In Beth Ritchie’s,
Caging Deviance, she argues that sexual orientation and gender expression is a
central feature of imprisonment. And she uses ethos to draw the reader into the
conversation. She tells the story of Roderick Johnson, a black man whose sexual
orientation is gay, who experienced sexual misconduct and more while in prison.
Ritchie
highlights how there are racialized archetypes in prison. In the case of Johnson,
he was hypersexualized and rape-able (93). I would assume that if Johnson was
treated as such due to his sexual orientation, I think most men who identify as
gay are viewed as such. I would have never thought of engaging in consensual
acts of intimacy would be a form of resistance in prison because they are sex
segregated. Homosexuality is deviant, and prisons aim to suppress individuals
and rehabilitate them. It is almost like prisons are trying to rid a person of
their sexual orientation.
The
struggle to prove one’s masculinity in prison is even more interesting. Ritchie
mentions it is easy for a homosexual person to stand out in a hyper-masculine
prison. And she continues to talk about the power dynamics within that space. Masculinity
is associated with dominance and power. I think that heterosexual men, attempt
to claim dominance over those that are homosexual. Ritchie mentions that,
sometimes, homosexual inmates have sexual relationships with officers or other
inmates in prison who have some sort of status for protection.
A few
minutes into reading the piece, I thought of the docuseries aired on television
about prison. The series often highlights homosexuality in prisons and
interviewing at least one homosexual inmate. But, the series never focuses on
what is actually happen. It is only surface level, meaning why are they in
prison. How long is the sentence? What they look forward to when they get out?
Are they repeat offenders, if so, what will they change so they don’t go back?
https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70148133
I think
something to discuss more as class or to just think about would be how do we
address masculinity in prison? What can we do to ensure the safety of those
that aren’t heterosexual? And how do we train officers in the prisons?
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