By Antony Bell #R60327
I saw Kim Petras win — the first trans-person to win the award –, and immediately heard complaints from my fellow prisoners about how the LGBTQ+ agenda is taking over the world.
This has been a very topical conversation lately, as there has been an up-tick in trans-persons in population( those who are brave enough to identify), and within the hype-masculine culture in prison, this has been a hard pill for some to swallow. Hyper-masculinity creates a very dangerous environment for everyone, especially those of the LGBTQ+ community; it’s difficult for anybody to survive a prejudicial environment intact. Those who identify deal with neglect, disrespect, and abuse for living their identity, and those who are unable to suffer the stress and anger of fearing to identify, and lash out. My question is, why does this culture persist?
One can agree or disagree with whatever; does that mean being a decent person has to go out the window?
An environment dictated by hyper-masculinity causes various problems, too many to list here, but its biggest issue is that it puts person(s) against themselves. There is a spectrum of social and gender identities incarcerated — too many individuals for there not to be –, yet prison culture dictates that men maintain a hyper-masculine persona, which can cause men to make a public showing of their discontent with homosexuals or trans( I too have fell prey to this culture and acted indignantly, which inspired this piece), making prejudicial practices the norm. People will hide inside themselves, fighting their natural disposition, in order to physically and socially survive.
Whether you agree or disagree with a person’s choices; trans or cis-gender, is attracted to trans-persons, homosexual, or bi-sexual,etc., being a decent human being and treating others with dignity can go a long way in creating a harmonious environment. My hope is to change how people treat people; being cordial, respectful, and kind isn’t being soft, or non-masculine — it is simply being human.
Photo by Lye Clicks on Unsplash