Sexuality, gender and confined bodies: female prisoners experiences of intimate visits in a Portuguese Prison

Abstract

In a context designed to discipline and control prisoners’ bodies, the inhibition, conditioning, and regulation of intimacy and sexuality raise paradoxical questions in the scope of prison policies. In this paper, drawing from data provided by interviews in a Portuguese female prison, our aim is to explore how intimacy practices of heterosexual couples are reconfigured in the shadow of penal control, with a particular focus on the experience of intimate visits. The analysis shows how women’s narratives report conflicting and juxtaposing experiences regarding intimate visits, revealing an ambivalent intimacy.