The prison industrial complex does disproportionate harm to those in society that fall farthest from the white supremacist, cisgender, heterosexual ideal upheld by the dominant society in the United States. As such, queer politics and anti-carceral politics should work together to create a radically different new world where no one has to fear the systems that purport to provise safety to the masses. Anti-prison activism and queer activism are intrinsically linked in the wish to create a world of safety for all, as opposed to only those who society has deemed worthy of safety.
Due to the inherent cisheteronormative structure of the society that we live in, it can often be difficult for queer people who do not, or do not wish to, conform to society’s ideals to exist in this world. Many discriminatory practices in employment and housing often push queer, and especially trans, people into places where interaction with police is often unavoidable. In a study conducted by TransEquality.org, an incredibly high 40% of black trans people had been involved in the sex trade (National center for transgender equality, 2015). In another study by the same site, 1 in 10 black trans respondents were arrested in the year before taking the survey (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2018). In addition to the always-constant, inherent violence of the prison system towards anyone caught in its grasp, queer people in prisons are also more likely to be abused while incarcerated. Many trans women are still jailed with men, opening them up to transphobic abuse and sexual violence by fellow incarcerated people as well as the prison staff. This is in addition to the dysphoria induced by the prison-system’s imposition of assigned sex at birth as gender identity, which negates the actual identity of trans people.
The unwillingness to accept and affirm trans people in society is based on a series of transphobic myths. The ideas of the “trans sexual predator” and the “ultraviolent man in a dress”, stereotype popularized movies such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or Dressed to Kill and with roots dating back to at least the nineteenth century as seen in the example of media coverage of Mary Jones (who was called “Beefsteak Pete” in newspapers), have perpetuated the idea in many peoples’ minds that trans women are not to be trusted and are inherently dangerous (Kelsey-Sugg, 2018). This leads into the criminalization of trans people within common discourse, especially though not exclusively among conservatives. Though for some people – especially middle-class and wealthy white people – it is easier than it has been previously to be queer in America, the pushback recently from high-profile conservatives eerily echoes queerantagonistic discourse from earlier eras of US history. For example, discussing queer identities with children is not grooming any more than introducing them to a straight married couple is grooming, but discussing queerness in schools has been outlawed in Florida, with other states attempting to follow suit, under the explicit justification that it is necessary to protect children from predatory behavior. Queer peoples’ relationship with the criminal justice system is one that perpetuates violence and abuse against the most vulnerable of us and necessitates the envisioning of a radically different system where identities can no longer be weaponized and criminalized.
In all, the lives of queer people and especially those who fall the farthest from the white cishetero world are constantly harassed and arrested due to the ways in which they stick out from their peers. The level of violence from the systems that are meant to protect the safety of the community, i.e. the prison system and the police, are often used as weapons against those who refuse to conform to those norms. To truly create a world that is safe for those of us who are queer we must continue to push for a world where we can no longer be harmed by those who claim to “protect and serve.”
References
Kelsey-Sugg, A. (2018, August 16). Psychopaths, suicidal or comic relief: Problems with trans roles go beyond Scarlett Johansson. ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-16/changing-media-representations-of-trans-people/10114402
National center for transgender equality. (2015, December). Transgender Experiences in the Sex Trade. National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/Meaningful%20Work-Full%20Report_FINAL_3
National Center for Transgender Equality. (2018, October). LGBTQ People Behind Bars. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/TransgenderPeopleBehindBars