“Being a Girl is a Challenge… Maybe That’s Why It’s So Important to Be Proud of It.” Gender Identity and Performances of Femininity in Young Females with Limited Delinquency

Abstract

We seek to expand the knowledge on gender identity and gender roles in young females with limited delinquency. Our thematic analysis of identity-status interviews and narratives from 10 female adolescents (aged 15–18 years) sentenced to youth service showed that they viewed being a girl as important, but also generally inflected by aspects of hardship and violence. We interpreted three types of femininity in the girls’ reasoning about their gender identity in relation to delinquency. These were used to both overcome and sustain gender hegemony. Findings also showed how these young women were both victims and social agents, whose experimentation and defense of self and others were embedded in their rationales for their offenses.

Keywords:

• gender identity
• female delinquency
• adolescence
• femininities

Most studies on juvenile delinquency have been male-centered, and research on gender and delinquency has mostly focused on masculinity (Belknap, 2020; Magidson, 2020; Messerschmidt, 2018). This focus on boys and men has often been explained by lower female than male crime rates (Le Blanc, 2021). Although the higher crime rates for boys and men are true for more serious and violent crimes, self-report studies have shown that adolescent girls commit minor offenses (e.g., status offenses, stealing/shoplifting) as often as boys (Loeber et al., 2017). Longitudinal studies also indicate that the gender difference in crime rates is at its lowest point during adolescence (Moffitt, 2006; Moffitt et al., 2001). Recent studies have therefore begun to focus on how women’s and girls’ gendered experiences intersect with criminal behavior (e.g., Chesney-Lind & Morash, 2013; Kruttschnitt, 2016; Pasko & Lopez, 2018). Thus far, the literature has focused on the small proportion of young offenders who commit serious offenses and continue their criminal behavior past adolescence, such as girls in gangs (Dzieweanski, 2020) or in residential care (e.g., Miller, 2011; Vogel, 2018, 2021). To our knowledge, no previous study has focused on gender identity in connection to the much larger group of justice-involved girls who are considered low risk for recidivism and psychosocial problems. We therefore sought to expand the knowledge on gender identity and gender roles in female adolescents convicted of a crime but whose delinquency is deemed to be limited. We report not only how gender identity and gender roles were described in this group, but also how gender identity and particular aspects of femininity are shown in their stories about their delinquent behavior.

Identity Development and Gender Identity

Identity development, including gender identity, has been recognized as one of the major developmental tasks of adolescence (Barbot & Hunter, 2012; Kroger, 2006). This process includes the formation of a subjective experience of continuity and sameness in one’s own person that is recognized by significant people in a person’s life (Erikson, 1968, 1980). Identity development is a psychosocial process, as one’s identity includes not only how one sees oneself or wishes to be seen, but also how one is actually seen. Consequently, how one is seen affects how one sees oneself. Personal identities therefore develop through socialization in response to social norms and expectations. Part of identity formation is the development of a sense of oneself and gender as female, male, transgender, or other (e.g., nonbinary, gender diverse, genderqueer, gender nonconforming, gender neutral). These may or may not correspond to the person’s sex assigned at birth (Basow, 2006). In the present study we, in line with West and Zimmerman (1987), define gender as a social construct based on roles, behaviors, and traits ascribed to people of different genders in a particular cultural context. This coincides with Messerschmidt’s (2004) description of gender as mainly something that people, and therefore bodies, do under specific social structural constraints under which gender is constructed in relation to others.

The formation of gender identity starts in childhood and increases in adolescence. Gender identity refers to the extent to which a person experiences oneself to be compatible with, and motivated to fit in with others of one gender. It is considered to be a multidimensional construct compromised of both cognitive and affective aspects including knowledge of a gender category, gender centrality (the importance of gender to other identities), gender contentedness, felt gender conformity, and felt gender typicality (Perry et al., 2019). While categorization starts early in childhood, others aspects of gender identity develop more intensely with age. It has for example been suggested that teenagers will become more likely than younger children to experience gender intensification, which is to confirm to culturally sanctioned gender roles (Martin & Ruble, 2010). However, longitudinal studies do not indicate intensification in more stereotypical gender-role identity during adolescence (Steensma et al., 2013). Something that on the other hand does seem to increase during adolescence is awareness of inequalities between genders and gender discrimination (e.g., Neff et al., 2007).

Femininities and the Performance of Gender

Every society has socially enforced rules governing appropriate behavior, including how to behave as “masculine” or “feminine.” These defined gender roles have a profound impact on people’s lives and identities. In contemporary Western society, including Sweden where this study is conducted, female gender norms are based on white, heterosexual middle-class women (Wiklund et al., 2018). Sweden has often been referred to as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world due to its gender equality and social welfare system (Schwab et al., 2017). However, there has been a downwards trend in recent decades transforming the strong Swedish welfare state to a country characterized by rising social inequality (Mulinari & Neergaard, 2022). It has been suggested that the weakening of the Swedish welfare state is undermining the basis that once positioned gender equality as a central aspect of Swedish national identity (Lane & Jordansson, 2020; Martinsson et al., 2016). The increasing social inequality has also led to an increase in stigmatization of racialized minority groups, especially in young people (Muftee & León Rosales, 2022).

Since gender role norms are socially enforced, they vary across cultures, and in heteronormative societies, such as Sweden, important qualities for being a “real” girl include being soft, calm, caring, and nurturing (Messerschmidt, 1997, 2004). Often male and female gender roles function as opposites and are defined by their differences. Masculinity is largely defined in opposition to femininity. Therefore, boys are conditioned to seek out roles emphasizing independence and competition in contrast to the supportive and cooperative roles assigned to girls. A recent study showed that young Swedish women’s perceptions of and conformity to feminine norms somewhat differ from other Western countries, such as the Unites States and Canada, in that they display less conformity to traditional feminine norms (Kling et al., 2017). The study also found that femininity was defined in relation to physical features rather than for example psychological, social or structural ones. Other studies have shown that Swedish norms of femininity intersect with social demographic factors such as social-class, geographical living conditions (e.g., city vs. rural area) and racialized minority status (e.g., Ambjörnsson, 2004; Wiklund et al., 2018). For example, Wiklund et al. (2018) found that young females from disfavored social positions felt more social support and better health when complying to normative femininity rather than those opposing traditional gender roles.

Across western cultures, femininity tends to subordinate to masculinity in a form of gender hegemony (Connell, 2000). Connell (1995) defines this as

the configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women (p. 77).

Connell (1995) further suggests that there are numerous masculinities and femininities within societies, not strict gender dichotomies. In line with this, Schippers (2007) reworked Connell’s model with the aim of integrating multiple femininities. For example, she proposed “pariah femininity” in women who embody and practice masculine traits, such as authoritarian or aggressive behavior. By adopting masculine practices, and thereby crossing a traditional gender border, these women challenge masculine hegemony. This femininity is, therefore, not only subordinate or marginalized, but pariah because it refuses to complement masculine hegemony and disrupts the gender equilibrium. Following this, we conceive gender and femininity as multiple, situational, interactional, and narrative accomplishments (Messerschmidt, 1993; West & Zimmerman 1987) through which femininity is constantly created and performed in social interactions, both consciously and unconsciously, and always in relation to prevailing gender norms.

Femininity and Delinquency

Delinquency can be viewed through the concept of using gender performance to embody different types of masculinity and femininity. Few studies have explored how gender identity and gender roles are experienced and expressed in young women’s delinquency, and those available show that femininity can serve as the basis for delinquency in several ways. For example, Weil (2022) argues that boys engage in crime to sustain gender hegemony, while girls do so to produce a “marginalized” femininity that does not conflict with their female gender identity. She argues that delinquency can be a way for young females to overcome gender hegemony by rejecting patriarchal gender norms. Weil further suggests that young women engaged in delinquent behavior have no choice but to reject the patriarchal gender norm, whereas young men, even in marginalized situations, can find some form of power by reproducing it. In a similar vein, other scholars suggest that female gang members use delinquency and violence to differentiate themselves from certain types of femininity (vulnerable, soft, compliant), thus freeing themselves from traditional gender roles (Duarte & Gomes, 2015; Laidler & Hunt, 2001).

Messerschmidt (1997, 2004) showed how girls in gangs construct an oppositional femininity, labeled as “bad girl femininity.” This concept accords with Schippers (2007) pariah femininity, which refers to combining conventional gender practices with atypical gender actions such as violence. Messerschmidt (1997, 2004) found that these self-described “bad girls” displayed physical strength and toughness, while also participating in traditionally feminine activities such as wearing make-up, and they showed no desire to be seen as males or to engender masculinity. In this way, the young women in Messerschmidt’s studies constructed a femininity that meant being able to use violence on certain occasions, which contributed to an expanded idea of how to be a girl/woman. Based on these results, Messerschmidt (2012) suggested that girls could participate in violent acts without changing their fundamental views of themselves as girls.

Similarly, Leote de Carvalho et al. (2021) show how young women view their delinquency neither as a rejection of their femininity nor as a way to perform masculinity, but rather as a different kind of femininity. “Tomboy” forms of femininity, for example, include girls who want to be recognized for performing acts similar to those of the boys whose freedom they envy, and “rebel” forms involve experimentation and provocation. These results give empirical support to the notion of plural femininities suggested by Schippers (2007). In a further study including both girls (children and adolescents) and adult women, Leote de Carvalho et al. (2021) find that illegal behavior is strongly infused with traditional gender roles in older women (≥30 years), as their criminal activities are usually motivated by the need to take care of their families and connected to social conditions such as poverty.

In a Swedish study Pettersson (2003) investigated how violence can be used to stage different types of femininities. Through analyzing police reports of violent crimes committed by young females, she argued that young women could use violence as a tool for marking dominance and maintaining hierarchies, usually among other young women. However, in line with Leote de Carvalho et al. (2021) as well as Weil (2022), Pettersson concluded that young women did not seem to strive for power or to be seen as boys, rather they used their delinquency to be seen as girls. A heterosexual normativity could even serve as a basis for violence, for example, fighting with other girls over relationships with boys.

Approaching gender and delinquency from a somewhat different perspective, other scholars (e.g., Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2013) have recognized female violence as rooted in victimization in patriarchal society, where gender inequalities such as male physical domination interact with other systems of oppression such as class and race. As such, it has been argued (e.g., Irwin & Chesney-Lind, 2017) that girls’ violence and delinquency can be seen as an expression of anger against past victimization, a means of self-defense, and a way to prevent future victimization. Female delinquency can thus be reactionary as well as proactive, instrumental, and expressive, and it can be understood as both a survival mechanism and a tool for performing gender. In line with this understanding, several studies have shown that young females explain their delinquency in terms of their own victimization. For example, Batchelor (2005) reported how young women’s self-reported reasons for their aggression were often rooted in family violence and abuse. Duarte and Carvalho (2017) also showed how young female’s offenses arose from an attempt to manage negative feelings such as anxiety and served as coping mechanisms to deal with histories of abuse, physical and emotional maltreatment, abandonment, and institutionalization. Several other studies (e.g., Pasko & Lopez, 2018; Waldron, 2011) have suggested that racialized adolescent girls are more likely than white girls to engage in delinquency do to abuse and oppression, thus suggesting that female delinquency should be viewed through an intersectional perspective (intersectionality here refers to the theory that one social position, such as gender, ethnicity and class, influences another; Collins, 2000; Potter, 2015). For example, Katz (2000) who compared white and black adolescent females’ narratives found that white girls who engaged in delinquency were more likely to act under the influence of their peers, while black adolescent females were more likely to engage in delinquency if they felt alienated. Similarly, Pugh‐Lilly et al. (2001) reported that black girls often viewed their aggressive behavior as a survival strategy and explained engaging in violent actions as a way to protect themselves against verbal as well as physical threats.

Taken together, the previous studies suggest that different types of femininities are intertwined in young girls’ delinquency and that delinquency itself can motivate either following gender norms or acting against them. However, most studies show that delinquency is mainly used, not to express or perform masculinity, but to expand norms about how to behave like a girl. The works mentioned contribute importantly to our understanding of the relations between female delinquency, gender identity, and the performance of femininity, but most of them concern young female offenders with severe behavioral, psychological, and/or social problems (e.g., Dziewanski, 2020). The results of these studies may therefore not be applicable to the larger group of female adolescents who engage in delinquency, but as a more limited and less optimal part of growing up. Considering this, the present study aimed to study a group of delinquent girls with limited criminality and few psychosocial problems who were sentenced to a non-custodial sanction. The development of gender identity and performance of femininity in this group has remained understudied (De Boer et al., 2023; Piquero et al., 2013) as studies in those with limited delinquency used either mixed samples of boys and girls (e.g. Bottcher, 2001; Weil, 2022) or broader age groups including young children and older women (e.g. Leote de Carvalho et al., 2021). The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between gender identity and delinquency in adolescent females with limited delinquency. More specifically, we aimed to answer the following research questions:

• How do the young women describe and experience their gender identity, and what does it mean to them?

• How is gender performed in terms of different femininities in young women’s stories about the crime they have committed and been convicted of?

METHOD

In Sweden there is no separate juvenile justice system, however, there are different penalty options reserved for young offenders aged 15–17 (the minimum age for criminal responsibility in Sweden is 15 years of age), and in some cases those up to 21 years of age. Youth service is a penalty option reserved for young offenders deemed to have limited “special care needs” (Brå, 2011). Needs refers to both the type and level of delinquency (e.g., minor offenses, the likelihood of re-offending, criminal history), as well as the young person’s psychosocial situation (e.g., substance abuse problems, mental health problems) (Lappi-Seppälä, 2018). It is therefore likely that young female offenders exhibiting limited delinquency are to be found within youth service. The sentence includes engaging in unpaid work as well as a rehabilitative part which is envisioned to help the young offender reflect upon their situation and find strategies to avoid future recidivism (Swedish Government, 2006).

The present study was part of a longitudinal project aimed to examine identity development in girls and young women with limited delinquency (i.e., sentenced to youth service). The first set of interviews was the basis of both the current findings and a previous analysis of identity status and narrative identity processes (Azad & Carlsson, 2024). The Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2020-02452) approved the project in its entirety.

Participants

The sample consisted of ten female adolescents sentenced to youth service for a crime who were completing their sentence sometime from December 2020 to May 2022. Participants were 15 to 18 years old at the time of the interview and lived in one of three large urban cities in Sweden. Four reported living with both of their parents, two with single mothers, and two with each of their parents every other week. Two participants reported living in family homes. All participants reported having one or more siblings. Nine were either enrolled in or about to start high school, and one had dropped out of high school and was looking for employment. The crimes they had been convicted of included physical assault, theft, vandalism, obstruction of the law, and violent rioting.

Procedure

Social workers in charge of carrying out the sentence provided written information about the study to females enrolled in youth service programs. A brief description of the study was included in the information letter asking the young woman whether she would be interested in participating. We asked those who expressed interest and provided their contact information for their informed consent and scheduled times for the interview. During the inclusion period, 76 young women were enrolled to serve their sentences in the three cities. A few of these were not asked to participate because their sentences had been paused due to drug use or mental health issues or because social workers’ heavy workloads prevented them from providing the information. Of the 23 young women who provided us with their contact information, 10 participated in the study. Seven declined participation when contacted, two could not be reached because their phone did not work or they never answered, and four scheduled a time for an interview but were unreachable at the time of the interview and after. However, the 10 included in the study were 13% of all young women sentenced to youth service during the inclusion period.

Prior to the interviews, we informed the participants that their participation was entirely voluntary and unrelated to their involvement in the youth service or any other contact with the police or social services. We also informed them that their data would be kept confidential and not be disclosed to anyone related to the justice system and that they were free to decline to answer questions without providing a reason at any time during the interview. Before the interview, each participant gave their informed consent. In accordance with Act Concerning the Ethical Review of Research involving Humans (2003:460), adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 in Sweden who have been provided with sufficient information about the research project, are aware of the potential consequences of participating, and are deemed to have an appropriate level of maturity and insight may consent to research without caregivers’ permission. Caregivers were therefore not asked for their consent. Interviews took place on Zoom from March 2021 to May 2022; participants were at home and the researchers conducting the interview were either at home or their office. The participants received a gift certificate of 200 Swedish kronor (about 20 Euro) for their participation. Eight interviews were conducted by the first author, and two by the second author. Each interview lasted from 30 to 72 minutes (average 43 minutes) and was recorded on audio and transcribed verbatim. Nonverbal sounds (e.g., laughter) were included in the transcription. All participants’ names and personal information were omitted or changed.

Interviews

A two-part, semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant. Part one of the interview used a Swedish version of Marcia’s identity status interview (Marcia et al., 1993; Frisén & Wängqvist, 2011) adapted for adolescents (Azad & Carlsson, 2024). The interview contained questions relating to education and employment, romantic relationships and peers, and gender identity and gender roles. Instead of identity status coding, we used the part of the interview guide concerning gender identity and gender roles for qualitative analysis. Questions in this part of the interview included “How do you feel/think about being a young woman?”, “What makes you feel/think that way?”, “What are the advantages and disadvantages of being female?” and “What do you think influences the way you feel/think?”. They were also asked to on a scale between 1–7, where 1 = not important at all and 7 = very important, rate how important gender roles and gender identity was to them. All participants were asked the same main questions with a variation in probes depending on their answers and the need for clarification.

In the second part of the interview, participants were asked to describe the crimes they had been convicted of and other delinquent acts they had engaged in. The prompts “Tell me about the crime you committed” and “Tell me why you were sentenced to youth service” were used to reveal participants’ perspectives on the paths that had led them to commit the crime, how those events had affected them, and what they believed they needed to stop committing crimes in the future. Further probing questions asked to expand and clarify their responses included "How do you think you ended up in this situation?” “How have these events affected you?” “How do you view the future, and what you think you need to do to stop committing crimes?” Responses to these questions were also further probed.

Data Analysis

Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) was used to analyze the interviews. The analysis contained two parts, one for each research question. To answer the first question, we applied an inductive data-driven method, using a descriptive and open coding strategy focused on the manifest level of the content. To answer the second, we applied an abductive coding strategy based on theories about femininity in relation to delinquency on the latent level. Both strategies followed five main steps (Byrne, 2022). In the first step we familiarized ourselves with the data by reading the transcripts several times and listening to the interviews; in the second we generated codes for manifest content to answer the first research question and for latent content to answer the second. Here we identified and condensed meaning-bearing units: words, sentences, and paragraphs with relevant content. The first author then generated themes, common patterns identified in the data by shifting from the interpretation of individual data to the aggregated meaning and meaningfulness across the dataset. This step included moving from the explicit to the latent content analysis guided by the second research question. In support of this phase, both researchers met to discuss the overarching narratives by identifying key elements from each interview. We then reviewed the preliminary themes in relation to both the raw data and the research questions. In the fifth and final phase, we named the themes and assigned the identified meaning-bearing units to their appropriate themes. During this phase the raw data was once again used to double-check the themes for validity until both authors agreed on the themes’ conceptual depth. The first author translated the themes and quotes from Swedish into English during the analysis, and the second author reviewed the translations before making the final edit.

RESULTS

All participants identified as girls or young women. The results are presented in two parts, one for each research question.

Experience of Gender Identity among Young Females with Limited Delinquency

The analysis of manifest content for research question 1 (How do the young women describe and experience their gender identity, and what does it mean to them?), resulted in two themes: Being (rather than becoming) a girl and The vulnerabilities of being a girl.

Being (Rather than Becoming) a Girl

In the first theme participants talked about having, rather than performing, gender. Although, as findings from the second research questions show, they expressed different ways of performing femininity, being female was experienced as something they were rather than something they became through their identifications and behaviors. For example, one participant described her gender identity this way:

Well… most people are born into their [gender] role, or whatever… that is, in their sex, and it just happens that way, it’s nothing… at least for me, it’s nothing I think about actually. I never thought of it that way. It’s just been that way.

Being female was thus not something that the participants had reflected upon, and although some recalled that the topic might have been addressed in school it was not something they discussed frequently with friends and family.

Interviewer: Have you talked? Do you talk about [gender roles] with your friends or with your parents, about what gender roles are and what they mean?

Interview person (IP) 21: No, we never really had that conversation.

Despite their lack of reflection on what being, rather becoming, a girl was like for them, participants did express the importance of being female. This was shown for example in the ratings of the importance of gender identity in the interview—the majority rated it at 6 or 7 on a scale of 1–7. This suggests that although they had not reflected much upon their gender identity, being female was still significant and meaningful to them. When asked why, the participants explained the importance of being a girl in relation to the hardships of being a girl (which will be further elaborated on in the following theme The vulnerabilities of being a girl), as expressed by one participant:

Although we have it tough, it’s important to celebrate yourself and be proud to be a girl. Even if people keep pushing you down. […] Being a girl is a challenge… Maybe that’s why it’s so important to be proud of it. Yes.

Similarly, limitations of being a girl, such as gender roles and societal and cultural norms dictating what a girl could and should not be and do, made the participants feel an urgency to embrace their girlhood but also to transcend societal norms. One participant said for example:

I think it’s important to identify as whatever you want, for example as a woman, like me. And to be proud of it without feeling that it is hard to be a woman in the society that you live in.

Another girl explained this further by saying:

A girl shouldn’t be ashamed, or like talk calmly, or have respect [for boys], or not cuss, just because she’s a girl. She can do whatever she wants, it’s her life. […] I want to prove that girls aren’t week just because they’re girls. She [a girl], doesn’t have to stay at home cooking just because she’s a girl. She can be out working, or hang out late with her friends. I mean, a girl is human, it’s not just boys who should hear that.

A few advantages of being female over being male were mentioned, such as girls’ tending to be more supportive of each other. One participant said:

Yes, that we can stand up for each other, you know when girls support girls, that’s great, like let’s say that if one girl says “Damn, you’re fat” to another, then someone will jump in and says, like, “don’t say that, she’s beautiful just the way she is.” I think that’s great.

Another advantage of being a girl was that adults could view girls as more trustworthy compared to boys, where for example girls could be viewed as more stable by teachers which perhaps could make it easier for girls to get better grades. The somewhat softer adult gaze of girls was also interpreted to perhaps make it easier for girls than boys to get away with delinquency or bad behavior. However, these advantages seemed to be based on an idea of how adults may view girls rather than actual experiences. Also, some of the participants did not have the experience of getting support or being more leniently treated by teachers as will be apparent in later themes (i.e., Biting back). Overall, the theme showed that the girls experienced gender as a state rather than a process, and that identifying and being seen as female was both meaningful and important for reasons mostly having to do with the restrictions and hardships of being a girl.

The Vulnerabilities of Being a Girl

The participants also described risks and disadvantages connected to being female. Examples of this vulnerability appeared in both their descriptions of personal experiences and their perceptions of how the world works. Predominantly, the participants talked about feeling at imminent risk of violence and abuse, especially fears physical or sexual violence. For example:

I: And what are your thoughts on being a girl?

IP 13: That a girl needs to be a little more careful in this world when it comes to … [quiet]

I: What were you thinking of?

IP 13: Well, in terms of abuse and just generally being careful.

Other participants said, “Often they [girls] can be exposed. Maybe you don’t wanna go out late at night and stuff. I think you know what I mean,” and “… guys could touch you and stuff. And when you’re little you don’t think about these things, but when you get older you might think ‘Oh, shit, this sort of happened to me.’” However, such experiences were not a dominant theme in the participants’ stories about gender identity. Rather it was the fear of possible danger and the perceived fragility of being a girl or woman that dominated the participants’ narratives about violence and abuse. Overall, being female was experienced as troublesome in many ways, strongly marked by a feeling that any (negative) thing could happen at any moment. In this way the participants described a world where being female meant being vulnerable:

So far, I don’t think it’s been nice. It’s always… you’re always exposed to something. It is never something, it feels like, that has been good. You are always… there is always something that feels bad.

Aside from abuse, many of the manifest vulnerabilities of being a young woman were related to the female body. Having breasts, being or being seen as weaker than boys, menstruating, and being able to get pregnant and give birth were all described as negative aspects of being female, both for themselves and for other women. For example, one participant said, “I mean, I think my mum also think it’s hard [being a woman], since she has five kids.” Personal experiences of vulnerability were also described as part of the participants’ everyday lives. The participants described being judged more harshly than boys and men and receiving more negative attention for how they looked or acted, for example, being seen as promiscuous and feeling restricted in how they should dress. Other vulnerabilities connected to being a girl were contradictory to the supportiveness between girls they had described in the theme Being (rather than becoming) a girl. This contraposition consisted of negative effects of drama and instability in their relationships with female friends, such as betrayals and gossip. These vulnerabilities were also attributed to being a teenager, and the participants viewed their young age as a contributing factor.

Being the age I am right now, you’re kind of judged for everything you do. So, I mean… yeah, you get quite a lot of hate. In the way society is today, and given our age, women are looked down upon quite a lot, I think. Yeah, we are not respected in the same way that guys are.

This theme showed that identifying as a girl included a general sense of vulnerability connected to various risks and disadvantages, as well as personal experiences of abuse. This vulnerability arose in different social, structural, psychical aspects of being a young woman.

Femininities Performed in Young Women’s’ Stories about Committing Crimes and Being Convicted

The second part of the results concerned how the participants expressed gender performance in their stories about the crimes they had committed (RQ2: How is gender performed in the young females’ stories about the crimes they have committed and been convicted of in terms of different femininities?). Here, the reflective thematic analysis resulted in three themes: Love like a girl, fight like a boy, Biting back, and Oops I did it (again), all representing different types of femininity expressed in the participants’ stories about delinquency.

Love like a Girl, Fight like a Boy

The first theme represents gender performances when embracing certain types of femininity and rejecting others, and thus describes the presence of opposing femininities expressed in different ways. However, the young women themselves did not experience these different types of femininity to be in conflict. For example, IP 21 talked about loving typically traditional feminine things such as pedicures and wanting to be a hairdresser, while at the same time distancing herself from other girl-coded behavior, such as interpersonal drama and gossiping. She also talked about getting along better with boys and enjoying being in an otherwise all-boy class.

I don’t like hanging out with girls as much anymore. I have two female friends who I hang out with a lot, but most of the time, this one girl, she’s the only one I can trust. I’ve lost faith in girls. I’ve become like one of the guys. They call me guy instead of girl [laughs], so I’m like one of the guys now. I don’t have to deal with all the drama and can ignore what everyone’s saying.

The same duality was present in the way this participant expressed performing gender in her story about her criminal behavior. That is, she described the reasons for committing the crimes she was convicted of in relational terms; she wanted to solve a verbal conflict concerning mean and hurtful remarks and rumors among her female friends, family members, and another group of young women. However, she expressed this typically female-coded reasoning and nurture for others in the typically male coded behavior of physical violence. By resorting to violence in her effort to take care of the ones she loved, she ended up being seen as cold and hard by others, which are more masculine-coded traits. She even said that she was viewed as disturbed. “They saw me as a mental case, as a psychopath. That really hurt me.” This characterization upset the participant, but in response she rejected those with this view rather than changing her behavior, which suggests that the new social view of her became part of her identity.

You don’t wanna be friends with me because you see me as a monster? Okay, should I cry or what? It’s like this, it’s not my problem. If you don’t want to be friends with me, go ahead, leave.

A slightly different kind of conflicted femininity was seen in IP 11, who attributed the criminal behaviors leading up to her conviction to being sad and heartbroken over her boyfriend. The participant thought acting out might help her to vent her sadness and in the moment she did not care about the consequences. She now reasoned that her delinquent behavior (rock throwing) was the product of her relational and emotional instability at the time. However, as she continued her story, she incorporated this nontraditional behavior for a girl under patriarchal gender roles into yet another facet of femininity. She described how the throwing of rocks allowed her, in addition to letting off steam, to break stereotypes of what a girl could and should do, which became a general theme in her story.

I wanna prove that not all girls are weak. A girl doesn’t have to be weak just because she’s a girl. And a girl doesn’t have to sit home and cook food just because she’s a girl. A girl can also be out working. A girl can also be out late hanging out with friends.

This theme in the analysis shows how engaging in delinquency can be imbedded in female-coded reasoning, even though it is reflected in male-coded behavior. Stories within this theme also describe how the young females incorporated these behaviors into their identities. They did not necessarily see themselves as more masculine, but instead expressed an expanded view of gender roles that included different types of femininities.

Biting back

In this second theme, femininity was also expressed through a mix of typically female- and male-coded behaviors, but the reasons for the participants’ criminal acts were different from those in the conflicted femininities described above. Instead, this theme represents how criminal behavior could arise from the vulnerabilities the girls experienced as girls, especially when intersecting with other minority identities, such as being racialized. The participants of color described enduring continual sexist and racist slurs from mainly white, female classmates. In contrast to the first theme, the participants in this theme described how they initially ignored the verbal slurs and then asked for help from adults. Only after this, when the harassment continued, did they finally reach a breaking point and “bite back” by responding to verbal slurs with physical violence. This theme highlights a femininity that defends against patriarchal structures such as verbal sexism that intersect with other power structures such as racism. For example, IP 12 and 13 described similar scenarios where they both had been called the n-word repeatedly by classmates. After asking their classmate to stop, and alerting teachers or other adults without result, as a last resort they attacked the abuser with physical violence. IP 13 explained what happened this way:

In my school, the majority were white while I was the only black girl until high school. So, there were a lot of comments growing up. And she [the person the IP physically assaulted] was one of the ones trying to make me feel bad. And I tried to tell her, like, “Okay, I get offended when you say this and that to me and when you do this.” […] And the teachers didn’t do anything. Their excuse was like, “She doesn’t feel well.” But it went so far that she started threatening me and my friends like, “Come on you… yeah, the n-word… I’m gonna take my knife and stab you,” and one day my patience just ran out.

Participants described withstanding the verbal attacks or threats for a long time before finally resorting to violence. In this context, the violence can be understood as a defense mechanism rather than male-coded behavior. The participants also attributed their behavior to other stressors such as interpersonal violence or disrupted family relations. Although these were not directly related to their crime, the participants believed they had contributed to their inability to withstand the verbal attacks any longer and finally reacting.

During this time, I wasn’t feeling well. It was a period where I had a lot of things from my childhood coming back, like how guys had treated me. So there was a lot going on in my head and when you don’t feel good, I think you have less patience.

The young women in this theme described how “biting back” did not fit with their own views of themselves. They did not incorporate the violent behavior into their own identity. Rather, they distanced themselves from the violence and wished they had acted differently.

Oops I Did It (Again)

The type of femininity represented by the third theme relates to a more traditional and stereotypical femininity in which the participants described themselves as passive objects of their delinquent behavior. This included narratives about how the delinquent acts “just happened,” as though they were not really under the participants’ control. Although they did not deny committing the acts, they made themselves passive in relation to it. These participants described not fully understanding what had happened or not knowing any better. IP 22 explained her stealing an item from a store by saying “it just happened” and that she did what everyone else was doing: “I don’t know. I mean, I’m like one of those people that just do what everyone else is doing. When you’re in a stressful situation—it just happened, I just followed what everyone else was doing.”

The narratives represented by this theme are also characterized by participants’ trying to avoid talking about the events in detail, even when asked to elaborate. This passive femininity also seemed aimed to diminish the participants’ responsibility, for example by minimizing psychical abuse by calling it a fight as IP 3 did in her explanation of what had led to her committing the crime for which she was convicted:

IP 3: It was more like a fight in school, you know, when you’re young you don’t really think before you do something. […] It was more like an argument between me and my old friend, she wanted to get back at me by pressing charges, yeah like that.

I: When you say, fight or argument, what happened then?

IP 3: We started bickering, and then she pushed me, and we started fighting.

In a similar way IP 6 minimized her role in an act of vandalism and the severity of the situation. First, she described it as an accident, then she minimized its importance.

The vandalism… maybe that can be seen as a crime. I mean, yeah, of course it’s illegal if you look at it by the law, but I don’t see it that way I see it as an accident. […] I really do not know. Like, to me, I have… it’s not that big of a deal, so it’s mostly to stop fooling around and not get caught for these things. Yeah, it would have been another thing if it was serious stuff.

This theme represents participants who neither rejected nor incorporated elements of their delinquent behavior into their overall identity. Rather they remained passive or even indifferent to their behavior.

DISCUSSION

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how girls and young women with limited delinquency describe their experience of gender identity and how different femininities were performed in their stories about the crimes they had committed. Our findings suggest that the participants perceived being a girl as important, but inflected by different concerns. Although gender roles and gender identity were not topics they had discussed in great depth, they showed awareness of what it means to be female, especially as young women, and in some cases also young women of color. They expressed their position in the world as characterized by hardships, vulnerabilities, and fear of potential violence. They also described the benefits of being female, although these were fewer than the deficit. This is similar to the results of Pasko and Lopez (2018, p. 124) who reported that young delinquent women in the juvenile system felt that being a girl meant being strong and resilient but was also experienced as difficult as stated by one participant in their study: “Being a girl sucks. It’s tough. You have to put up with so much bullshit, from other girls but just from people, in general.” Interestingly, the duality of being a girl was also present in our findings, where for example socializing with other young women was described in both positive and negative terms, where relationships with other girls could be sources of support as well as a context for conflict and drama. It was also shown in the way the participants explained the importance of being a girl which was connected to both the hardships and restrictive societal norms of femininity. This indicates that experiences of being female are complex and inflicted with contradictions where the downfalls and upsides of one’s gender can go hand in hand. Overall, the results concerning the young women’s experience of gender identity suggest that the participants have core gender identities as females although they do not necessarily see the female position as the most beneficial. This is in line with previous research (Neff et al., 2007) suggesting that young people start to develop a more refined awareness of inequalities between genders and gender discrimination in middle and late adolescence. For example, the young women expressed having experienced limitations to what they could be and do (such as going outside late at night), which is in line with the limitations set for women within traditional patriarchal societies such as Sweden (Wiklund et al., 2018).

Although they did not relate elaborate reflexive thoughts on gender roles or gender identity, the participants did stage different types of femininity when committed delinquent acts and reasoning about these behaviors. This is in line with previous suggestions that performances of gender related to prevailing gender norms can occur unconsciously (West & Zimmerman, 1987). The first femininity theme, “Love like a girl, fight like a boy”, included a form of femininity that comprised an ongoing negotiation between the traditional position of being a young woman and aggressive acts of violence, which are traditionally male-coded behaviors and therefore close to what Schippers (2007) called “pariah femininity.” However, contrary to Schippers’ findings, the girls in our study did not use violence merely as a tool for establishing autonomy or power. Rather their reasoning was relational and emotional, typifying what is identified as feminine, but the resources for expressing these wants and needs had masculine associations, such as a willingness to engage in physical violence. This form of femininity combined conventional and atypical gender practices and, although not done consciously, can partly be understood as a way of undoing gender (Butler, 2004). “Undoing gender” involves resisting gender norms and expectations, and thus renegotiating the norms and meanings of masculinity and femininity in specific contexts. Butler further argues that the performance of gender becomes most clear when the boundaries between “male” and “female” behaviors are threatened, as when girls commit masculine-coded behaviors such as delinquency and violence. This means that exceeding the boundaries of femininity can lead to crime, as in the young woman who explained her throwing stones at a demonstration as a desire to show that girls could sometimes act like boys. For her, engaging in this delinquent act was not about reproducing gender roles (by being quiet and timid), but about transcending them.

Acting outside gender norms is not always without consequences (Isom Scott & Mikell, 2019), as shown in the narrative of the young woman who said her violence had led to others viewing her as “as a mental case, as a psychopath” and excluding her from the peer group. Others interpreted her violence as an act of insanity, rather than as her self-reported rational, although not optimal, way to defend and care for her friends and family. Whether or not the “mental case” interpretation was due solely to her being female is hard to say, however, it does tap into the traditional stereotype of women who commit violent crimes as emotionally instable (Waldron, 2011). Also, girls who use violence are not perceived along hegemonic ideals of being passive and gentle or as performing according to the stereotypical ideal of femininity. However, had the reasons for the use of violence been to revenge another girl who “stole” her boyfriend, the violent act could have been appeared to be about heterosexual desirability (e.g., Wiklund et al., 2018). Thus, it is not only the action but also the motivation behind it that will affect how the girls’ use of violence is interpreted in relation to femininity.

In the second theme, “Biting back”, the narratives related to how some young women explained their delinquency in terms of defending themselves against racist verbal attacks. This is in line with the argument of Irwin and Chesney-Lind (2017) that young women’s delinquency can be an expression of anger against past and present victimization and a means of self-defense. In the present study, we only found this femininity in stories where gender assumed a position next to ethnicity, which suggests that for these young women, gender identity formation is influenced not only by heterosexual hegemony or patriarchal culture, but also by racialization. These results points to the importance of incorporating an intersectional approach in understanding young girls’ delinquent behavior. An intersectional lens recognizes that racism (i.e., unequal system of power that privileges white people and oppresses racialized people) interacts with other types of oppression like sexism (a social system that creates gender inequality; Collins, 2000). Norm-breaking femininities have been demonstrated to be a double-edged sword for disadvantaged young females, both in previous Swedish studies as well as in international results. For example, it has been suggested that norm-breaking femininities can be both empowering, by demonstrating a resistance to traditional gender roles, as well as be destructive for their well-being, in that young woman from disadvantaged social positions fail to transform from the negative coding of their social group (Wiklund et al., 2018). The girls in this theme also expressed seeking help from school personal such as their teachers, but not receiving such support. This lack of support from teachers to racialized young females who end up in physical fights due to racism and victimization have been reported in previous studies (e.g., Pasko & Lopez, 2018). The girls in our study in line with those of for example Pugh-Lilly et al. (2001) stated that this made them feel sad and angry, where some attributed the perceived lack of concern to racism.

Finally, in contrast to the first two themes, the femininity expressed in the third theme “Oops I did it (again)” can be seen to embody a traditional form of passive femininity, in other studies defined as normative femininity (e.g., Wiklund et al., 2018) or emphasized femininity (e.g., Connell, 1995). This type of femininity is characterized by the culturally sanctioned view of femininity including traits such as passive, gentle and submissive. In a previous analysis of the same material, we found that some of the young women talked about their delinquency with a surprising lack of agency (Azad & Carlsson, 2024). In this study, when we interpreted the stories through the lens of femininity, this helpless or emotionally immature passivity can be seen as a way to perform a traditional gender role. The results can thus be interpreted as the girls using traditional femininity either as a way to reinforce normative feminine attributes, or as a way to escape taking responsibility, or perhaps both. This is in line with Rosqvist and Arnell (2018), who found that girls who used violence took either a “passive responsible” or “active irresponsible” role, and Lin (2011), whose findings showed that at-risk girls consciously appropriated traditional femininity as a way to portray and emphasize an innocence they thought was to their advantage.

Participants had various lines of reasoning about their actions and others’ perceptions of them. The participants who violated the notions of what it is to be a girl, as in “Love like a girl, fight like a boy” seemed more likely to incorporate their behaviors and reputation into their identity and sense of self. In an earlier Swedish study Rosqvist and Arnell (2018) argued that the notion of an active and responsible girl is close to that of “untroubled femininity,” in line with a discourse of girl power as an expression of a new, more gender-equal and self-determined femininity. From this perspective getting into fights or partaking in violent demonstrations can be seen as a way for girls in the first theme to negotiate their own and others’ views of themselves. These results suggest that the girls could participate in violent acts without changing their fundamental views of themselves as girls. However, our results indicate that although it can be freeing to break social norms and defy traditional gender roles, our participants encountered other obstacles, such as being viewed as unstable or cold.

Those who explained their delinquency in terms of self-defense, as in “Biting back”, did not, however, appear to incorporate their delinquent acts into their own views of themselves; rather they took a firm stand against being seen as violent. They explained their delinquency as due mainly to their own victimization. They may have had difficulty reconciling being both a victim and a perpetrator, or they may have had difficulty accepting their violent acts because they were motivated not by a desire for gender liberation or concern for other people or causes, but in reaction to sexist (“whore”) and racist (“n-word”) insults (Miller, 2011). This is similar to the findings of Pasko and Lopez (2018) who reported that racialized girls, compared to white girls, who got into fights in order to protect themselves, rarely claimed to enjoy these acts nor described themselves in terms of being “fighters”.

Lastly, in the third theme, “Oops I did it (again),” participants continued to take a rather passive position and did not reflect at all on how the delinquency affected their views of themselves. As their explanations and reasonings were more in line with traditional norms about how girls should behave, it is possible that they felt less cognitive dissonance between their expressed femininity and their actions the young women in theme two (“Biting back”). As suggested by Lin (2011), explaining their behavior in terms of traditional femininity could be a way of avoiding more and harsher judgments, since criminal behavior in itself breaks gender norms on how a girl should behave.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

The present results add to our knowledge and understanding of gender identity and femininities in female adolescent delinquency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relation between gender identity and delinquency in a group of convicted female adolescents deemed limited in their delinquency and psychosocial needs. Some limitations of the study, however, need to be addressed, including the relatively small sample size. Although few, the participants did make up 13% of those enrolled in youth service in the three cities during the inclusion period. Also, the smaller sample size enabled us to gain in-depth knowledge that would have been difficult to collect in a large-scale study. Since sampled only participants living in major urban centers, the results may not be applicable to female offenders living in the countryside or smaller towns.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of the present study suggest that young women with limited delinquency view their sex and gender (identity) as things they are, rather than something they become through the performance of gender. Being a girl or a young woman was perceived as important, but also inflected by different hardships and vulnerabilities. We interpreted a variety of femininities in the narratives of young female adolescents’ thoughts about their gender identity in connection to their delinquency. These are associated with a variety of delinquent practices, identities, rationalizations, and social positionings. The different femininities found suggest that delinquency can be used both to sustain as well as to overcome gender hegemony. Delinquency was therefore neither a tool for rejecting femininity or gender roles, nor a way to perform masculinity. Rather, for some it was a way to expand the role of “girl.” The results also showed that young women can be both victims and social agents, and that risks, experimentation, self-defense, and vulnerabilities are imbedded in their reasonings and rationales for their offenses.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data supporting the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author after the standard confidentiality assessment required by Swedish law (Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act, 2009, p. 400). The data are not publicly available, as ethics approval does not include the open sharing of raw data and the interviews contain personal information that may lead to participant identification.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare [under Grant number 2021-01270] and The Sven Jerring Foundation.