Men’s prisons are gendered institutions, not the norm against which women’s prisons are judged

Evidence

I am not suggesting that simply bringing women into the existing conversations on jails and prisons will deepen our analysis of state punishment and further the project of prison abolition. Addressing issues that are specific to women’s prisons is of vital importance, but it is equally important to shift the way we think about the prison system as a whole. Certainly women’s prison practices are gendered, but so, too, are men’s prison practices. To assume that men’s institutions constitute the norm and women’s institutions are marginal is, in a sense, to participate in the very normalization of prisons that an abolitionist approach seeks to contest. Thus, the title of this chapter is not “Women and the Prison System/’ but rather “How Gender Structures the Prison System.” Moreover, scholars and activists who are involved in feminist projects should not consider the structure of state punishment as marginal to their work. Forward-looking research and organizing strategies should recognize that the deeply gendered character of punishment both reflects and further entrenches the gendered structure of the larger society. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 158

Categorization

• DEFINE: Reframes how to think about gender in punishment: men’s institutions are gendered too, and marginalizing women’s prisons normalizes the prison itself.
• XREF: connects to: Formalistic equality with male prisons makes women’s prisons more repressive, not less. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 197; Formal equality fails because male prisons define the punishment norm; Male prisons functioning as the punishment norm drives women’s conditions toward greater repression. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 204 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Formal equality fails because male prisons define the punishment norm #corroborates (0.90)
• Male prisons functioning as the punishment norm drives women’s conditions toward greater repression. #corroborates (0.90) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 204
• Formalistic equality with male prisons makes women’s prisons more repressive, not less. #corroborates (0.85) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 197
• Feminist parity demands have ironically produced more repressive women’s prisons #corroborates (0.75)