From the late 1980s, research on gender, crime and social issues, has hugely focused on the study of masculinity, and how there has become a correlation between masculinity and violence. Feminists have researched extensively on all types associated with gender, including gay and lesbian, thus acting towards the literature on masculinity slowly increasing within the past 20 years due to the pressure from feminist works. In this essay, I will begin by reviewing theories on masculinity, and evaluating why such ideas create the assumption that violence appears to be associated with masculinity. I will start by examining the evolutionary examinations associated with masculinity and violence, which will then lead me on to discuss the critical of social theories in relevance to the topic. I will then address the crisis of masculinity, hegemonic masculinity, and female criminality and will finish on concepts of sport and masculinity. I will relate to why violence appears to be associated with masculinity, by analysing these concepts, therefore creating a sustained argument in how these concepts pursue the idea that violence is associated with masculinity. .
Violent crime can be seen as a highly masculine activity. The inequality in gender patterns between males and females is not a new concept; men have always been associated extensively with violence compared to women. Whenever there is a media story in the news about a violent crime committed, we automatically assume that a male is a perpetrator. This is due to males being over-represented by the media, which will be discussed later on in this piece of work. Crime surveys also have a role to play in the over-representation of males since statistics of crime have been collected from members of society in the British Crime Survey, as well as official policing statistics released by the Government. .
Evolutionary explanations are also another concept of how violence appears to be associated with masculinity.