The dispositif of prison sexuality: transphobic violence in a Mexican male prison

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to analyze how the dispositif of sexuality operates toward trans women imprisoned in a male prison in Mexico City, to understand how sexual norms that come from the heteropatriarchal model so as from the “internal law” produce transphobic violence.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on the queer theory, Foucault’s works on sexuality and power, Segato’s theory about war against women’s bodies and on a fieldwork realized between 2015 and 2019 in Mexico City, with prisoners and former prisoners.

Findings

The sexuality dispositif works in a particular way inside prison. It is the result of the heteropatriarchal model and laws defined by both prisoners and prison workers, all involved in the Mexican war context. The effects are materialized through violence toward trans* women whose bodies serve for rape, male appropriation and exchange between powerful subjects.

Research limitations/implications

This paper produces knowledge about imprisonned trans* people, a very few developped field in prison studies, especially in Latin America.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates how specific violence toward trans* women imprisoned in a male prison in Mexico City deepens violent dynamics that occur out of the prison. So, it questions the meaning of a sentence in the actual Mexican prison system. It may help to think about staff’s training/education to guarantee basic human rights for imprisoned trans* people. Additionally, the theorization of “internal law” could help prison authorities to rethink classification and treatment for prisoners.

Social implications

This paper provide specific knowledge on imprisonned trans* women and helps to think and act different with this people through the understanding of their special vulnerability.

Originality/value

There are only a few papers about imprisoned trans population throughout the world and fewer in Latin America and Mexico. Additionally, this paper aims to overcome the “internal order” as it is always theorized as proper of detainees. It wants to show that the prison order in a Mexico City prison, borns from the meeting of cultural specificities from outside and inside, and from both prisoners, organized crime and prison staff.

Citation

Constant, C. (2020), "The dispositif of prison sexuality: transphobic violence in a Mexican male prison", Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 231-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-01-2020-0015