Prison_Rape

PRISON RAPE AND SEXUALITY “….DON’T DROP THE SOAP…..” This phrase when heard is directly related to prison. Why is that one might ask, in this paper I will discuss prison rape and sexuality. I will discuss and clarify what prison rape and sexuality is as well as bring to light the different statistics and organizations related to the subject. To begin, in prison rape, due to the gender-segregated nature of the prison system the perpetrator and victim are almost always the same sex. Prison sexuality deals with sexual relationships between confined individuals or those between a prisoner and a prison employee or other persons to whom prisoners have access. Since prisons are separated by gender, most sexual activity is conducted with a same-sex partner, often in contradiction to a person's normal social sexual orientation. Exceptions to this are sex with an employee of the opposite sex, as well as conjugal visits. According to Human Rights Watch in a 2001 report,[1] sexual slavery frequently poses as a consensual sexual relationship. Rape victims are often intimidated into feigning consent to sexual activity, to the point of becoming "slaves" and the figurative property of their rapists. This occurs in both male and female prisons. Prospective slaveholders will sometimes use intimidating innuendo, as opposed to overt threats of violence, which the prospective slave unwillingly accepts, thereby disguising even from the enslaver, the coercive nature of the sexual activity. Slaves might not even see themselves as being coerced, if the enslavement is negotiated as repayment for a debt. Also, some consider themselves transformed into a homosexual. The report tells the story of an inmate coerced in this way.[3] It is argued that in prison, consent is inherently illusory. Prison sexuality, often viewed as facultative or situational, shows quite similar dominance traits to those of apes, revealing similar relationship structures. Such animal-like behaviors are widely regarded as an inherent part of human nature. Hence sexual relationships tend to follow universal archetypes, which appear in all aspects of human culture and behavior. In many cases among men, the partner who penetrates another sexually is not regarded as homosexual, and the receptive partner (who may or may not be consenting) is called a woman, a "bitch," a "punk," or a "prag," and is regarded as homosexual. In the United States in particular, rape in prisons is a major problem, and may be perpetrated by inmates who do not view themselves as bisexual or homosexual. One of the conceptions that tends to minimize prison rape and sexual coercion is that the penetrating partner uses the act primarily to assert control or dominance, thus minimizing this activity as an expression of sexuality per se, an idea which is still repugnant to many, including perpetrators themselves. A man who has been raped, or who has been the receptive partner during intercourse, is often regarded as less masculine and hence a target for future rape and other violence. According to one study, 22.3% of male U.S. prison inmates had reported being a victim of prison rape. Although the rapist or the male who coerces sex with another male has clearly chosen to have sex with another male, other prisoners will view the male who has been raped or coerced as homosexual if he is unwilling to kill or die to protect himself from rape or is willing to negotiate a relationship to protect himself from attack by multiple rapists, while the perpetrator is not similarly labeled. This encourages and perpetuates sexual violence in an atmosphere where power and the perception thereof is regarded as paramount. Among men, the receptive partner may be protected by the dominant partner from rape and violence, and some physically weaker heterosexuals enter relationships for this reason. Such men are said to be "riding with" their respective dominant partners. The same can be seen in female prisons, where an unwilling woman who normally would not engage in sex with another woman would do so for the sake of protection. It has been written that in almost all prison relationships, with few exceptions, in both female and male prisons, one participant is dominant and the other is submissive but no data exist to definitively prove this contention. The situation is obscured by the fact that heterosexual prisoners who enter into a sexual relationship with each other will frequently conceal the nature of their relationship from others. In prisons where cells are shared, this is known to occur. Heterosexual prisoners are known to sometimes fall in love with each other when confined together for long periods of time and in these situations, sexual activity is negotiated in a spirit of mutual respect and equality. It cannot be construed that sex inside the prison systems is always non-consensual.