Crime Talk and Male Criminality: Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives on Malaysia, 1978-2018

ABSTRACT In the past few decades many countries have experienced a surge in crime that is heavily gendered. Men are responsible for much of the rising tide of criminality (and for most criminal offenses prior to the recent surge). This dynamic threatens not only women and children but also societies and polities more generally. Additionally, it occasions serious doubts about state agents’ widely touted commitments to law and order and their oft-celebrated claims to prioritize the safety, flourishing, and overall well-being of law-abiding citizens. It is thus paradoxical that mainstream public debates on illegalities and delinquencies oftentimes do not substantively engage the strongly gendered nature of criminal transgression. This article explores such paradoxes by providing interdisciplinary perspectives on the Muslim-majority nation of Malaysia. It draws on nearly three years of ethnographic fieldwork and historical research, supplemented by analysis of court records, media accounts, and other sources, to argue that essentialized categories and conceptual dichotomies in the dominant public narratives on crime contribute to the relative elision of gender in discussions of criminality. The article also addresses the socio-political significance of these dynamics and some of their comparative and theoretical implications.