You've Gotta Learn how to Play the Game

Homeless Women's Use of Gender Performance as a Tool for Preventing Victimization

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3306286
AutoresLaura Huey (0000-0003-2508-9542, Concordia University), Eric Berndt (Concordia University)
Ano2008
Volume56
Fascículo2
Páginas177-194
Data de publicação2008-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00783.x
OpenAlexW1954410367
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas38
Referências citadas35

As a masculinist space, 'the streets' present a variety of dangers to homeless women, a fact that has received too little attention within the social science literature. This study utilizes data drawn from interviews with homeless women and service providers in Edinburgh, San Francisco, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa, to explore the complex survival strategies that homeless women develop to prevent criminal victimization. Through women's words, we see that gender is understood strategically as performance. Four gender performances are identified and discussed: the 'femininity simulacrum', the 'masculinity simulacrum', 'genderlessness' and 'passing'. We discussed how each of these performances is employed in the pursuit of safety and security in frequently violent and chaotic social spaces

Aesthetics · Art · Criminology · Femininity · Masculinity · Simulacrum · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Variety (cybernetics) · Computer Science · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Intimate Partner and Family Violence