GENDER RATIO OF VICTIMIZATIONS IN PUBLIC SPACE: AN INTEGRATIVE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
WU Ling1, CHENG Ye-qing2
1. College of Criminal Justice, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China;
2. College of Geography and Tourism, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Abstract It has long been recognized by criminologists that gender is one of the strongest predictors of criminal offending and victimization. Empirical studies have also identified a "gender ratio" phenomenon, where females are found to have a lower risk level of victimization than their male counterparts. However, mainstream criminology has largely ignored this issue and established their propositions mostly based on research generated from studying male samples. Criticizing this status quo, feminism criminologists build explanations of the gender ratio phenomenon from the ground up, utilizing a core concept-patriarchy. However, they focus on either gendered violence, such as sexual assaults, rape, and domestic violence, or victimization limited to special female groups, including lesbians, prostitutes, or immigrants. These victimizations under study usually occurred in private space related to the intimate personal life of women. Although gender-neutral victimizations play an important role in forming the gender ratio pattern, both mainstream criminology and feminism criminology fail to provide sound theoretical explanations to them. A critical question has not been systematically answered is why women's overall victimizations in public space is lower than that of men's. This article attempts to provide a better explanation of the gender ratio phenomenon in public space by integrating three different theoretical perspectives:routine activity theory, feminism criminology, and time geography. The patriarchal structure determines women's occupational features and their risk perception, which then shape spatial-temporal constraints in women's routine activities.
2015, Vol. 30 
