The Feminist in Cellblock Y
A documentary review on prison culture and toxic masculinity
Hello! First off, before diving into the film review this week, I just wanted to update you all and let you know that since the New Year, I have been notorious for forgetting to post and doing it two days later, so I will be reducing my posts to one post a week — like a normal person. So don’t be alarmed if you see fewer of my posts! I am alive and well and busy!
As most of you know, I got my undergraduate in sociology with an art history minor, which means that apart from dead artists that died centuries ago, I find my interests lie in how people interact with one another and treat each other in everyday interactions. It is no telling that social issues and social conflict intrigue me the most out of any other subject and I am constantly looking at ways in which we can both improve and observe each other’s actions. Director Contessa Gayles’ Feminist in Cellblock Y (2017) takes issues that happen outside of the prison and discuss how common beliefs expressed through conversation and media wind men up in prison; it follows inmate Richie Edmond-Vargas as he leads other inmates in a workshop which discusses the detrimental effects of toxic masculinity on men and how this leads to crime and other unfavourable ways of living. I watched this film in a class a few years ago and revisited it a week ago and thought I needed to talk about it. I would (as always) encourage everybody to watch it — it is an incredible film.
Success Stories is an inmate led program inspired by feminist literature that runs about 12-14 weeks long. As many men gather together, they realize there are a few core ideas surrounding similar themes in each others lives has led them all to the same place. Firstly, as mentioned previously, a lot of male issues need to be highlighted even today that are ever-present within the documentary. The documentary starts off with a number of alarming statistics including men are twice as likely to abuse or to become dependent on drugs or alcohol than women and four times as likely to commit suicide than women. Many inmates reported that alcohol helps bring out their more authentic self and gain more confidence which is where a lot of the appeal towards these types of substances lies and it fits within masculine stereotypes that will be talked about later.
Another huge aspect that contributed to many of these young men’s lives were the way their childhood and upbringing were shaped; feelings of humiliation, confusion, and shame throughout their childhood's brought about different types of coping mechanisms, usually displayed through rage and thus brought about through various crimes. More than half the inmates in the program felt either scared of their parents or that their parents didn’t love them and many inmates experienced different forms of abuse in the home including physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse.
Of course although many inmates enjoyed their time in Success Stories, many people were there to get out of prison faster and were resistant to some of the teachings. Their mindset and their upbringing limits their judgment and ability to eliminate bias from their thinking and many felt a betrayal to the male role models in their life, mostly ie. their father, by contributing to feminist discourse. There are also a lot of positive takeaways from these limiting gender roles for some including covering up insecurities, glory and pride, temporary increase in self esteem, recognition, and a specific reputation that many men feel comfortable displaying through masculinity. Many were also not receptive because the literature is written by a woman and from a woman’s perspective, and where many men there still believed “it’s not harassment, it’s a compliment” there was still evidently a lot of work to be done for many inmates — this is no perfect world where every inmate suddenly became aware of their actions and insecurities. Richie and others often expressed the difficulty of doing this type of feminist work in the most hypermasculine, hyperviolent place there is: all male prison. In terms of fulfilling these roles, now that these men are in prison, they can not fulfil the duties as “men” that they figured they were destined to do. The roles are now reversed where they are getting supported by the women in the house and many inmates evidently feel weird about this role reversal as it goes against what they were taught and believe.
Speaking of the place where toxic masculinity runs rampant, these enforced gender roles on men are creating very angry and resentful people who are not thinking rationally nor with integrity, which is a word that is used often. Most of those who were there on murder charges said they killed people because they felt “small”, and were also emotionally disconnected from themselves and others from having to put up a certain front. Those who committed violent crimes also highlighted that the people they were hurting did not seem like people, and rather they viewed them as objects. Some suggest they would have never committed their crimes had they taken this program beforehand and taken the time to figure out where their own personal problems were stemming from.
The three concerns Richie raises in relation to toxic masculinity discussed in the film are money, objectifying women, and athleticism and violence. The money aspect is also important when looking at why many males commit crime; sometimes it is not out of insecurity of the self, but rather what they can or cannot provide for their families, which is a large portion of what “being a man” is all about. In terms of the physical dominance, many utilized this to their advantage when they realized they earned a certain amount of “respect” and it stopped actions they didn’t like by threatening others from an early age. Some inmates claim you can be “addicted to the violence” once you realize what it can do for you. Again, prison is the physical embodiment of violence and toxic masculinity: there is physical violence, masking of emotions, putting on a tough front, concealing your true self and emotions, and periods of social isolation.
The psychological effects pose a huge risk as well where you have lots of insecure men who struggle with who they are resort to certain ideas about masculinity to try and mould themselves. At the time of the crime, ego was more important than their family, friends, and anything else that was important to them. They did an exercise in Success Stories where they write down the five most important people to them, and many people realized that many of their decisions were not centred around these people or the things that were important to them and were often clouded by other concerns. It is through this line of thinking and perspective changing that many uncompromising men were able to shift their thinking from a place of fear and danger to a place of love.
Intersectionality also highlights what kind of other barriers inmates have to face on top of navigating through toxic masculinity with considerations such as racial, cultural, and dealing with disability. An inmate with cerebral palsy often details his upbringing as difficult because he was not able to uphold the physical standards of a “man” and felt inadequate in being able to take care of a woman or a family if they needed physical security. The racial and cultural considerations are obvious, where certain cultures may be more or less receptive to different identities that veer off of traditional models of masculinity. Even the treatment of black inmates versus mixed inmates were different in the types of discrimination received. Different beliefs, values, upbringing, and faith, as explored above, made it hard for some inmates to be receptive to the type of work being done through Success Stories and considerations regarding what they know about masculinity.
I would love to continue to do work in a similar field or research the further implications of these ideas we have about the self and identity. Thanks again for taking the time to read about this documentary, and again, I highly encourage you to watch the film, because this 5 minute read doesn’t even come close to what takes place in the film and the work being done by the inmates to ensure a better future for their kids. I look forward to writing some more and I will see you all next Sunday!
Take care, Taya