“The times have changed, the dope has changed”: Women's cooking roles and gender performances in shake methamphetamine markets*

• Author: Heith Copes,Jessica R. Deitzer,Lindsay Leban
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12200
• Published date: 01 May 2019

Received: 17 January 2017 Revised: 27 August 2018 Accepted: 19 November2018

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9125.12200

ARTICLE

“The times have changed, the dope has changed”:

Women’s cooking roles and gender performances

in shake methamphetamine markets*

Jessica R. Deitzer1Lindsay Leban2Heith Copes2

1Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland—College Park

2Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Correspondence

JessicaDeitzer, Department of Cr iminology

andCr iminal Justice, Universityof Maryland,

2220Samuel J. LeFrak Hall, 7251 Preinker t

Drive,College Park, MD 20742.

Email:jdeitzer@umd.edu

∗Theaut hors wouldlike to thank the anony-

mousreviewers and Heidi Grundetjern for

invaluablefeedback during the review process.

Abstract

Drug markets are typically portrayed as male dominated,

with men occupying the higher positions and women ful-

filling the lower positions. Yet, the results of recent work

highlight how women’s participation and experiences in

drug economies varies by the structure and organization

of the specific market. We focus on the shake-and-bake

(“shake”) methamphetamine (meth) market, which seems

to have emergedmainly in response to legal attempts to cur-

tail methamphetamine production. We explore howwomen

adapt to structural changes and how they perform gen-

der to navigate a market in which the focus is on per-

sonal consumption instead of on monetary gain. By relying

on semistructured interviews with 40 women who cooked

meth, we identify the gendered strategies they adopt and

how these coincide with their position in the drug mar-

ket. Cooking roles took three forms (partner, lead, and

team), and each role was characterized by distinct patterns

of gender performance and autonomy (emphasized femi-

ninity, matriarchal control, and gender neutral). We show

that certain market conditions allow for increased participa-

tion among women in meth manufacturing. Yet,even within

favorable conditions, variability remains in women’s posi-

tions and gender performances. The findings highlight the

268 © 2019 American Society of Criminology wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crim Criminology.2019;57:268–288.

DEITZER ET AL.269

role of organizational and legal context in shaping both the

roles women adopt in drug markets and the ways they per-

form gender.

KEYWORDS

doing gender, drug markets, methamphetamine, qualitative methods

It is difficult to differentiate the reality of women in the drug economy from the stories that sur-

round them. Researchers often speak to the discrepancies between the opportunities, positions, and

numbers of men and women involved in drug distribution, an environment that is dominated by men

(Adler, 1985). It is true that men occupy the higher positions in hierarchical drug markets, whereas

women typically fulfill positions in the lower rungs. For the most part, women in the drug economy are

thought to lack agency and autonomy as they are frequently sexualized, victimized, and marginalized

(Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). Yet, researchers have questioned the universality of this claim,

acknowledging variability in women’s drug market participation (Denton & O’Malley, 1999; Dunlap,

Johnson, & Maher, 1997; Grundetjern, 2015).

Women do occupy a variety of roles and positions with varying degrees of success and autonomy,

depending on the specific market and the ways that they perform gender (Fleetwood, 2014b). Markets

characterized by street-level sales tend to be dominated by men as they often rely on violence or

threats of violence when interacting with others. Accordingly, women who wish to succeed in these

markets often develop strategies to prove their ability, which include emphasizing violence and

emotional detachment (Grundetjern & Sandberg, 2012). Some markets allow for more autonomy in

deciding when and where to sell, which reduces some risks typically faced by women and makest hese

drug environments more open to women. Better control over selection of customers and of locations

of transactions allows women to minimize risk using nonviolent means (Denton & O’Malley, 1999;

Fleetwood, 2014b). Thus, women’s participation in drug economies varies by the structure and the

organization of the specific market.

The cultural context surrounding drug markets also shapes the ways women do gender within them.

“Doing gender” refers to the ongoing process in everyday social interaction whereby people behave in

ways that actively reconstruct gender and reproduce social structure according to the normative ideals

of women and men (West &Zimmer man, 1987). Much previouswork on gender performances among

women involved with drugs and crime has been focused on two idealized ways of womendoing gender,

what Connell (1987) referred to as “hegemonic masculinity” (idealized masculine traits that are viewed

as dominant in society) and “emphasized femininity” (idealized femininetraits; Hutton, 2005; Maher &

Daly,1996; Messerschmidt, 1997; Steffensmeier, 1983). When focusing solely on genderper formances

that align with traditional gendered norms, however, researchers risk ignoring the variations in doing

gender and, in doing so, may unintentionally reinforce gender dualism (Miller, 2002). Consequently,

scholars have begun to see these performances as more complex and contingent on the surrounding

cultural context (Fleetwood, 2014a, 2014b; Grundetjern, 2015).

Findings from research recognizing the complexities and variation in women’s roles have increased

our understanding of the experiences of women in drug markets, yet variations in women’s positions

and their gender performances within illegal markets remain understudied. Our aim is to examine the

roles women occupy and how they use gender in a market that emphasizes the production of drugs for

personal consumption over the sale of it: the shake-and-bake (shake) methamphetamine (meth) market.

This market emerged after federal and state agencies began enacting laws geared toward controlling