Post #19

Geena Davis points out that over the past 15 years, media’s depiction of females in general has not changed, and she also points out that for ever four characters in cartoons and G-rated movies, 3 of them are male and 1 is female. Davis also speaks about her film Thelma and Louise, and how the public and reviewers’ reactions to the film where women carried around guns was clear outrage. If women were carrying guns around, the world was falling apart.

There is no surprise then, why women have been pushed away from becoming correctional officers in prisons. Male correctional officers did not believe that women would not be able to appropriately handle the violence of a job as prison guard. However, men have come to see women as vital assets for employment in the prison system, as long as they can perform the work involved.

The majority of women employed by prisons are administrative aids, not guards. This is a throw back to stereotypical gender roles. Women are better at clerical work where they are told what needs to be done, not hands-on work where anything can happen and violence is perceived to be a natural outcome.

Britton found through her book that female correctional officers are more likely to be placed in assignments were the potential for violence is low. This means that, even though these women have passed the same physical examinations as male guards, they are not able to accurately show that they can use physical force in quelling violence in the prison. Women do not question this position, so they claim a gendered identity at work. They are not able to advance to positions in the prison where they would be more likely to use physical violence or self defense because they do not ask to be put there.