We would like to correct a couple of misunderstandings raised by readers (Letters, 29 November) about our article on the costs of masculine criminality (Comment, 25 November). First, in highlighting masculinity as a problem, we did not intend to diminish the significance of other social factors, including poverty, in the incidence of crime. Second, we mentioned testosterone, so often touted as an explanation of male behaviour, precisely to refute the idea that it is to blame for masculine aggression, which we see as a product of culture. Our intention was to encourage people to focus on, rather than take for granted, the propensity of men to commit crimes, particularly crimes of violence, to seek the social causes, and ask what might be done about these, so that as a society we devote fewer of our resources to dealing with the consequences of crime and violence. We're disappointed that our article failed to evoke any serious discussion of social policy.
Cynthia Cockburn and Ann Oakley
Institute of Education