First, I kind of don't buy that the gay wing is as pleasant as it's painted. Still jail, still full of criminals, and so on.
But second, assuming that even if it's not as full of sunshine and lollipops as the article makes it sound, it's still much safer and less abusive than the straight wing: doesn't it seem as if there's something really desperately screwed up about jail management generally? I mean, generalizing madly about gay men, they're not reliably saintlier than straight men. But somehow, if you set up a segregated unit for gay men where you treat them decently, a vastly safer culture emerges -- there's no way to run the rest of the jail the same way?
Well, a lot of it stems from how the inmates are individually known by the guards and thought of as people, right? And regular prison is dehumanizing by design. So it's not necessarily very specific to gay men, except they may be extra relieved to be in a safe location.
I read this and I'm sketching out a blog post - I think what's going on is best explained by Diego Gambetta's book Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate.
Crucially, to get into what seems like a far better way to do time, you've got to convince the screws (and presumably also informers) that you're the real deal. Reliable signalling is costly signalling, so signals that would be fucking dangerous (and difficult to achieve - there's a lot of craft in that story) in the general population are paradoxically selected.
Ironically, once you're there, precisely those forms of status seeking and signalling that got you in there tend to make for a less horrible culture.
doesn't it seem as if there's something really desperately screwed up about jail management generally?
Well, yes, but didn't we already know that?
generalizing madly about gay men, they're not reliably saintlier than straight men
That might actually be the case for an incarcerated population. IME the gay male population that we take to jail a lot have drug issues but the gang and racial conflict issues are largely absent and in a jail or prison that's going make a big difference.
There's a stereotype at least that gay men are less likely to be making outrageous grabs for power and less likely to go to insane violence in order to maintain power than straight men do. By which I mean basically the same stereotype that applies to women being less vicious in their power-hungriness.
6: But a lot of people find women in prison much harder to manage, "crazier". I know that in the college-behind-bars program I volunteered for, there were more issues with the women prisoners. They were more likely to have kids in care than the men, and there was a lot more emotional drama. It was also harder to get the women students to ask for mentors.
(This was a church ministry, but no conversation about God was involved at all.)
There's a stereotype at least that gay men are less likely to be making outrageous grabs for power and less likely to go to insane violence in order to maintain power than straight men do.
Yes, but doesn't Tim Cook totally disprove this stereotype?
Now, now, just because Cook himself is gay it doesn't mean all his company's products are too.
Reliable signalling is costly signalling, so signals that would be fucking dangerous ... in the general population are paradoxically selected.
It can't be easy to rob drug dealers while wearing a silk bathrobe, otherwise everyone'd be doing it.
The video reveals that, even in Gay Wing, you get to sleep 150 dudes to a room. *shudder*
There's a stereotype at least that gay men are less likely to be making outrageous grabs for power and less likely to go to insane violence in order to maintain power than straight men do.
On the other hand, Ernst Rohm and Alexander of Macedon.
Kitchener, MacDonald, Frederick the Great...
Lincoln wasn't exactly given to insane violence and outrageous grabs for power.
I suppose the early rassling career was fairly sane.
There's a non-trivial number of southerners who very much credit Lincoln with insane violence and outrageous grabs for power.
Give me a break; I live in Missouri.
Indeed. But they'll control both houses of Congress come January.
To which MacDonald does 17 refer? Not Ramsay...
Dead thread and teo will never see it; but he most certainly should read Pilgrim's Wilderness. Others too maybe. I've just started it but the main characters* have just moved to Alaska (near McCarthy) from a remote part of New Mexico.
And just read where it relates how the father of the huge primitive Christian, back-to-the-land family once knocked up John Connally's daughter, eloped with her to northern Florida and was present when she very soon thereafter killed herself with a shotgun ... presumably. My wife says it gets weirder.
Having been to McCarthy, Alaska (which is off the beaten path), I may be overestimating other's interest,
teo will never see it
You underestimate me. And yeah, I know I should definitely read Pilgrim's Wilderness. For one thing, I know some of the people in it.
Having been to north Florida...I got nothing.
Actually, a bleg: whose needs should be prioritized?
1) family friends who find themselves unexpectedly in town and without a thanksgiving gathering to attend
2) preexisting guests who are very quiet homebodies, do not know the family in (1), and apparently were already braced for the evening to be overwhelming.
Also, the family is total rambunctious chaos, and I semi-invited them already because I couldnt figure out how not to in polite conversation. Ack.
I kind of think people who are already "braced" for Thanksgiving to be too overwhelming should feel free to go sit at home instead. But I'm an asshole.
The guy I used to give the less fun jobs I didn't want moved to north Florida for what I can only assume are unrelated reasons.
Also, prioritize your own needs. You've been de-babied for what? A day?
Also, prioritize your own needs.
Yes, this.
Also, prioritize your own needs. You've been de-babied for what? A day?
Good call. Do what you want and let whichever other people are put out pout on their own time. I like it.
I looked it up. It's only been a week. Make people bring you food and fuck off.
Right after I posted it, the homebodies called and reassured me that they'd have a good time, regardless. Hooray for good, solid, regular people.
Does that mean they'll poop before coming to your house?
Hooray for good, solid, regular people.
Yay! That's a good bracing sort of bracing. Or something.