“At least 40% of people incarcerated in American women’s prisons identify somewhere under the broad lesbian-bisexual-trans-queer umbrella—a shocking statistic that holds true when looking at detention centers for youths as well,†historian Hugh Ryan recently wrote in The Washington Post. “As women’s incarceration skyrockets in America—increasing 700% in just the past 40 years—naming and dealing with the homophobia and transphobia at its root is crucial to understanding this phenomenon and unraveling it.†In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Ryan about why so many LGBTQ people are incarcerated today and how sexism, homophobia, and transphobia became baked-in features of our modern prison-industrial complex.
Hugh Ryan is a New York-based historian, curator, and author of The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison and When Brooklyn Was Queer.
Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and making a small donation:
Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-yt-rtb
Sign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-yt-rtb
Get Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-yt-rtb
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnews
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews
** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
