05-16-2023, 10:45 AM
(05-16-2023, 10:35 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Law and Order: SVU (I know, it's a fictional show) did an episode on this back in... I'd say 2000-2002 or so (it may have been a few years after, but it was definitely before 2005), in that a trans woman was working or picked up at a club or something, then once the guy who brought her back to his room/residence to have sex with her found out (at the time of having sex), he went to attack the trans woman and they defended themselves, killing the guy.
Well this blew up in the worst way in the episode and they ended up being convicted of murder or manslaughter (because either there was no proof/circumstantial proof of any crime being committed by the man or because they trans person was made an example of, I can't remember that detail) and sent to a man's prison. The trans woman never had a criminal record, bad history, nothing and the SVU team fought hard to get them to a women's prison, but because they had a penis, they were sent to a man's prison. After one brutal raping (or attack, I can't remember), they met with the SVU team again and fought again to get them transferred, but no luck. The episode ended on news that they were gang-raped again and in that encounter, ultimately killed by the other inmates as well.
It was a VERY forward and apt episode for the changing landscape of gender and sexuality in the modern world and it sticks in my mind (I watched hundreds of Law and Order episodes over a 5-6 year span, all 3 of the series, in syndication/reruns and this is one of the dozen or so that I never not think about) for 2 reasons: 1, because it exposed the potentiality of what a trans person has to go through and 2, it was a VERY depressing episode, more so than most of what they did at the time (and now, even).
Because of that episode, I've come to the realisation that any trans person has a great chance of being targeted in the prison setting they are in (though a trans man would probably have an easier time, as they aren't born with a tool for sexual manipulation), due to their difference in identifying gender and as such, I personally feel convicted criminals should be handled on a case by case basis (I mean, that's what a trial is, right? Going through the case) in terms of what facility they go to and I have felt this was for over a decade (or two), due to the episode mentioned above.
It's a slippery slope and while I will ALWAYS defer to the rule/law, if an exception or special case arises, then that takes precedence.
(I do not know the landscape of American Prisons or the Prison system, so if my thoughts are horribly inaccurate, then pay no attention to what I wrote above)
I won't for a second try and claim that a transgender person isn't more likely to be raped in prison than a regular dude. But the exact same thing can be said for a man who is slight of build or has feminine features. Jared Leto, for example, would be a primary target and he's in good shape. Prison is a brutal environment and to reverse that would take allowing the facility to exert a level of control that would have the ACLU howling. As for your scenario, it's of course set up to engender as much sympathy for this person as possible. But the reality is that 99.99% of the time if you end up in prison you deserve to be there. Not saying that makes it ok for you to abused in the facility, by inmates or staff, but it's almost never going to be like the scenario from SVU. But I know you get that.
