I've been meaning to call attention to dear Ezra's column on prison rape. Ezra writes, astutely:
Prison rape occupies a fairly odd space in our culture. It is, all at once, a cherished source of humor, a tacitly accepted form of punishment and a broadly understood human rights abuse. We pass legislation called the Prison Rape Elimination Act at the same time that we produce films meant to explore the funny side of inmate sexual brutality.
It's very important to tackle the issue of the sexual assault of men behind bars. But what often gets lost in even the most well-intentioned discussions of prison rape is that -- just like rape in the free world -- prison rape is a crime that disproportionately victimizes women. As I've written before, although women make up just 10 percent of the prisoner population, they account for half of all reported cases of prison sexual assault. While male prisoners are often assaulted by other inmates, female prisoners are more likely to be assaulted by guards.
Even though I'd like to see female inmates included in every discussion of prison rape, I commend every writer who sheds light on this very tough issue. Indeed, research shows that talking about prison rape is an effective way of fighting sexual assault in the rest of society. A national anti-rape organization called One in Four operates on college campuses, teaching groups of young men, including many fraternities, to let go of "rape myths." (Ex; women are sexually assaulted because of the clothes they wear; women often falsely report rapes to "get a guy back" for breaking up with her or some other offense.) One in Four has found that the very best way to teach a man about rape (and prevent him from committing one) is through helping him identify with the victim, and that practically the only way to do this is through calling up the scenario of prison rape. In fact, the program begins with a video depicting a male-on-male rape.
--Dana Goldstein
