The 43 male interview participants were drawn from an ethnographic study of a neighborhood gang, gang members in a youth institution, participants from a previous study, and other gang members. Participant observation was used to generate texts of youth talk and to facilitate an understanding of local knowledge. Male gang members talked about their female peers using themes related to "caring for women," "gangs are for men," and "hoods and bitches." The idea that women needed to be looked after was prevalent in much of the gender talk. Participants suggested girls should stay home and not be gang members, and girls were rarely allowed to transcend gang space in public. A primary function of the "hoods and bitches" theme was to cognitively degrade women to a level at which gang members felt comfortable using them as sex objects. Implications of the findings for the gang world and western society are discussed. 36 references