Capitalists control workers' labor and men control women both economically and biologically. This “double marginality” explains why in a capitalist society women commit fewer crimes than men. Because they are isolated within the family, they have fewer opportunities to engage in elite deviance. Although both powerful women and men commit white collar crimes, the female crime rate is limited due to the patriarchal nature of the capitalist system. Women are also denied access to male-dominated street crimes. Because male domination renders lower-class women powerless, they are forced to commit less serious, nonviolent, self-destructive crimes, such as drug abuse. This helplessness also increases the likelihood that women will become targets of violent acts. When lower-class males are excluded from the economic opportunity structure, they seek to reconstruct their self-image through acts of machismo; such acts