The Role of Masculinity in the Male Correctional System

Masculinity plays an important role in shaping men's punishment and punishment outcomes. In fact, the role of masculinity in the male correctional system affects both prisoners and guards, and largely dictates the way in which prison facilities are socially structured. While it may be argued by some that, combined with a certain amount of systemic corruption, the structure provided by masculinity in the male correctional system can be beneficial and in allowing these facilities, particularly the older facilities, to run smoothly, it would appear that this very system creates correctional facilities in which drug treatment, self improvement, and rehabilitation are virtually impossible for men.

After a man has been convicted of a crime and given a sentence to carry out, he enters-in one way or another-the corrections system. Due to the fact that men's correctional facilities are single-sex environments, the traditional avenues for asserting masculinity, such as the victimization of women, are no longer available for inmates; as Kupers writes, "on the outside, there are women to play the role of underdog, so men can rape and oppress women instead of raping each other" (Kupers 116). This void is filled by the practice of men victimizing other men, rather than women, in order to prove their masculinity. According to Kupers' article, "Rape and the Prison Code," in order to survive prison, men are required to "act tough, lift weights, and be willing to fight to settle grudges. Any sign of weakness leads to being labeled a victim and weaklings are subject to beatings and sodomy" (114). Kupers further describes the masculine nature of the social structure in male prisons, stating that there is a hierarchy of domination in which "the toughest and... most dominant men rule those who are less dominant" (115).