The
Homosexuality Factor In Prison Violence
In the 1982 book, Male Rape,
edited by Dr. Anthony M. Stacco, Jr., American prisons are noted to be
places where homosexual activity is common, and sexual violence is rife.
It is also suggested that this prisons reality reflects the nature of our
society, including its high level of violence, especially sexual violence.
As stated by Dostoevski, "the degree of civilization in a society can be
judged by entering its prisons" (75:
29) where there is an excellent chance that a boy, or a physically weaker
younger adult male, will be raped by one or more stronger males. Given
the relationship existing between a society and its prisons, we therefore
may learn much about ourselves by knowing what happens in prisons. The
highlights are:
The "turning out" process
is "an act of conquest and demasculation, stripping the male victim of
his status of 'man.' The act redefines him as 'female'... and he must assume
that role as the 'property' of his conqueror or whoever claimed him and
arranged his demasculation. He becomes a slave, in the fullest sense of
the term" (75:
5).
Rape also accomplishes the same objective
and its purpose is recognized even by young males in juvenile detention
facilities. Statements made by male youth aggressors raping a male are:
We're going to take your
manhood. You'll have to give up some face. We're going to make a girl out
of you (81:
94).
From a 1977 court hearing in Cincinnati:
'The guys that raped
me put a straight razor to my throat and held me down,' he testified, adding
that he had to become a 'wife' to one prisoner in order to protect himself
from the random sexual attacks by others (75:
5). Describing this "wife" reality of prison life formed a part of the
"L.A. Law" episode aired on May 7, 1992, and it has been noted in other
television programs and movies.
During the 'indoor recreation'
period of August 21 and 22 Donald was overpowered, beaten, threatened with
death, dragged from cell to cell, and forcibly raped some sixty times
(89:
38).
In the 1991 book, Gay Roots,
edited by Winston Leyland, a gay inmate/writer, Robert N. Boyd, describes
six homosexual situations existing in prisons. He notes that there are
ways a gay inmate can avoid violence, but doing this requires having great
knowledge and understanding of the situation. He ends the section by stating
that gay males could turn this "hell" into a "heaven" (12:
272-278), but I think doing this depends on the nature of the gay male.
A gay inmate disagrees with Boyd in the 1979 book "Men's Bodies, Men's
Selves" edited by Sam Jultry. Ronald Endersby concludes his account with:
Love in prison? Companionship,
sex, an escape from never-ending boredom, an escape from reality - all
of these, but not love! (41:
114)
Donald Tucker describes the situations
which some people think are "voluntary" sexual relationships in prisons:
In fact, the power/control
element is never absent from the Man-Punk relationship, indeed, it defines
that relationship: the Man controls the Punk. Period (89:
71).
Jultry (1979) introduces another gay
male's contribution with:
John Gibb's essay reveals
what happens when two gay men are openly gay and struggle together as friends
to obtain equal rights for gays. Since such a relationship violates the
homosexual standards of prison life, Ernest, his friend and lover, was
murdered (41:
114).
There must be a 'husband'
and 'wife'. ...Straight prisoners often play the game - only if they are
allowed to play the husband. The hets consider this perfectly normal and
not a homosexual experience - for they only do this when nothing else is
available, no women around. For a het inmate to have an 'old lady' while
in prison is acceptable to the prison staff and the inmates (41:
114).
Other descriptions:
So, while homosexual
rape in prison is initially a macho/power thing, slaves are created because
a need exists for slaves - a need for a woman-substitute.. The identification
is always on a continuum of passive and dominant, weak and strong, with
the weak and passive viewed and related to as being 'female.' ...The 'stud'
in a homosexual relationship 'does not consider himself to be a homosexual,
or even to have engaged in homosexual acts
(75:
9).
In prisons, many males are involved
in homosexual sex. Dr. Frank Rundle who served as chief psychiatrist of
the 2200-man California Training facility at Soledad, and also as Director
of Psychiatry of Prison Health Services for all of the correctional institutions,
both juvenile and adult in New York City "believes that it's almost universal,"
involving "almost everybody at least sometime." Another professional gives
a 70 percent estimate (75:
12). These estimates are similar to the one given by a Canadian, Roger
Caron, in his 1978 book "Go-BOY" which won the Governor General's Medal.
He had been in numerous Canadian prisons and reports on his experiences
with homosexual activity:
I was plagued daily with
offers of marriage, money and food, until my mind was reeling with the
magnitude of it all. Gradually the wolves came to realize that I did not
go that route... (18:
140-141). Caron was arrested for armed robbery in the winter of 1992. The
reasons why he had returned to a life of crime was not explored by the
media.
While I was writing this section of
the document in April, 1992, I mentioned to a group of three females and
one male that I was writing about homosexuality in prison systems. One
female reported that she knew a male who had been raped in Calgary's detention
center. One U.S. group formed to hopefully put an end to male rape in detention
facilities, estimates that 26,000 male rapes a day occur in American prisons
(17:
31); this is about one male rape every three seconds, and it is a much
higher rape estimate than the ones reported for all females in the United
States. This male rape estimate also does not include rapes in juvenile
detention facilities where rapes are estimated to occur at even higher
rates.
An interesting prison homo-sex reality
is related to the men actively seeking sex with other males; they are the
ones having the orgasms while the passive males perceived to be "like women"
usually don't. The dominant males also rape other males, supposedly because
women are not available, and always have orgasms (89:
61). Yet, researchers report that about one-third of men who rape women
fail to perform sexually, one third have difficulties, and only about one-third
perform as well as do the men who rape men in prisons (31:
234). There are great implication stemming from this observation.
Dominant males in prisons may be
involved in self-deception given that their reason for desiring
and having sex with males is generally
because women are not
available. Apparently, they are only using a males, or raping them,
because they would be doing the same to women if they were available.
If this is true, the question is: "Given that our society has recently
become concerned about the violence men inflict on women, should these
men be let out of prison, if we do accept and believe their
reason
for
seeking and enjoying abusive and violent sex with males?"
