310 - Thematic Session. Sexualities in the Penal World

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

In correctional facilities in the United States, the expression of sexuality is framed as problematic and requiring heavy censorship, and sexual behavior is prohibited and considered as grounds for further punishment. This Thematic Session delves into this repressive environment to illuminate how incarcerated people think about, enact, and manage sexuality. Presenters will explore the questions and insights that arise when conducting participatory sexuality research with women in jail; the challenges facing transgender prisoners as they navigate a highly binary, genitalia-based classification system; how the Prison Rape Elimination Act has in turn eliminated possibilities for consensual sex among prisoners; and the repercussions of formerly incarcerated queer women constructing heteronormative households in an effort to conform to parole officers’ expectations.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Megan Lee Comfort, RTI International

Presider

• Megan Lee Comfort, RTI International

Panelists

• Jessica Fields, San Francisco State University

• Valerie Jenness, University of California-Irvine

• Erin M. Kerrison, University of Pennsylvania

• Laura Beth Nielsen, American Bar Foundation and Northwestern University

• Jay W. Borchert, University of Michigan

Discussant

• Megan Lee Comfort, RTI International