Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, Expanded Second Edition

by Eric A Stanley, CeCe McDonald (Contributor), Nat Smith (Editor)

Pathologized, terrorized, and confined, trans/gender non-conforming and queer folks have always struggled against the prison industrial complex. Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith bring together current and former prisoners, activists, and academics for a new understanding of how race, gender, ability, and sexuality are lived under the crushing weight of captivity. Through a politic of gender self-determination, this collection argues that trans/ queer liberation and prison abolition must be grown together. From rioting against police violence and critiquing hate crimes legislation, to prisoners demanding access to HIV medications, and far beyond, Captive Genders is a challenge for us all to join the struggle. This expanded second edition includes a new foreword from CeCe McDonald and essays by Chelsea Manning, Kalaniopua Young, and Janetta Louise Johnson and Toshio Meronek.

Audio CD

Published September 27, 2022

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank God for the Queer Liberation Library!! I’ve been introduced to so many good nonfiction audiobooks lately. From AIDS Activist to Captive Genders, I’ve been immersing myself in queer history and what queer liberation looks like.

Captive Genders is a book of essays regarding the lives of trans people who have been imprisoned. Because trans liberation is not in the interest of people in power, transphobia makes it even easier for trans people to end up in the prison industrial complex and then they are used by guards for their own gain, whether that be to satisfy their own sadistic urges or keep other prisoners in line. And then, because the prison industrial complex thrives off of keeping people in prison, once trans people get out of prison the equation of being trans + being formerly incarcerated = unemployable. It’s a vicious cycle that ultimately means: the prison industrial complex has to go!

[Hannah Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

i would like to emphasize, given my considerably low rating for this piece as someone with a track record of five stars on most nonfiction i consume, there is so much to gain from reading this book. the statistics, the voices, the intimacy, the poetry, the first hand perspectives of the PIC… genuinely more than i can bare to list out here, the material of this collection will be a mouthful to chew on; so much to consider and a plethora of substantial resources i plan on exploring.

however, my issue lies in the execution of this piece. an entirely subjective criticism, from the typing thumbs of a cis white woman (i’m sorry). i find that the structure used here made it difficult to fully envelope the depth of the existing, targeted structures. moving from complex issue to complex issue in the span of merely 15 pages simply did not feel adequate for myself as a reader. it lacked… dialecticalism… existentialism… sedulous care…

i fully acknowledge that the purpose here was to initiate a conversation for future development, but in my experiences reading humanities nonfiction, this is often accomplished through more exhaustive means- attempting, by all will and force, to leave no accessible stone unturned, to utilize all current means of divulgence, and to take as many steps backwards, as the piece hopes to move forward. examples of these types of academic, conversation-developing pieces that truly leave me itching at my privilege and existence were pieces like: White by Law (Ian Haney López); Evicted (Mathew Desmond); The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander); Capital V.1 (Karl Marx); Borderlands/ La Frontera (Gloria Anzaldúa); The Divide (Jason Hickel); etc. These authors made the issue feel tangible, gave substantive avenues for thought provoking conversations or new forms of action/ inaction. The first problem they tackled was thoroughly delineating the issue, then the structure, then the history, then the effects, then the future, etc. moving through a complex issue with considerable patience so that the conversations “beginning” has a sturdy ground to build from. Yet, there were many times i felt the language used in this collection was dysfunctionally narcotizing and somewhat unprepared for its assignment.

all of this absolutely should be forgiven due to the tremendous work that is visible from each essay. in all probability, i ruined my experience through this piece with unrealistic expectations and overzealous anticipation…

idk - it’s definitely a book i will recommend and i wish i had read alongside others to divulge my thoughts and see more perspectives, but here i am, writing into the abyss.

[Andy Oram · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gendered companion to the crucial Michelle Alexander book, The New Jim Crow. I learned a lot from Captive Genders. I appreciate the suffering and struggles of those who wrote for it and those whom they represented.

The multiple horrors of police violence and imprisonment are revealed and analyzed in this anthology, with a good deal of redundancy, but a fresh look in many cases. (Why is the underpants I wear the business of anyone but myself? Yet gender-conforming underclothing is routinely enforced in prisons.)

Writing this review during a period of the most overt and organized legal repression of transgender people in history, I realize that the stories and ideas in this book did not get enough publicity, and I wonder what an effective strategy for realizing the ideals would look like.

Reading various chapters, I got a bit tired of some authors' sociological verbiage and insistent ideological pronouncements. Other authors spoke more from the heart, sometimes very lyrically or down-to-earth. But every chapter contributes something important.

Of course, the idea of abolishing prisons is hard to envision practically. The book is deaf to the legitimate fears of bodily harm and social dissolution felt by many people of all races and classes. One author in this book admitted it was something of an ideal to inspire more immediate actions. Many authors mention briefly the sources of social support that could render prisons less necessary, but the vision of the future is not central to the book.