"You can't do nothing in this damn place": sex and intimacy among couples with an incarcerated male partner.: An article from: The Journal of Sex Research

This digital document is an article from The Journal of Sex Research, published by Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Inc. on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 10396 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. From the In an effort to deepen our understanding of how circumstances of forced separation and the interdiction of physical contact affect women's sexual behavior, we investigated the development and maintenance of heterosexual couples' intimacy when the male partner is incarcerated. As HIV-prevention scientists who work with women visiting men at a California state prison, we recognize that correctional control extends to these women's bodies, both when they are within the facility's walls visiting their mates and when they are at home striving to remain connected to absent men. This paper analyzes the impact a peculiar public "place"--a penitentiary--on couples' romantic' and sexual interactions, drawing out the implications of imprisonment for relationship decision making, sexual health, and HIV risk. Using qualitative interviews with 20 women who visit their incarcerated partners and 13 correctional officers who interact with prison visitors, we examine how institutional constraints such as the regulation of women's apparel, the prohibition of physical contact, and the lack of privacy result in couples forging alternative "spaces" in which their relationships occur. We describe how romantic scripts, the build-up of sexual tension during the incarceration period, and conditions of parole promote unprotected sexual intercourse and other HIV/STD risk behavior following release from prison. Citation Details "You can't do nothing in this damn place": sex and intimacy among couples with an incarcerated male partner. Megan Comfort The Journal of Sex Research (Refereed) February 1, 2005 Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Inc. 42 1 3(10) Distributed by Thomson Gale