Girls in Gangs

This blog is going to run a series of articles about girls in gangs. What makes a girl join the gang in the first place? What makes a woman leave the gang? What is life like for a woman/girl in a street gang?

I found this article about a woman who was from Chi town her entire family was in a gang and for her she didn't know any better.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705323560/Escaping-gang-life-tough-for-women-too.html?pg=1

My story is similar to hers. My father was a gangbanger he was raised for the streets and he and my mom raised my sisters and I the same way.
I was raped from age 8 until I turned 11 and it went to the courts. I decided then that no man/woman/child would ever hurt me again so I joined a gang. It was a little street gang which turned into a chapter of the CRIPS when the CRIPS went national.
I came very close to killing a woman for disrespecting me when I was 21 years old. Somehow she learned that my sister and I were out to get her and she left the state. I had my son with me. I was disappointed that she couldn't be found but over the years that is one thing I am most grateful. I would still be in Prison today if she hadn't. It was funny but our daughters graduated from highschool together if I would have found that woman neither of our daughters would have had their mother's at their graduation.
I quit banging about four years later I never killed anyone and I never did anytime. I went back to school and got some training. I found a job that I love and I was able to leave that life behind and become an OG. I never expected to live to see the age of 21 and now I am 45 years old and a mother and grandmother.