Why do women sometimes choose to leave the gang life?
Leaving a gang once you have been initiated is nearly impossible to do. However there are many reasons as to why a woman affiliated with a gang may want to leave, and unlike what you sometimes many hear gang life doesn’t ALWAYS have to be a one-way street.
1. The first reason for leaving a gang is that they simply age out. There comes a time when a person simply cannot keep up with the fast pace of the
gang lifestyle and they have to try and leave on good terms. (Miller, E., 2011) Leaving a gang while someone is in their youth is much easier to do compared to when they are older simply because of the dependency issue.
2. A second reason a female might want to leave a gang is that she wants to start a family and she does not want to be part of the gang lifestyle
anymore because it will be too dangerous for her children. (Macrae-Krisa, L., 2011) When younger women start to get in their mid-20’s they may want to settle down and straighten their lives out and try to become a responsible mother, and this means putting their child’s safety first. As mentioned earlier it is much easier to leave a gang with little or no consequences while a female is younger simply because there are less long term connections to that particular gang.
3. Finally, a woman may want to leave a gang because there is more harm being brought upon her by being involved than by leaving. What this means
is that at times women are beaten and even sexually assaulted while in a gang and it may be that she has had enough and is taking a stand for her own body. (Miller, E., 2011) Women are at high risk of being abused or even sexually assaulted while in a gang, and if they try to stop the abuse from happening it often gets much more violent. This abuse can come from an enemy or even one’s own gang members; who are supposed to be “your homies”. Sometime finding the courage to as get as far away from a gang as possible is the only choice some women have, and it’s a scary one to say the least.
1. The first reason for leaving a gang is that they simply age out. There comes a time when a person simply cannot keep up with the fast pace of the
gang lifestyle and they have to try and leave on good terms. (Miller, E., 2011) Leaving a gang while someone is in their youth is much easier to do compared to when they are older simply because of the dependency issue.
2. A second reason a female might want to leave a gang is that she wants to start a family and she does not want to be part of the gang lifestyle
anymore because it will be too dangerous for her children. (Macrae-Krisa, L., 2011) When younger women start to get in their mid-20’s they may want to settle down and straighten their lives out and try to become a responsible mother, and this means putting their child’s safety first. As mentioned earlier it is much easier to leave a gang with little or no consequences while a female is younger simply because there are less long term connections to that particular gang.
3. Finally, a woman may want to leave a gang because there is more harm being brought upon her by being involved than by leaving. What this means
is that at times women are beaten and even sexually assaulted while in a gang and it may be that she has had enough and is taking a stand for her own body. (Miller, E., 2011) Women are at high risk of being abused or even sexually assaulted while in a gang, and if they try to stop the abuse from happening it often gets much more violent. This abuse can come from an enemy or even one’s own gang members; who are supposed to be “your homies”. Sometime finding the courage to as get as far away from a gang as possible is the only choice some women have, and it’s a scary one to say the least.