Gender and Dominance

Correctional facilities are segregated gendered institutions. In mainstream society, the gender hierarchy comprises of two central paradigms: a hierarchal system in which men are dominant over women and another hierarchal system in which higher-status men dominate over other men, particularly those men who have lower statuses. These two processes mirror and support one another and violence is one way in which status is attained, maintained and re-attained. This relationship is reciprocal, as this ever-present threat of violence also shapes expectations of male behavior and what masculinity means to men and women. The idea of men using violence to maintain their dominant positions is seen in situations of domestic violence. It is likely this system of masculine power being retained via the use of violence is present in such a highly male environment as the prison. It is also likely that this dominant male system contributes to the problem of prison rape.

If we want to end the pandemic of rape, it’s going to require an entire universal movement of men who are willing to do the hard work required to unpack and question the ideas of masculinity they were raised with, and to create and model new masculinities that don’t enable misogyny. Masculinities built not on power over women, but on power with women.