Passions Run High in Prison

"Female guards working at Rikers Island are sex-starved and promiscuous," claims NY Post Journalist Brad Hamilton. Of course this is the way a male journalist might see the female prison guards. He is going off of information gathered from Yolanda Dickenson's novel, "Taboo." Dickenson was a former Riker's Island guard and she claims that with the high female guard to male prisoner ratio, passions ran high. She tells of her own feelings, saying that the attention the male prisoners paid to her was flattering and sometimes prisoners would defend the female guards against the approaches of others. She said that the men worked out and their appearances and attention appealed to the female guards. While I do not doubt that Dickenson is being honest in aspects of her book, I do disagree with the way the female guards are being portrayed in the Daily News article. The article's opening line is, "it's one way to meet men." The article itself is demeaning and offensive to women. Hamilton perhaps draws from Freudian theory as well as the social belief that women are somehow lesser than men and inherently need them.

"Sex-Starved and Promiscuous Female Guards"

Also interesting to see, the difference between female and male prison guard Halloween costumes. Notice the promiscuity portrayed through the women’s costume, shown also in her posture and facial expression and the male dominance seen in the male's stance.