Unruly Women: The Politics of Confinement & Resistance

by Karlene Faith

Winner of the VanCity Book Prize, Unruly Women: The Politics of Confinement & Resistance is the seminal book about women’s imprisonment that helped spark examinations around the world into the special circumstances women face in prison, as well as the sex and gender crimes that get them there. Most women who are incarcerated do not pose a danger to society but transgress patriarchal, capitalist norms that seek to control their bodies and choices, as seen in the case of prostitution and prosecutions of pregnant women for risky behaviors. Further, the majority of women who enter the criminal justice system have been victims of violence, which raises questions about the continuum from victimization to criminalization. Unruly Women explores patterns of female crimes and punishments, from the witch hunts to the present; institutionalized violence and sexual abuse against incarcerated women; women loving women in prison; motherhood inside prison; battered woman syndrome; Hollywood’s formulaic women-in-prison films; political education in prisons; and acts of resistance, inside and out. Karlene Faith challenges misconceptions of "deviant" women, and celebrates the unruly woman: the unmanageable woman who claims her own body, and who cannot be silenced. As the "drug war" wages on, riddled with excessive and inequitable prison sentences; the incarcerated population skyrockets toward 2.5 million (up from less than 200,000 nationwide in 1970); and private prisons burgeon around the coasts, now is a critical moment to educate ourselves about what is at stake with our prison system. Faith’s incisive work causes us to question the usefulness of the forced confinement and surveillance of mostly nonviolent people.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Social Justice, Gender, Sociology, Womens Studies

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

A human rights activist for five decades, Karlene Faith is Canada's leading feminist sociologist on prisons. Her seminal book, Unruly Women, raised many crucial questions that define the prison reform movements of today. Co-founder of the revolutionary Santa Cruz Women’s Prison Project in 1972, and author of many books on criminology and women’s studies, Faith is currently professor emerita at Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology.

Reviews

[Alyx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Faith's book on the criminalization of women and the prison complex has some good historical context and I certainly understand why a new edition is being published. It's also hella prescient, given reception around Michelle Alexander's New Jim Crow. Yet there's no effort made to contemporize findings from a book that was written nearly 20 years ago. In addition, the thin chapter on media representations is a joke--in my opinion, that could be its own book. So, this is an okay primer, but it hardly compares to getting my mind blown by s.e. smith or ColorLines each time I check in with Google Reader.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly learned so much while reading this book, Karlene Faith has a fantastic feminist analysis, going back through history and into modern times on how women who didn't (or don't) conform to how the patriarchal society thinks they should. A definite must read for anyone interested in women's rights, criminology and women's studies.

[cool_veins · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this book while i was hitchhiking across 'merica and totally absorbed and loved this thing , corroborated what it was saying with my experiences, need to read more modern sociology/critical theory in general

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ancient superstitions and fears of supernatural powers served (then as now) as informal social control, and produced conformity and obedience to "higher" authority. From a functionalist point of view, community solidarity is strengthened when authorities (of the state, church, universities, medicine, and law) can covertly or overtly identify a single consensual enemy, against which "the people" can rally. This diversionary tactic is employed most earnestly during times of economic instability and political or spiritual upheaval. Scapegoating, in particular, has been useful historically both as a way of re-entrenching the status quo and as a direct or indirect impetus for hegemonic shifts." (p.13)

In 1486, the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) was commissioned by Pope Innocent VIII. This was a handbook on the detection, apprehension and punishment of witches....and a disturbing, misogynist document on women as evil by nature. "All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman...What else is woman but an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, an evil of nature, painted with fair colours...Woman [is] more bitter than death...because of the first temptress, Eve."
"[Women] are feebler both in mind and body...more carnal than a man. When a woman weeps, she labors to deceive...The world now suffers through the malice of women...Woman is beautiful to look upon, contaminating to the touch, and deadly to keep....[Woman is a] liar by nature...They cast wicked spells on men and animals. All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable. They consort even with devils. It is no matter for wonder that there are more women than men found infected with the heresy of witchcraft."

[Sheena Grant]

Based upon what I read this appears to be a book with the intent to help those of the female sex and asserted some good points but it is really clear on what challenges women face? Many people aren't even conscious of the fact that, as a society, we are molded from a sexist culture where we are taught sexist beliefs and ideologies. As it relates to sexism there eventually should come a time when there is no longer a need for somebody to describe themselves as a "feminist", you don't have to label yourself to care about what negatively impacts people's lives. Also, though unintentionally many people also fail to recognize that there's been an enslavement of those of the female sex. Just food for thought, coming from somebody who's black and female.

[Corina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I assumed this would cover modern politics of jailed women, but it actually started with medieval times and covered witch hunts as well. It was very interesting to read about the many laws and biases prejudiced against women, across time and across the globe. The second part where she talks about her experience leading a course in a women's prison felt very poignant, and it really exposed the harrowing state of the current prison industry.