The worst female character : Criminal underclass women in Perth and Fremantle, 1900-1939
Women charged with offences against good order in Perth and Fremantle from 1900 to 1939 faced institutionalised sexism through the courts, police, and legislation. While men were also criminalised for good order offences, women suffered a double punishment. Charged with drunkenness, being idle and d...
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| In: | Year: 2013 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | Women charged with offences against good order in Perth and Fremantle from 1900 to 1939 faced institutionalised sexism through the courts, police, and legislation. While men were also criminalised for good order offences, women suffered a double punishment. Charged with drunkenness, being idle and disorderly, and vagrancy, female offenders were further outcast by a public discourse stereotyping them as bad women. The extent to which they were able to negotiate and contest this stereotyping was limited, but a subtle negotiation of female identities was possible. This article suggests that female criminal lives offer alternative ways in which to understand women negotiating the politics of respectability and characterisations of the bad woman |
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