{"id":2144,"date":"2018-12-24T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2144"},"modified":"2018-12-23T10:15:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T16:15:08","slug":"me-too-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/12\/24\/me-too-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2018: Me Too Behind Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by x1klima, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally posted August 17, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since its inception last October, the #MeToo campaign has extended beyond the red carpets of Hollywood and into other public arenas like high schools and universities, religious organizations, and military bases. Sexual harassment, assault, and rape within carceral environments such as jails, prisons, juvenile detention facilities, and immigrant detention facilities, however, have received comparatively little public or media attention. And when such reports are made, they are often met with public indifference or ill humor with jokes like \u201cDon\u2019t drop the soap!\u201d Nevertheless, there is a a small but growing base of social science research that shows how confined persons experience both the threat and the act of sexual violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast to the #MeToo movement in the larger society, much of the research on sexual violence against those incarcerated has explicitly focused on men and male facilities. Male facilities have long been marred by reports of sexual violence, in part due to norms of hypermasculinity that encourage violence as a sign of heterosexuality. Men are expected to prove that they are not \u201cfags,\u201d \u201cpunks,\u201d or \u201cbitches\u201d to avoid being targeted for rape. Yet, confined men who exhibit a smaller stature and present perceived feminine characteristics face a greater likelihood of experiencing sexual violence during their stay.<\/h5>\n