We seek to expand the knowledge on gender identity and gender roles in young females with limited delinquency. Our thematic analysis of identity-status interviews and narratives from 10 female adolescents (aged 15-18 years) sentenced to youth service showed that they viewed being a girl as important, but also generally inflected by aspects of hardship and violence. We interpreted three types of femininity in the girls' reasoning about their gender identity in relation to delinquency. These were used to both overcome and sustain gender hegemony. Findings also showed how these young women were both victims and social agents, whose experimentation and defense of self and others were embedded in their rationales for their offenses.