Vulnerable Masculinities

Abstract

Men in prison are viewed to be an inherently vulnerable group, yet rarely are the notions of masculinities and vulnerabilities considered together, and even rarer still is a consideration of these interplaying issues on a general level. Whereas consideration of the vulnerability of certain typologies of male prisoner is a regular occurrence within the prison---the bullied prisoner, the self-harming prisoner, the young prisoner, the old and infirm prisoner (labels which go hand in hand with processes of feminisation)---such categorisation ultimately misses both the ways in which men who do not fit into such categorisations also experience vulnerabilities on a daily basis, and the innately masculine natures and implications of such vulnerabilities. Although certain forms of vulnerability are engaged with through formal means (such as group work, offending behaviour programmes, and therapeutic communities), these can limited due to the need for individuals to engage actively with the processes of exposing personal vulnerabilities in formal (and often group) situations where trust could still be seen to be at a premium.