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[Vermillion]

Authorities don’t know how many girls are in Chicago’s violent street gangs, but there’s a clue in a study that tracked students at six of the city’s public schools.

It found that 8 percent of female students reported they were in a gang at some point between sixth and tenth grades, compared with 13 percent of boys.

Recently, law enforcement and community groups in the city have begun to turn their attention to the ways females participate in gang life. The Chicago Crime Commission, an organization of civic leaders that advocates for public safety initiatives, will now devote an entire section of its forthcoming The Gang Book to roles of female gang members, said commission lawyer Andrew Henning. The section will specifically focus on how female gang members acquire illegal guns and what roles they play in a city that has seen more than 2,500 people shot so far this year.

The few people who do work directly with females in gangs said the roles are often misunderstood as little more than supportive to male gang members. But research suggests girls often take on central and violent roles — including assaults, drive-by shootings, and disciplining newer gang members. WBEZ sat down with Cristina to hear first hand what life is like for a girl in a Chicago gang.

When tensions escalated between her gang and another, the men would often drive into the rival gang’s territory with the female members.

“If the girls were in the car ... then we had to take the gun and we would have to end up shooting the other gang,” Cristina said. “We will sometimes shoot until we saw some other body drop. I also got to points that I had to shoot, I had to pull the trigger sometimes.”

Cristina said that participating in drive-by shootings was one of several ways that she, and other girls, could elevate their status in the gang. But she said she earned respect from her male peers in other ways, too.

“When one of the guys would get caught in a jam, and by that I mean like if the other rival gang has a gun and they point it out, I’ll just get in front of one of the guys,” she said. “And I’ll say, ‘You have to kill me before you kill him.’”

Cristina said she joined a gang because she felt more secure around male gang members than she did at home, where she said she endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather starting when she was 8 years old.

“[The gang] could look after me. They will not let another guy put their hands on me. They will look after me like if I was their baby sister,” she said. “Some of them did, some of them took me under their wings. And some of them just looked after me and didn’t let nothing happen to me.”

Peterson, the University at Albany professor who studied males and females in schools around the country, said there hasn’t been detailed research on sexual trauma as a unique factor that may lead to girls joining gangs. But, she said, data show that girls who join gangs often come from more troubled households than boys who join gangs. Peterson said their household backgrounds often include alcoholism, physical abuse, family members in prison and poverty.

Thought this was interesting. More at the link (including audio).

Source: http://interactive.wbez.org/everyotherhour/girls-and-guns/

 

[Afrikan]

I don't know about this taking care stuff....

But when I was a teen (90's) I would hear there were two ways for girls to join gangs..

They had to choose.

Get jumped in (beat up) by other female gang members.

Or

Get a train ran on them by the fellas in the gang.

Sometimes both things happened.


Shit was fucked up in the 90's.. felt bad for the Latinos and Latinas here in San Francisco....you either had to choose a gang or get beat up by both sides, because they would claim you were the other.... couldn't wear red or blue.. ANYWHERE.

One of them (probebly new to the area) even got besides himself and tried to come at me because of my Red 9er's jersey....soon as I got up, his friends were pulling him away saying I wasn't a Norteño. Shouldn't f'n matter.

 

[Pein]

back in middle or school or high school you only heard about girls doing the most violent shit. Girls packing razors and knives and slashing the shit outta each other lord and the getting the train ran on part is true too.

The people I knew passed those girls around like nobodies business.

 

[4 is a cutie]

Though girls may engage in core gang activities, such as drive-by shootings, robberies and assaults, Peterson said they almost never achieve the same level of respect as the males.

“Just by virtue of being young women they would be considered lower-status,” Peterson said. “Even if they engage in the same activities, it would be more status-enhancing for the young man than it would be for the young woman.”

As "heartwarming" as the image of a girl finding sanctuary in the midst of helpful elder brothers is, i'm not shocked. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a frying pan-to-fire situation for the girls who sought gangs because of history with sexual assault

 

[snacknuts]

 

[Chuckie]

Wasn't "Snoop" actually in a gang too before she became an actress?

 

[caliph95]

Wasn't "Snoop" actually in a gang too before she became an actress?

she got arrested after the wire on drug charges

 

[shira]

Hair look good

 

[Acidote]

she got arrested after the wire on drug charges

And she shot dead a boy when she was a kid too, tried as an adult and everything.

 

[How About No]

Well this us depressing

 

[zeioIIDX]

I was scrolling down just waiting to see a pic of Snoop.

 

[slick7rick]

I don't know about this taking care stuff....

But when I was a teen (90's) I would hear there were two ways for girls to join gangs..

They had to choose.

Get jumped in (beat up) by other female gang members.

Or

Get a train ran on them by the fellas in the gang.

Sometimes both things happened.


Shit was fucked up in the 90's.. felt bad for the Latinos and Latinas here in San Francisco....you either had to choose a gang or get beat up by both sides, because they would claim you were the other.... couldn't wear red or blue.. ANYWHERE.

One of them (probebly new to the area) even got besides himself and tried to come at me because of my Red 9er's jersey....soon as I got up, his friends were pulling him away saying I wasn't a Norteño. Shouldn't f'n matter.

I was walking down Mission when I was young, and my friend had a 49ers jersey on (which shouldn't be a big deal at all) and some thugs came up to us and made him take off his jersey and his shoes. Fucking assholes made my friend walk barefoot and shirtless just because of a color.

 

[dinoroar]

Wasn't "Snoop" actually in a gang too before she became an actress?

She has an autobiography which is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's like a child, or yaknow, Snoop Pearsson wrote it.

But yeah did all sorts before The Wire. (Edit: although not sure about gangs per se, she did get convicted for killing someone at the age of 14 I think) Spent a lot of time in jail, became a famous inmate for her skills at whittling wooden dildos if I remember right.

 

[caliph95]

She has an autobiography which is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's like a child, or yaknow, Snoop Pearsson wrote it.

But yeah did all sorts before The Wire. (Edit: although not sure about gangs per se, she did get convicted for killing someone at the age of 14 I think) Spent a lot of time in jail, became a famous inmate for her skills at whittling wooden dildos if I remember right.

She didn't stop afterwards either and got arrested

Is a real life The Wire episode

 

[Vermillion]

The audio at the link is worth a listen, too - if you haven't listened already.