Abstract

Female in/security represents one of the major issues discussed in the international scientific literature on the topic of in/security and fear of crime. An analysis of some of the most significant interpretations of the phenomenon highlights some of the limits and contradictions of this debate, above all an interpretation of that which is feminine based on an implicit assumption of that which is masculine as a normative standard. Only in recent times have studies based on the concept of gender and therefore on subjects' (socially constructed) sexuation identified many of the implicit assumptions which characterised the preceding debate and the need to critically discuss the notions of risk, danger, in/security and victimisation.