Heteronormativity in Criminology: Call for Inclusive Measurement of Sexuality

Abstract

In recent years, scholars’ calls for progress in the field have noted mainstream criminology's historical reluctance to include certain social constructs, particularly sexuality. The current study employed a content analysis to examine articles published between 2015–2019 in Criminology and Journal of Interpersonal Violence (JIV) to determine inclusion of sexuality both within the body of the article and as a variable. Findings indicate while the inclusion of sexuality was limited in both journals, JIV, which has a stated diversity-focused orientation, included sexuality at a higher rate than the mainstream criminological journal, Criminology. Importantly, in both journals, conceptualizations and operationalizations of sexuality, when it was measured as a variable, rarely fell outside of a binary measure. This suggests that the measurement and inclusion of sexuality is still lacking, and the call for inclusivity has not been fully heeded. Unless sexuality is included as a characteristic in research, its impact cannot be definitively determined and, therefore, cannot contribute to the formation of effective policy and practice.

Keywords

sexuality sexual orientation criminological research victimization research

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ASC (2020). Publications. In: American Society of Criminology.

Asquith

Dwyer

Simpson

(2017). A queer criminal career. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 29(1), 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2017.12036094

Ball

(2016). Queer criminology as activism. Critical Criminology, 24(4), 473–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-016-9329-4

Belknap

(2015). Activist criminology: Criminologists’ responsibility to advocate for social and legal justice. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 53(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12063

Berg

B. L.

(1995). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (2 ed.). Needham Heights, MA.

Berg

B. L.

(2004). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (Vol. 5). Boston, MA.

Brown

Herman

(2015). Intimate partner violence and sexual abuse among LGBT people. Los Angeles, CA.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2022). National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Retrieved from https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/ncvs#surveys-0

Cain

P. A.

(2000). Rainbow rights: The role of lawyers and courts in the lesbian and gay civil rights movement. Westview Press.

10.

Callis

A. S.

(2014). Bisexual, pansexual, queer: Non-binary identities and the sexual borderlands. Sexualities, 17(1–2), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460713511094

11.

Cannon

Dirks-Linhorst

P. A.

Cobb

P. D.

Maatita

Beichner

Ogle

(2014). LGBT Issues and criminal justice education. In Peterson &

Panfil

V. R.

(Eds.), Handbook of LGBT communities, crime, and justice (pp. 261–282). Springer.

12.

Clendinen

Nagourney

(1999). Out for good: The struggle to build a gay rights movement in America. Simon & Shuster Paperbacks.

13.

Collins

P. H.

(1990). Black feminist thought. Routledge.

14.

Cook

K. J.

(2016). Has criminology awakened from its “androcentric slumber”? Feminist Criminology, 11(4), 334–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085116660437

15.

Crow

M. S.

Smykla

J. O.

(2015). An examination of author characteristics in national and regional criminology and criminal justice journals, 2008–2010: Are female scholars changing the nature of publishing in criminology and criminal justice? American Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(2), 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9250-x

16.

Dennis

J. P.

(2014). The LGBT offender. In Peterson &

Panfil

V. R.

(Eds.), Handbook of LGBT communities, crime, and justice (pp. 87–102). Springer.

17.

Dennis

J. P.

(2019). Nothing out there: Community awareness and delinquency among gay and lesbian youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 16(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2018.1524320

18.

de River

J. P.

(1949). The sexual criminal: A psychoanalytical study. Charles C. Thomas.

19.

Drucker

D. J.

(2012). Marking sexuality from 0–6: The Kinsey scale in online culture. Sexuality & Culture, 16, 241–262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-011-9122-1

20.

Dwyer

(2011). ‘It’s not like we’re going to jump them’: How transgressing heteronormativity shapes police interactions with LGBT young people. Youth Justice, 11(3), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225411420526

21.

Eigenberg

H. M.

Whalley

(2015). Gender and publication patterns: Female authorship is increasing, but is there gender parity? Women & Criminal Justice, 25(1–2), 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2015.1023882

22.

Eskridge

W. N.

Jr. (1999). Gaylaw: Challenging the apartheid of the closet. Harvard University Press.

23.

Fradella

H. F.

Owen

S. S.

Burke

T. W.

(2009). Integrating gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues into the undergraduate criminal justice curriculum. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 20(2), 127–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511250902862384

24.

Garland

T. S.

Branch

K. A.

Grimes

(2016). Blurring the lines: Reinforcing rape myths in comic books. Feminist Criminology, 11(1), 48–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085115576386

25.

Gau

J. M.

(2019). Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice (3 ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.

26.

Gray

J. H.

Densten

I. L.

(1998). Integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis using latent and manifest variables. Quality & Quantity, 32, 419–431. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004357719066

27.

Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual (2015.

28.

Herek

G. M.

Norton

A. T.

Allen

T. J.

Sims

C. L.

(2010). Demographic, psychological, and social characteristics of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in a US probability sample. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 7, 176–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-010-0017-y

29.

Hesse-Biber

S. N.

Leavy

(2006). Emergent methods in social research. Sage.

30.

Humphreys

(1970). Tearoom trade: Impersonal sex in public places. Aldine Publishing Company.

31.

Hunnicutt

(2009). Varieties of patriarchy and violence against women: Resurrecting “patriarchy” as a theoretical tool. Violence Against Women, 15(5), 553–573.

32.

Hunter

(2004). Developmental pathways in youth sexual aggression and delinquency. Journal of Family Violence, 19(4), 233–242.

33.

Jackson

(2006). Gender, sexuality, and heterosexuality: The complexity (and limits) of heteronormativity. Feminist Theory, 7(1), 1464–7001. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700106061462

34.

Kane

(2003). Social movement policy success: Decriminalizing state sodomy laws, 1969–1998. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 8(3), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.17813/maiq.8.3.q66046w34wu58866

35.

Katz

(2013). Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue. TEDxFiDiWomen. ted.com: TED.

36.

Katz-Wise

S. L.

Hyde

J. S.

(2012). Victimization experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Sex Research, 49(2-3), 142–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2011.637247

37.

Kinsey

A. C.

Pomeroy

W. B.

Martin

C. E.

(1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. W. B. Saunders.

38.

Kraska

P. B.

Neuman

W. L.

(2011). Criminal justice and criminological research methods. Pearson.

39.

Kunzel

R. G.

(2008). Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality. University of Chicago Press.

40.

Lee

Ostergard

R. L.

(2017). Measuring discrimination against LGBTQ people: A cross-national analysis. Human Rights Quarterly, 39(1), 37–72.

41.

Lombroso

(1876). L’Uomo delinquente. Hoepli.

42.

Lowe

C. C.

Fagan

A. A.

(2019). Gender composition of editors and editorial boards in seven top criminal justice and criminology journals from 1985 to 2017. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 30(3), 424–443.

43.

McDonald

(2017). Defining sex and gender. In McDonald

(Ed.), Race, gender, class, and criminal justice: Examining barriers to justice (pp. 27–43). Carolina Academic Press, LLC.

44.

Meyer

I. H.

Flores

A. R.

Stemple

Romero

A. P.

Wilson

B. D. M.

Herman

J. L.

(2017). Incarceration rates and traits of sexual minorities in the United States: National inmate survey, 2011–2012. American Journal of Public Health, 107(2), 267–273. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303576

45.

Miller

(2008). Sexual minority youth in the juvenile justice system: A resource guide (Doctoral dissertation). Regent University.

46.

Pascoe

C. J.

(2005). Dude, you’re a fag”: Adolescent masculinity and the fag discourse. Sexualities, 8, 329–346.

47.

Payne

B. K.

Berg

B. L.

Sun

I. Y.

(2005). Policing in small town America: Dogs, drunks, disorder, and dysfunction. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 31–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2004.10.006

48.

Peterson

Panfil

V. R.

(2014). Introduction: Reducing the invisibility of sexual and gender identities in criminology and criminal justice. In Peterson

Panfil

V. R.

(Eds.), Handbook of LGBT communities, crime, and justice (pp. 3–14). Springer.

49.

Renzetti

C. M.

(1993). On the margins of the malestream (or, they still don’t get it, do they?): Feminist analyses in criminal justice education. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 4(2), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511259300086111

50.

SAGE (2022). Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Retrieved from https://us.sagepub.com/enus/nam/journal-of-interpersonal-violence/

51.

Shortnacy

M. B.

(2001). Guilty and gay, a recipe for execution in American courtrooms: Sexual orientation as a tool for prosecutorial misconduct in death penalty cases. American University Law Review, 51(2), 309–365.

52.

Smith

(2002). The complex uses of sexual orientation in criminal court. American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, 11(1), 101–115.

53.

Steinem

(1983). Outrageous acts and everyday rebellions. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

54.

Sutherland

E. H.

(1950). The sexual psychopath laws. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 40(5), 534–554.

55.

Wallace

Roberson

(2011). Victimology: Legal, psychological, and social perspectives (3 ed.). Allyn and Bacon.

56.

Way

Cressen

Bodian

Preston

Nelson

Hughes

(2014). It might be nice to be a girl…then you wouldn’t have to be emotionless”: Boys’ resistance to norms of masculinity during adolescence. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 15(3), 241–252.

57.

Weber

R. P.

(1985). Basic content analysis. Sage Productions.

58.

Wiley Online Library (2022). Criminology. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17459125

59.

Willis

Maegusuku-Hewett

Raithby

Miles

(2014). Swimming upstream: The provision of inclusive care to older lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults in residential and nursing environments in Wales. Ageing & Society, 36, 282–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X14001147

60.

Woods

J. B.

(2014). “Queering criminology”: Overview of the state of the field. In Peterson

Panfil

V. R.

(Eds.), Handbook of LGBT communities, crime, and justice (pp. 15–41). Springer.

61.

Zettler

H. R.

Cardwell

S. M.

Craig

J. M.

(2017). The gendering effects of co-authorship in criminology and criminal justice research. Criminal Justice Studies, 30(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2016.1265958