied Social Psychology 20 IssueID2 130–153

    Google Scholar 

  • N. Naffine (1997) Feminism and Criminology Polity Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • P. O’Malley (1996) Risk and Responsibility T. Barry A. Osborne N. Rose (Eds) Foucault and Political Reason UCL Press London

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Pineau (1989) ArticleTitleDate rape: a feminist analysis Law and Philosophy 8 217–43 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00160012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Rabinow (1991) The Foucault Reader Penguin London

    Google Scholar 

  • Radford, J. (1987). Policing male violence. In J. Hanmer and Maynard M. (eds), Women, Violence and Social Control. Macmillan, pp. 30–45

  • A. Rich (1980) Compulsory heterosexuality and the lesbian existence C. Simpson E. Spector (Eds) Women: Sex and Sexuality Chicago University Press Chicago 62–91

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Sanders (1980) Rape and Women’s Identity Sage Publications Beverley Hills

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Stanko (1990) When precaution is normal L. Gelsthorpe A. Morris (Eds) Feminist Approaches in Criminology Open University Press Milton Keynes

    Google Scholar 

  • Storey, J. (1993). An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture

  • R. Tewksbury Musatine E. Ehrhardt (2001) ArticleTitleLifestyle factors associated with the sexual assault of men: a routine activity theory analysis The Journal of Men’s Studies 9 IssueID2 153–178

    Google Scholar 

  • InstitutionalAuthorNameThe Suzy Lamplugh Trust (1999) Living Safely: Personal Safety in Your Everyday Life The Suzy Lamplugh Trust London

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Thornhill C. Palmer (2000) A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion MIT Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Sanday (1981) ArticleTitleThe social context of rape: a cross cultural study Journal of Social Issues 37 IssueID4 5–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Shugart, H. (1994). The Missing Text: Rape and Women’s Sexuality in Women and Language, Vol. 17, 1st March

  • S. Ullman R. Knight (1992) ArticleTitleFighting back: women’s resistance to rape Journal of Interpersonal Violence 7 IssueID1 31–43

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Warr (1985) ArticleTitleFear of rape among urban women Social Problems 32 IssueID3 238–250

    Google Scholar 

  • J. White L. Post (2003) Understanding Rape: A Metatheoretical Framework C. Travis (Eds) Evolution, Gender and Rape MIT Press Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • Widom, C. and Maxfield, M. (1984). Sex roles and the victimization of women: evidence from the British Crime Survey

  • Wood, J. (1999). That wasn’t the real him. Communication Quarterly 7(3)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New England, USA

    Alex Campbell

Authors
  1. Alex Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Campbell, A. Keeping the ‘Lady’ Safe: The Regulation of Femininity through Crime Prevention Literature. Crit Crim 13, 119–140 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-005-2390-z

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-005-2390-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation