Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality

by Helen Joyce

Those who committed child-abuse or rape are often shunned and mistreated in men’s prisons. Some see identifying as a woman as their way out. Transfers to women’s prisons are therefore skewed towards precisely those males who are most dangerous to women and children – the latter being particularly concerning because several women’s prisons in Canada have low-security, homelike sections where mothers can care for young children. Holding these dangerous criminals is bound to change the way women’s prisons are run to the detriment of women. Security will have to be tighter and prisoners’ movements more restricted. Some guards will have to be armed, which is not standard in the women’s estate in Canada. Rehabilitation programmes will be affected, too. Male and female offending patterns differ, and women’s programmes focus on self-esteem and setting boundaries. They are inappropriate for violent, predatory males. ‘These murderers, rapists and child-abusers are being taught to assert themselves,’ says Mason, rolling her eyes.