Vulnerable Prisoner Masculinities in an English Prison

Abstract

Scholarship on prison masculinities to date has primarily centered on the most revered, dominant, or hegemonic forms, with little attention to how subordinated prisoners negotiate masculinities at the bottom of prisoner hierarchies. This article, drawing from a wider qualitative study on “revolving door” imprisonment, charts the shift from normative to subordinate masculinity for a group of men housed in a segregated Vulnerable Prisoner Unit (VPU) in an English prison. I show how these men, influenced by their previous prison status and criminal history, adopted different—more costly and high-risk—situationally adaptive strategies in negotiating their masculinities at the bottom of prison hierarchies. Exploring their subordinated prison identities reveals the dynamic, relational, fragile, and spatial elements of their masculinities. I conclude by suggesting that a greater focus on subordinated carceral masculinities adds a much-needed divergence from the preoccupation with hegemonic or dominant prison masculinities. This divergence offers researchers a new opportunity to shape and to inform policy debates on how, in extreme environments like the prison, alternative ways of “being a man” might be opened up to those who have suffered at the most brutal end of prison hierarchies.

Using Connell’s masculinity theory to understand the way in which ex-gang-involved men coped with childhood domestic violence

“…In addition, there are specific pressures on young men related to masculinity performance which mean that they seek opportunities to hide or deny their marginalisation and vulnerability that result in enacted protest masculinity. There are a range of interventions that are currently commonly used with children who have experienced DVA; however, there are limited gender-specific interventions and none existing specifically for those who have experienced the intersection of DVA and gang involvement (Molina and Levell, 2020). The findings from this study suggest that there would be scope to look at the way in which masculine identities affect the way in which boys and young men cope with DVA.…”

“…In a way, Connell's conceptualisation of protest masculinity itself implies a fragile dominance, which is characterised by its marginalisation; thus, insecurity is implied in the theorisation of protest masculinity itself. As a concept, vulnerable masculinity has also been worked on by Maguire (2019), who researched the way in which men in prison deal with subordinated masculinities in the wider gender order. Thus, there is traction in exploring vulnerable masculinity as an emerging area of focus, and in taking the focus away from only the hegemonic form, which perpetuates the invisibility of masculine vulnerability.…”

“…Method In-depth qualitative research was conducted in the form of life-history-inspired narrative interviews (Plummer, 2001), aided by music elicitation (Levell, 2019). This was a small-scale study that included eight participants in lengthy interviews.…”

“Changing the channel”: Hybrid masculinity in a men’s prison

“…Scholars, however, have critiqued the literature on men's prisons for focusing solely on incarcerated men's hypermasculine behaviors. For instance, Maguire (2019: 2) recently sought to diverge from the ''fixation'' on hegemonic masculinities by examining the subordinate masculinities embodied by men incarcerated in a vulnerable prisoner unit in an English prison. As he rightfully argued, an exclusive focus on dominant, hegemonic masculinities obscures the wide range of masculinities that exist in the prison setting.…”

“…As he rightfully argued, an exclusive focus on dominant, hegemonic masculinities obscures the wide range of masculinities that exist in the prison setting. Indeed, a smaller but important literature documenting alternative prison masculinities has begun to emerge recently, demonstrating that incarcerated men perform gender in nuanced ways and that they can also embody softness, intimacy, and vulnerability (Crewe et al, 2015;Maguire, 2019;Morey and Crewe, 2018;Ricciardelli et al, 2015). Although many scholars have established the existence of a multiplicity of prison masculinities, I answer calls to link incarcerated men's constructions of masculinity to theoretical advancements in the study of masculinities outside prison (Maycock, 2018).…”