Queering Prison Masculinity: Exploring the Organization of Gender and Sexuality within Men's Prison

Gender, sex, and sexuality are fluid, socially constructed aspects of social life that are organized differently based on the context in which individuals' lives are situated. Of particular interest in this study is how gender, sex, and sexuality are constructed and organized in single-sex correctional institutions. Using in-depth interviews conducted with fourteen heterosexual male inmates, this research explores how sexuality is organized within the prison environment. Drawing on queer theory, this article problematizes the idea of a heterosexual/homosexual binary. Specifically, the study illustrates that inmates often blur the boundaries between male and female, heterosexual and homosexual, illustrating the flexibility and volatility of traditional binary gendered and sexualized social categories, providing a richer understanding of how social inequalities are created and maintained within the prison context.