'Ladies' Behind Bars: A Liminal Gender as Cultural Mirror

Author(s): John M. Coggeshall

Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Aug., 1988), pp. 6-8
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
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'Ladies' behind bar s
A liminal gender as cultur al mir r or
JOHN M. COGGESHALL
The author is assistant
pr ofessor of
anthr opology at Clemson
Univer sity, Clemson,
South Car olina.
'You her e to see the show?' the inmate leer ed. The focus
of attention was the tall blond then r eceiving her food in
the pr ison cafeter ia. The wor ker s filled her plate with
polite defer ence, and as she walked between the tables
her fine blond hair bounced over her shoulder s. 'Make
you want to leave home?' the guar d next to me teased.
His joke clar ified the significance of the episode I had
just witnessed. The object of attention was genetically a
male, r econstr ucted as female accor ding to the per cep-
tion of gender within the cultur al r ule system of pr ison.
Behind bar s, cer tain males become r edefined as 'ladies'.
I have not been able to discer n any cor r elation between
assigned gender and the type of cr ime for which an in-
mate was sentenced. The pr ocess by which this tr ansfor -
mation occur s r eveals not only clues about gender con-
str uction in pr ison cultur e, but also suggests per ceptions
of gender identity in Amer ican cultur e in gener al.
Pr ison cultur e involves one pr edominant theme: con-
tr ol. To establish identity, males pr ofess a cultur ally-
defined image to defend themselves fr om oppr ession by
guar ds and other inmates. Men define themselves as
males by juxtaposing maleness with femaleness, fabr i-
cating gender identity fr om the r eflection. For inmates,
the concept of female emer ges fr om the concept of male.
To bor r ow a well-known metaphor , the r ib for Eve's cr e-
ation is taken fr om Adam's side, and dr aws both its cul-
tur al significance and social status fr om the extr action.
Woman is defined in contr ast to man, and takes a lesser
place at his side. In pr ison, males cr eate females in their
image, and by doing so, dominate and subjugate them.
The fieldwor k upon which this study is based was
conducted in two medium-secur ity pr isons in souther n
Illinois between 1984 and 1986. Within that time span I
taught thr ee univer sity-level cour ses to about thir ty adult
inmates, constituting a r ange of r acial gr oup and cr imi-
nal r ecor d diver sity r epr esentative of the over all pr ison
population. Their per ceptions pr ovided a por tion of the
field data, supplemented by my obser vations of and con-
ver sations with guar ds and staff. After having r eceived
some instr uction on ethnogr aphic data collection, a for -
mer student and then r esident inmate, Gene Luetke-
meyer , volunteer ed to collect additional infor mation on
'ladies' behind bar s. His nine detailed inter views of var i-
ous categor ies of inmates, identified in the text by pseu-
donyms, significantly enhanced the scope and detail of
the study.
Pr ison cultur e is extr emely complex, and deser ves
much mor e detailed study by anthr opologists (see for
example the tr eatment by Goffman 1961, Davidson
1983, and Car dozo-Fr eeman 1984)1. Even my r elatively
br ief 'incar cer ation' has suggested numer ous leads for
futur e r esear ch. Gender identity in pr ison could be ex-
plor ed in much gr eater detail, descr ibing for example the
abusive context wher eby young males might become
pawns by an administr ation concer ned with pacifying
gangs. Another pr oductive line of inquir y might explor e
the over all cultur al context of gender identity in pr ison
cultur e, for themes of sexuality per vade pr ison, indicat-
ing its cultur al significance for staff as well as inmates.
Gender per ceptions of convicts
Her e the r esear ch concentr ates on the gender per ceptions
of convicts, i.e. the long-ter m r esidents (Davidson
1983). Convict attitudes towar d homosexual behaviour
var y consider ably fr om one individual to the next. Not
all par ticipate, and not all do so with the same self-per -
ception or with the same pur poses. A subtle distinction
is made by many inmates between individuals who en-
gage entir ely in submissive, r ecipient homosexual inter -
cour se, and those who par ticipate in mutual exchange of
pleasur e. Fur ther distinctions also exist. Cer tain types or
categor ies of homosexuals, some of which ar e discussed
below, pr ovide a r anking of these attitudes. Despite
intr a-cultur al var iation, widespr ead agr eement pr evails
on cultur al definitions of masculine and feminine gender
identities.
Inmates have pr ovided var ious estimates for the
2
amount of homosexual activity in pr ison . All agr ee that
long-timer s ar e mor e likely to engage in such pr actices,
for they have less of a futur e to anticipate, mor e oppor -
tunities for sexual pleasur e to utilize, and r elatively leni-
ent punishments for violations. For example, Paul and
Sandy, homosexual lover s, and Fr ank, Paul's str aight
fr iend, believe that about 65% of their pr ison population
engages in homosexual activity, an estimate suppor ted
by Dr . B, an incar cer ated medical doctor . While such
number s r eveal the amount of contr ol and coer cion in
pr isoner cultur e, they also r eveal the 'need for love, af-
fection, [and] intimate r elationships' denied by the sys-
tem, another inmate obser ves. Some ties ar e based on af-
fection, but these ar e r elatively r ar e3. Homosexual beha-
viour fulfils numer ous functions in the social and cultu-
r al system of pr ison. Thus most inmates see it as at wor st
a r epugnant necessity and at best a toler able alter native.
Despite var ying views on pr evalence, pr isoner s agr ee
on the gener al gender constr ucts in pr isoner cultur e.
Males in pr ison adopt a 'masculine r ole', inmates asser t.
Rober t descr ibes 'a big ... macho weight-lifting vir ile
Tom Selleck type guy' as typical of the ster eotype.
Weight lifter s, in fact, seem to pr edominate in the ca-
tegor y, for str ength suggests masculinity. Real men vi-
gor ously pr otest sexual advances fr om other males by
exhibiting a willingness to fight. Men ar e also seen as
pr eoccupied with sexual gr atification, and will obtain it
at all costs.
Real men in pr ison ar e per ceived as those who can
keep, satisfy, and pr otect 'women'. The dominant sex
par tner is ter med a 'daddy', who watches out for and
pr otects his 'kid' or 'gir l'. For some men, the acquisition
of sex par tner s str ongly r esembles cour ting, wher e the
pur suer flir ts with and pur chases commissar y (snack
foods, cosmetics, and similar items) for the object of his
inter est. Other s acquir e submissive sex par tner s by
for ce. Ultimately, with either type, sexual par tner ships
ar e based on power and contr ol, the complete domina-
tion of one per son and one gender by another . In fact,
domination defines the str uctur e of the r elationship
which distinguishes the gender s in pr ison.
However , in pr ison, since the cultur ally-defined fe-
males had been males at one time, this pr esents 'r eal'
6 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 4 No 4, August 1988
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men with a gender identity pr oblem: r econciling having
sexual inter cour se with males while maintaining a mas-
culine self-concept. This adjustment is accomplished by
means of a unique folk explanation of the or igins of gen-
der development and or ientation. Basically, males in
pr ison r edefine selected males as females.
In dir ect contr ast to these self-per ceptions of males,
men por tr ay women in a painting of their own cr eation.
Males see females as passive, subor dinate, sexual ob-
jects. Accor ding to Rober t, women ar e 'sweet and
char ming', 'fluid of movement', with 'seductive ges-
tur es'. Dr . B believes that he himself exhibits such ef-
feminate qualities as 'mild manner s' and a 'passive de-
meanour '. Women ar e also viewed as attr active, and
they use that allur e to their advantage by feigning help-
lessness; this allows women to maintain a 'cer tain
power ' over men, Paul feels. A woman might 'use her
char ms' to 'get what she wanted', while at the same time
she might not 'put out' sexually, accor ding to Dr . B.
Women often tease to coer ce men, and sometimes with-
hold what had appar ently been pr omised, he adds.
Of cour se, near ly all female staff in pr ison cultur e do
not meet these ster eotypes. By inmate definition, then,
they must not be women. Such 'non-women' do not
challenge gender constr ucts but r einfor ce them fur ther .
Female guar ds and staff occupy positions of power and
author ity over inmates, decidedly atypical for women
fr om a pr isoner 's per spective. Mor eover , most of these
women dr ess in ways to deliber ately de-accentuate anat-
omical differ ences and to r esemble their male counter -
par ts unifor mly. Because these women dr ess as 'non-
women' and contr ol men, they cannot be women and
must ther efor e be homosexuals or 'dykes', as the con-
victs ter m them. To inmates, this can be the only expla-
nation for women who do not act like women. Cultur al
r eality per sists as potentially disr uptive anomalies disap-
pear thr ough r edefinition.
Tr apped between male and female r oles
The pr ocess by which cer tain males become r edefined as
females in pr ison pr ovides an example of Victor Tur -
ner 's (1969) concept of liminality. Pr isoner cultur e per -
ceives cer tain males as being tr apped in between male
and female, thus necessitating the r elease of their tr ue
gender identities. The per iod of incar cer ation pr ovides
the 'time out of time' necessar y for the tr ansfigur ation to
occur . In fact, inmate ter ms for the metamor phosis r e-
veal this gender ambiguity: males 'tur n out' these non-
males, tr ansfor ming them into the cultur al equivalent of
females. The liminal gender is actually 'male as female',
betwixt and between both. Such individuals figur atively
'tur n out' to be females, r econstr ucted accor ding to the
pr isoner cultur al ster eotypes of 'female'. They thus
become their 'tr ue' selves at last.
This duality cr eates additional complications in self-
identity for such men. Goffman (1961) noted the
str uggle inmates have in r econciling the staff's per cep-
tion of them fr om their own self-concept. Inmates r ead-
justing a sexual or ientation shar e a similar pr oblem. Dr .
B explains that individuals who make the tr ansition fr om
male to female must r econcile past heter osexual beha-
viour with their pr esent homosexual identity. The homo-
sexual in pr ison must convince her self that this new self-
per ception had been her tr ue identity all along. Thus she
now has adopted the nor mal r ole befitting her identity
and gender adjustment.
Vindication for the tr ansfor mation comes as those
for ced to become homosexuals r emain as such. The ac-
ceptance by the homosexual of her new gender identity
and associated behaviour justifies the conver sion in the
eyes of the r est of the pr ison population. If the 'male be-
coming female' had no natur al pr oclivity or had not
been submissive by natur e and thus also female, she
would never have agr eed to have adopted a feminine
identity. As Fr ank (an inmate) explains, those who sur -
r ender ar e weak, and females ar e weak. Ther efor e, those
who sur r ender must be female by natur e.
Folk conceptions of the or igins of gender fur ther sup-
por t this per spective. Tommy (another inmate) notes that
all humans ar e 'conceived as female, then either , as
foetuses, develop genitalia or not'. Some individuals
per petuate, even unconsciously, this dualistic foetal
identity into adulthood: they can be tr ansfor med or
'tur ned out'. Not r esisting, or not r esisting aggr essively
enough, mer ely validates this gender liminality. In a
sense, it is only appr opr iate that those tr apped betwixt
and between be r eleased, to unfetter their tr ue natur es.
Even coer cive gender conver sion r estor es the natur al
or der .
Pr isoner cultur e divides homosexuals into sever al
types, each defined on the basis of degr ee of sexual
pr omiscuity, amount of self-conceptual pr ide, and se-
ver ity of coer cion used to tur n them out. Gener ally,
status declines as sexual pr omiscuity incr eases, self-con-
cept decr eases, and the types and intensity of coer cion
used in the conver sion pr ocess incr ease.
The highest status categor y of homosexuals in pr ison
is that of 'queens' or 'ladies', those who had come out
both voluntar ily and willingly. Pr isoner cultur al belief
suggests that these individuals had been homosexual on
the outside but may have lacked the fr eedom to have
been themselves. Pr ison has pr ovided them with a tr eas-
ur ed oppor tunity to 'come out', and they have accepted
the fr eedom gr atefully. Such individuals maintain a high
status by r emaining in contr ol of their own lives and of
their own self-concept.
Other individuals volunteer to be females, tr ansfor -
ming themselves in or der to acquir e mater ial comfor ts or
social pr estige. Ter ms for this gener al categor y var y, de-
pending on the amount of coer cion or for ce needed to
'tur n out' the female image. 'Kids', 'gumps', or 'punks'
descr ibe individuals who in effect have sold their male
identities, sur r ender ing their cultur ally-defined mascu-
linity to be r edefined as females.
Many other inmates, however , ar e for ced to become
homosexuals against their initial will. Accor ding to
Wadley (another inmate):
ever yone is tested. The weak--of per sonality, per sonal
power , willingness to fight, physical fr ailty, timidity-ar e es-
pecially susceptible.
'Respect is given to one who can contr ol the life of
another ', he adds. Those unwilling or unable to contr ol
other s ar e thus themselves contr olled. Accor ding to the
cultur al r ules of gender identity in pr ison, those who
dominate, by natur al r ight, ar e males, and those who
submit, by natur al temper ament, ar e females.
A for ced female r ole
Individuals for ced to adopt a female r ole have the lowest
status, and ar e ter med 'gir ls', 'kids', 'gumps', or
'punks'. Kids ar e kept in ser vitude by other s, as a sign of
the owner 's power and pr estige. Gumps ar e gener ally
owned or kept by a gang, which collects money by pr os-
tituting the sexual favour s of the unfor tunate inmate. A
gump may at one time have volunteer ed to come out to
her feminine identity, but due to lack of per sonal status
or power she has been for ced to become sexually pr omi-
scuous for money or her physical sur vival. A punk, most
agr ee, initially hesitates, and is tur ned out by coer cion.
However tr ansfor med, most homosexuals in pr ison
A slightly shor ter ver sion
of this paper was
pr esented at the 1987
Amer ican
Anthr opological
Association meetings in
Chicago, I1. A mor e
detailed and mor e
theor etical discussion,
including discussants'
comments, is planned.
1. In my other wr itings I
have discussed var ious
ways in which inmates
successfully r etaliate to
maintain a sense of
identity. Much mor e
could be explor ed, but
space constr ains
discussion.
2. Ther e ar e obvious
implications for study
of the spr ead of the
AIDS vir us. Fr om my
r esear ch it seems that
most inmates had not
yet thought about
acquir ing AIDS,
pr obably on account of
a low self-concept
par alleling that of
intr avenous dr ug user s.
Since homosexual
behaviour in pr ison
cannot be eliminated,
education and
pr otection should be
ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 4 No 4, August 1988 7
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str essed.
3. I do not mean to
suggest that
homosexual
r elationships in society
at lar ge ar e similar . In
this ar ticle, I do not
deal with
homosexuality outside
of pr ison, nor with
affectional
homosexuality inside
pr ison, which does exist.
4. Racial distinctions
become exagger ated in
pr ison. Some r esear ch
indicates that pr ison
administr ations
sometimes deliber ately
exacer bate r acial
antagonism to 'divide
and conquer ' gangs by
r ewar ding leader s with
homosexuals of the
opposite 'r ace'.
Br andes, Stanley. 1980.
Metaphor s of
masculinity: sex and
status in Andalusian
folklor e. Publications of
the Amer ican Folklor e
Society (n.s.) Vol. 1.
Philadelphia: U. of P.P.
Car dozo-Fr eeman, Inez.
1984. The joint:
language and cultur e in
a maximum-secur ity
pr ison. Spr ingfield, I1:
Thomas.
Davidson, R. Theodor e.
1983. Chicano
pr isoner s: the key to
San Quentin. Pr ospect
Heights, I1: Waveland P.
Goffman, Er ving. 1961.
Asylums: essays on the
social situation of
mental patients and
other inmates. Gar den
City, NY: Anchor
Books.
Tur ner , Victor . 1969. The
r itualpr ocess. Chicago:
Aldine.
take on a feminine per sona and appear ance, even assum-
ing a feminine name and r equesting feminine pr onouns
as r efer ents. The exter nal tr ansfor mation fr om male to
female often is r emar kable. Despite the for mal r estr ic-
tions of a dr ess code in pr ison, clothing styles may be
manipulated r ather patently to pr oclaim gender identity.
Hair is often styled or cur led and wor n long. Even cos-
metics ar e possible: black felt-tip pens pr ovide eye liner
and shadow; kool-aid substitutes for blush; and baby
powder disguises pr ominent cheekbones. The per sonal
appear ance of homosexuals enhances their identity by
demar cating them as obviously differ ent fr om men.
Homosexuals per for m numer ous functions depending
upon their status and r elative fr eedom. Gener ally, the
higher the status the mor e contr ol one has over one's ac-
tivities and one's life. High status individuals such as
Sandy select their own lover s. These couples live as hus-
bands and wives, with the 'little woman' pr oviding do-
mestic ser vices such as laundr y, cell cleaning, gr ooming,
and sex.
Those with less status per for m much the same tasks,
but less voluntar ily and with less consider ation fr om
their daddies. Once an inmate has been for ced to adopt a
submissive lifestyle, the nightmar e of domination
becomes mor e intense. For example, gumps might be
for ced to pleasur e a gang chief, or may be passed down
to soldier s in the gang for enjoyment. A par ticular ly at-
tr active kid might be put 'on the str oll', for ced to be a
pr ostitute, for the financial benefit of the gang. Business
may pr ove to be so lucr ative that some homosexuals
must seek pr otective custody (solitar y confinement) to
get some r est.
Accor ding to Dr . B, some homosexuals actually pr efer
to be dominated. The pr evalent value system in pr ison
suggests that those 'females' who r esist sexual attacks
vicar iously enjoy being dominated physically and sex-
ually by mor e power ful individuals.
Hated and abused, desir ed and ador ed, ladies in pr ison
occupy an impor tant niche: they ar e the women of that
society, constr ucted as such by the male-based per cep-
tion of gender identity. In pr ison, females ar e ter med
'holes' and 'bitches', r eflecting the contempt of what Dr .
B believes to be char acter istic of society's view of
lower -class women in gener al. In pr ison, he adds, a ho-
mosexual 'is likely to r eceive much of the contempt
[and] pent-up hostility that would other wise be dir ected
at women ...'. Her ein lies the key to unlocking the
deeper significance of gender constr uction in pr isoner
cultur e.
Gender constr uction in pr ison
Recall the gener al inmate per ception of this liminal gen-
der in pr isoner cultur e. Homosexuals ar e owned and pr o-
tected by daddies, who pr ovide for their mater ial and
social comfor t. In exchange, they pr ovide sexual gr atifi-
cation. They often sell themselves and their bodies for
mater ial objects, pr omiscuously using their allur e to
manipulate men and to impr ove their social status. They
feign helplessness in or der to contr ol their men. Ladies
ar e emotional, helpless, and timid, while at the same
time petulant, sassy, and demanding, nagging their men
for attention. Best suited for cer tain tasks, homosexuals
pr ovide domestic and per sonal ser vices for their daddies,
ser ving their ever y whim.
Most fundamentally, homosexuals ar e sexual objects,
to be used, abused, and discar ded whenever necessar y.
Passive r ecipients of male power , they even enjoy being
dominated and contr olled. Males do them favour s by r e-
leasing their 'tr ue' female identities thr ough r ape. In
pr ison, sexuality equals power . Males have power , fe-
males do not, and thus males dominate and exploit the
'weaker sex'.
Ultimately, in whose image and likeness ar e these
'males as females' cr eated? Genetically female staff and
administr ator s do not fit the ster eotypical view, and thus
pr ovide no r ole models for ladies in pr ison. Males them-
selves dr aft the image of female in pr ison, for ming her
fr om their own per ceptions. Males 'tur ned out' as fe-
males per for m the cultur al r ole allotted to them by
males, a r ole of submission and passivity. In actuality,
males pr oduce, dir ect, cast, and wr ite the scr ipt for the
cultur al per for mance of gender identity behind bar s.
In pr ison, woman is made in contr ast to the image and
likeness of man. Men define women as 'not men', estab-
lishing their own self-identity fr om the juxtapositioning.
Gender as a cultur al constr uct is r eflexive; each pole
dr aws meaning fr om a negation of the other . As in Mon-
ter os (Br andes 1980:205, 207), folk concepts r einfor ce
the differ ences, emphasizing maleness at the expense of
femaleness and the power ful at the expense of the
power less. By means of sexual domination, women r e-
main in a cultur ally-defined place of ser vitude and sub-
mission.
Pr ison cultur e as a distor ting mir r or
It is pr ecisely this concept of gender identity that has
pr oven most disquieting about the status of homosexuals
in pr ison. Gr anted, pr ison cultur e foster s a ter r ibly dis-
tor ted view of Amer ican cultur e4. Never theless, one sees
a shadowy r eflection in the mir r or of pr isoner cultur e
which r emains hauntingly familiar . As ladies ar e viewed
by males in pr ison cultur e, so ar e females per ceived by
many males in Amer ican cultur e. Gender r oles and atti-
tudes in pr ison do not contr adict Amer ican male values,
they mer ely exagger ate the domination and exploitation
alr eady pr esent. In pr ison gender constr ucts, one sees not
contr asts but car icatur es of gender concepts 'on the
str eet'. Thus, the liminal gender of ladies behind bar s
pr esents, in r eality, a cultur al mir r or gr otesquely r eflect-
ing the pr edominant sexism of Amer ican society in
gener al, despite initiatives by women to r edefine their
position and change gender r elationships.
RAI Pr esidential Addr ess 1988 - separ ately published for ?1 (US$2)
Pr ofessor MICHAEL BANTON:
'WHICH RELATIONS ARE RACIAL RELATIONS?'
(See RAI News section for a summar y.) Published as a separ ate pamphlet available fr om the Institute for only ?1 (US$2) post paid, cash
with or der (no invoices will be sent). ISBN 0-900632-36-4. Send r emittance to: Dir ector 's Secr etar y, Royal Anthr opological Institute, 50
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