Queer can be defined in many ways, from many different perspectives of queer, but in a basic sense it means strange, abrasive, or odd. When thinking about what makes a space queer you have to ask if it meet the criteria of being odd or abrasive to the ‘norm’ that has been set by society and/or the institution in which they are in. For example, prison and the reason you end up there, is by nature abrasive or oppositional to society and its laws and norms. Therefore, prisons have been cast and may be defined as a queer spaces in the literal sense. For several reasons amongst meeting the definition, prisons show other forms of queerness in: the relationships that develop inside prison are amongst same-sex and while the person may not be queer, the situation they are in is, therefore so is the relationship, the fact that LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately victimized in prison for their gender nonconformity by both staff and fellow inmates, as well their identities are oppressed and not recognized.
Mogul, Richie and Whitlock suggest that what is queer about prison is that, “Prisons and jails have always served as a breeding ground for a raced, gendered and classed archetypal amalgam of criminality, disease, predation, and out-of-control sexuality.”(95). These stereotypes are used to control the inmates and use fear to hammer-in the morality of gender conforming sexuality and amorality of queer sexuality. The staff policies and oppresses those who are nonconforming and claim reasons such a security and safety. Therefore, in a “highly charged and sexualized environment, those who self-identify- or are identified by staff or other prisoners- as queer are subject to increased surveillance, punishment, and isolation… prison officials subject transgender and gender non-conforming prisoners to heightened scrutiny” (97). This claim is only further backed by stories in the book of transgender victims of both physical and sexual violence. Due to hypermasculinity, transgender women are the most likely to be raped or experience sexual violence inside of prison. Gay, effeminate and sometimes just young inmates, even if not queer, “Consequently...find themselves at the bottom of the prison hierarchy” (100). The are subject to isolation, anger, and violence that is not deserved from their crime, but their expression of self.
In one story from Mail and Guardian, a transgender woman, Jade September was being interviewed after attempting to take her own life due to the abuse suffered by prison staff, not her fellow inmates. She is housed in a male prison, in which her identity is not acknowledged by prison officials, the officials say, “that by expressing herself as a woman September is ‘a security risk’.” (Queers Battle Prison System). In truth September is one of many transgender women and queer individual who has been victim of homophobic policing which, “goes so far as banning gay and lesbian books… [having] religious programs [that] promote ‘traditional’ gender roles and heterosexuality” (98). September has experience these homophobic, anger induced punishments. She describes a experience in which,“after being made to hand over her make-up and telling officials ‘this is who I am and [nobody] can change that’, she was placed in solitary confinement for nearly three weeks” (Queers Battle Prison System). September and her fellow queer persons in prison have felt the unjust nature of a system controlled by religion, and the idea of sexual morality from religion, as well as the fear of social deviance due to where they are. If activist do not pay attention to a isolated and misunderstood population such as inmates and transgender people as intersectionality, it becomes a minority within a minority that is abandoned and not recognized. The struggle for queer recognition may have gotten far in society with things such as marriage equality and adoption rights, however, in prisons and jails the harsh reality is that being queer is a harsher sentence than how long you have be there.
Thank you for this post!
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