Hyperfemininity. Figures of Social Differentiation and Marginalisation in the Penal System

Abstract

The starting point for our study is the widespread assumption that the low proportion of women in the prison population (around 5 % of all prisoners in Germany are female) is the cause of their “special situation. Compared to male inmates, incarcerated women are described as a minority that is confronted with “special problems” that make incarcerated women victims. However, the special circumstances represent deprivations that Sykes (2007) already outlined for male prisoners in the 1950s as the pains of imprisonment. The loss of goods, security, and social relationships therefore represents an enormous burden of imprisonment. While the pains of imprisonment have become a standard concept guiding prison research and, consequently, interactions with those affected, an analysis of the marginalisationof female and trans*gender people in prison contexts has not yet been carried out. In this article, we present such an analysis based on the results of ethnographic research in the prison system and highlight relevant discursive figures that arise when femininities are addressed in everyday prison life. They culminate in forms of hyperfemininity, which on the one hand emphasise female agency but also promote marginalisation of the inmates concerned on the other.