Apocrypha? Assault by inmates in women's detention facilities
To bleg: "A blog entry consisting of a request to the readers, such as for information or contributions. A portmanteau of 'blog' and 'beg'. Also called 'Lazyweb.'" This post includes a request for information from readers, preceded by an explanation of why I'm interested. --fl]
So one thing that keeps coming up for me as I read Joan Sewell's I'd Rather Eat Chocolate: Learning to Love My Low Libido is the distinction between sex and sexual dynamics.
In her chapter "Love and the Sex Bank" Sewell discusses Barbara DeAngelis's What Women Want Men to Know Sewell reflects on the sexual dynamics of exchanging non-orthogonal favors
DeAngelis believes women have evolved to include an area in their minds that she refers to as a "Love and Sex Bank." If a man doesn't deposit enough love into the bank, then she won't be able to withdraw any sexual feeling for him. "Often it's how you've been treating your partner for hours, days, even weeks before you approach her to make love that will determine whether or not she is in the mood." DeAngelis says women tally it all up, whether big or small, and then when a man wants sex, we determine whether he's welcome in our arms."
[Italics mine --fl]
And then there's this brutally frank discussion (she's quoting an acquaintance) about the sexual dynamics of relationship survival.
"I know. I wish I had the guts. I need him. It's so pathetic. Sometimes I think he'll leave me. He works with this woman and I ask him what she's like, and he says she's attractive and, you know, they work closely together. I'm afraid if I turn him down for sex he'll go get it from her."
Stuff like this comes up throughout the book, in her analysis of other relationship pundits and in her own reflections.
And it keeps reminding me of the coup counting and survival strategies you hear about in incarcerated or effectively incarcerated populations where lacking any authentic, extrinsic power inmates are reduced to operating on each other -- maneuvering intensely over status, cigarettes, and strict accounting of grudges and favors (including, obviously, sexual favors.)
Which, when you think about it, is an awful lot like the dynamics of heterosexual sexual dynamics in most of the world for most of recorded history.
Now Sewell, and evidently most of the pundits she cites, believes strongly that these dynamics are innately fixed in gender -- that men are hardwired to behave one way while women are equally programmed to behave another. I'm reluctant to accept that in part because we studied multiple instances of this sort of behavior regardless of gender, or even sexuality, when I was in college studying the social theory and sociology of small groups.
*So!* Almost all the social/sexual research I've seen has involved either mixed groups (e.g. high school, obligatory social clubs, colonial and ex-pat communities, certain Soviet-era gulags and WWII-era concentration camps) or predominantly male (prisons, certain military situations, "outpost" dynamics) but aside from incomplete and almost certainly biased information on "ladies who lunch" dynamics I'm having a hard time finding credible information about sexual dynamics in closed societies of mostly women.
Anyway, my working hypothesis is that when Sewell, DeAngelis, and pretty much everyone else talks about "libido imbalances" they're confused by what I believe to be a very, very strong overlay of *power* dynamics. This imbalance is fairly well documented in predominantly male and mixed-group situations. I'm asking about the dynamics in women's-only situations in hopes of denying or supporting my hypothesis.
Since almost everything I've tried to Google about the social and sexual dynamics in women's detention facilities is either outright porn or... well... more porn (women in prison being a confusingly well-established genre.) Frankly at this point I'm ready to believe that all rumors about inmate sex and sexual dynamics in women's prisons are apocryphal and/or fantasy-driven.
I'm hoping one of my readers could point me to some credible first-hand or well-recounted second hand information about it.
Thanks.
I remember somewhere a study about women in prison in Australia. Googled and found this link. I thought maybe you could find a source in the article.
[Although it's a pay site that's a promising link, Five. Something else helpful about that link: they listed some helpful keywords. (Even there the big problem seems to be that most information is about either abuse prior to imprisonment or abuse by male guards. I'm still looking though.) Thanks! --fl]
Have you seen this one?
I have it in my mind that the BBC did a series of programmes about women's prisons but I can't find any reference to it now.
There is also a report called "One Hundred Women" from Women in Prison which I haven't looked at it - it's very long.
[Great! Thanks, A. I'll dig into those links. --fl]
Following on from Five of Nine's link, there is also this one.
[Great. Yeah, I've noticed Australians seem to take a lot of these topics more seriously compared to some of their other English-speaking colleagues. Thanks, A. --fl]
Figleaf:
Here is a link to a report I located on the ACLU's website:
All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons -- Human Rights Watch Wommen's Rights Project.
The pdf file is over 500 pages and provides a summary plus findings by state. As you indicated in your post, the abuse of women inmates by other women inmates is minute in comparison to the abuse, rape and rights violations committed by male prison guards. I cannot imagine that a project of this depth and breadth could overlook abuse by women inmates if it occured with the same frequency as those porn-generated search results.
Another source is from the periodical Fire Inside, which is published by the California Coalition of Women Prisoners. Writings by the women prisoners, as well as by their attorneys and advocates, address the abuse of women inmates by male guards as explained in this editorial: Cruel and Inhuman: Shut the SHU Down!
Finally, if you peruse the works authored by women prisoners through the many creative writing programs, the subject of sexual abuse usually deals with acts by male prison guards, not fellow inmates. These would supply the first-person accounts that you are seeking.
Hope this helps.
[I'm not sure prison-crime reports are going to have what I'm looking for, since many prison relationships *aren't* about straight assault. Your links to first-person accounts look promising though. Thank you, Kochanie. --fl]
I'm asking about the dynamics in women's-only situations in hopes of denying or supporting my hypothesis.
I think this is the type of report which you are seeking: An Analysis of Inmate Explanations for Lesbian Relationships in Prison. The bibliography is quite extensive and should keep you out of mischief fir a while.
From what I have read of this report based on interviews of women inmates at the Louisiana Correctional Institute, the power dynamic theory may not apply here. The findings appear to support a theory of gender fluidity, rather than gender substitution:
Although it is not discussed in this study, another aspect that differentiates the relationships between women prisoners from those between men prisoners is the severity of punishment meted out by prison officials to women prisoners who are *caught* kissing or touching one another. I am not aware of similar punishments for nonviolent physical contact among men prisoners, but perhaps your research will yield other evidence on this point.
I look forward to reading your posts on this, fl.
[Although the report mentions that punishment varies by facility, in the prison they studied any kind of PDA results in 90 days in maximum-security lockdown for the "offenders." The study itself is a summary but it's a good start. (It also gave me a couple of leads for other places to look.) As usual I marvel at your ability to turn up information, Kochanie. Thank you. --fl]