Men find “saving” in the dictionary synonymous to “imprison” when it comes to Women Liberation
In Springfield, Oregon, a ceremony recently took place on the City Hall stairs to make note of and continue encouraging “men,” as the article explicitly focused in on, to challenge and stop domestic violence. Firstly, I already find issue with the article as there is the exclusion of other genders. All people should stand behind the effort to stop violence. Another key word I am very critical of is the use of the word “domestic.” This word is used to pacify the issue of violence done among women as they use this word to label violence as a private situation that does not need to be dealt with on the federal level. This support against domestic violence was done with a White Ribbon Flag Raising ceremony. According to Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno’s, the event is supposed to mark the time for men to be a “part of the solution in ending violence against women and all gender-based violence.”
This article discusses women as victims and makes men out to be the saviors that will help right all the abuses done to women. But we do not hear about what happens to the women that do fight and stand up against their oppressor. Imprisoned women’s invisibility becomes their social death. The women that end up behind bars are there to be silenced because of their fight against their domination. There are currently more than 200,000 American women in prison and most of these women are serving sentences for non-violent crimes.
Angela Davis discusses the imprisoned women community in her work “How Gender Structures the Prison System.”
Women behind bars are no longer seen as women that are supposed to be protected. Their sexual abuse in prison is never talked openly about in mainstream outlets. Their treatment never sees the day of light. Just as their abuse is privatized through the word “domestic” at home, the word “prison” takes away their humanity in the eyes of the men that put them in prison. Women who are pregnant in prison are often times not checked up as they should be and have limitations to hygiene products. For example, a Connecticut women’s prison limits the use of sanitary pads to one change per day for each inmate.
Only on the surface is the city of Springfield fighting against violence. Interestingly enough, just this past October another article informed the Springfield community that there would be an increase in the female inmate capacity.
“The decrease in male bed capacity should not cause any significant negative issues, and the increased capacity for female inmates will improve the overall performance of the criminal justice system in Springfield,” according to a memo from Springfield Police Department staff.
This notion of “improving the overall performance of the criminal justice system” further dehumanizes women who are sentenced as their actions are seen as an act of crime done against the community. The Springfield community can so boldly say they are doing what they can in encouraging men to stop violence but they can also so easily incriminate women for the smallest of actions.
“Space for female inmates in the Springfield city jail are on a fast track. By April the city jail will house up to 16 female prisoners,”KMTR16 spokesperson said.
This plan has been set in motion since the beginning of January this year. It was reported that the total cost on the jail remodel are not available from police.
“We will reduce the capacity down to 86 for male inmates but we will increase our capacity for female inmates up to 16…The prisoner exchange program with Lane County was limited to only five Springfield female inmates that could be housed at one time, and the county couldn’t expand that number,” Lt. Scott McKee of the Springfield Police said.
More money will be spent in expanding the prison system in Springfield to house more women inmates and continue the violence done in prisons. In her work, Davis references a report from “All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State prisons”:
“We found that male correctional employees have vaginally, anally, and orally raped female prisoners and sexually assaulted and abused them…In addition to engaging sexual relations with prisoners, male officers have used mandatory pat-frisks or room searches to grope women’s breasts, buttocks, and vaginal areas and to view them inappropriately while in a state of undress in the housing or bathroom areas.”
Women’s humanity ceases to exist as they are not protected by the human rights laws that should be very much applied. Defending and stopping violence against women in prisons should become a nation-wide effort and should no longer be marginalized from the conversation about violence. It is of most importance to include the conditions of imprisoned women when talking about human rights and reform. As the anti-violence movement continues, it is so pivotal to no longer have terminology that privatizes like “domestic” and “prisons” to normalize violence. Violence against women anywhere must be recognized and stopped.
