Female Gangs in America: Essays on Girls, Gangs and Gender

Female Gangs in America challenges a long tradition of color them male scholarship about gangs in our country by exploring the experience of girls in gangs. Recognizing that girls have long been present but invisible in American gang life, this book offers the first comprehensive collection of essays ever published on this topic. It collects classic early work on gender and gangs by Thrasher, Rice, Quicker, Giordano, and Brown and combines this work with original, cutting edge offerings by Campbell, Fishman, Curry and the editors. The chapters are linked by integrative essays that explore issues like girls' violence, ethnic variations in girls' gang behavior, gender differences in female and male experiences of gang life, and the role of economic marginalization in the lives of girls in gangs.

A long overdue collection, this volume challenges many of the myths and stereotypes that have characterized much of the literature and allows the reader to meet the subjects 'up close and personal.' Must reading for everyone seeking to have an informed and balanced perspective on the 'other' gangs in America and what can be done to help these young women meet their needs.
C. Ronald Huff, Dir., School of Public Policy and Management, Ohio State University

For decades, gang researchers have ignored and trivialized female gangs, but for the girls who join them, the experience is anything but trivial. This book goes a long way towards rectifying that neglect. By assembling the wide range of perceptions and analyses of female gangs, the editors make glaringly obvious the huge gaps in our knowledge.
Joan Moore, Former Pres., Society for the Study of Social Problems,
Author, Homeboys: Gangs, Drugs and Prison in the Barrios of Los Angeles