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

Abstract

Drug markets are typically portrayed as male dominated, with men occupying the higher positions and women fulfilling 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 emerged mainly in response to legal attempts to curtail methamphetamine production. We explore how women adapt to structural changes and how they perform gender to navigate a market in which the focus is on personal 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 market. Cooking roles took three forms (partner, lead, and team), and each role was characterized by distinct patterns of gender performance and autonomy (emphasized femininity, matriarchal control, and gender neutral). We show that certain market conditions allow for increased participation among women in meth manufacturing. Yet, even within favorable conditions, variability remains in women's positions and gender performances. The findings highlight the role of organizational and legal context in shaping both the roles women adopt in drug markets and the ways they perform gender.

Criminal Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of Risk and Reward among Women Methamphetamine Manufacturers

“…The growth of smaller shake markets and the reduction of other forms of cooking allowed women to gain access to cooking positions that were once reserved almost exclusively for men. The ease of cooking coupled with meager profits from doing so democratized meth cooking and women began taking roles as lead cooks (Deitzer et al, 2019). This is similar to research on other drug markets showing that conditions such as rapid change, high product demand, low buy-ins, and decentralization are conducive to women's involvement at higher levels (Denton & O'Malley, 1999;Dunlap, et al, 1997;Fleetwood, 2014).…”

“…Yet, women in drug economies tend to be heterogeneous in how they enact these roles. While some women in the shake market express confidence in their meth-cooking strategies, others remain dependent on men in many areas of life, including cooking, with some becoming more successful than others (Deitzer et al, 2019; see also Anderson & Kavanaugh, 2017;Grundetjern, 2015). As such, we have reason to expect the women in this sample will express variation in their perceptions of meth-cooking competency and that this variation is comparable to that found among men.…”

“…For women meth cooks, such strong rewards may warrant the need to manage the risks while continuing their meth use and cooking careers (Carbone-Lopez, 2015). Some women entering male-dominated drug markets indeed report empowerment and confidence in their skills (Deitzer et al, 2019;Grundetjern & Miller, 2019). 1 As all the women in this sample learned and participated in the cooking of meth, they were well-positioned to experience particularly high gains in meth-cooking self-efficacy.…”

“…To explore how domain-specific self-efficacy influences the criminal calculus relating to risks and rewards, we focus on women who manufactured "shake-and-bake" methamphetamine (hereafter shake) in Alabama. The shake market differs from other drug markets in that it has been shown to have more gender equality (Deitzer et al, 2019). The growth of smaller shake markets and the reduction of other forms of cooking allowed women to gain access to cooking positions that were once reserved almost exclusively for men.…”

“…They held fatalistic views about their longterm success and focused solely on gaining access to meth as their motivation for cooking. The two groups also varied by their role in the cooking process; that is, those who expressed cooking self-efficacy typically took a lead role when cooking, while those with low criminal self-efficacy typically were helpers or worked with others (see Deitzer et al, 2019). In what follows we describe the ways those with high and low self-efficacy perceived the risks and rewards of cooking.…”