Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site druxo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!drutx!druxo!nap From: nap@druxo.UUCP (Parsons) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: San Quentin strip searches -- a new twist Message-ID: <802@druxo.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Feb-85 10:45:33 EST Article-I.D.: druxo.802 Posted: Tue Feb 12 10:45:33 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Feb-85 03:40:26 EST Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver Lines: 29 ~ I failed to save the original article. It dealt with the humiliation ~ of female prisoners being searched by male guards. Later, it was ~ revealed that the genders had been reversed (i.e., originally the ~ article concerned the humiliation of male prisoners searched by female ~ guards). The question was asked, "Do you feel differently depending on ~ which way the story is told?" First, I think that felons *should* lose many of their rights, including the right of privacy, when it interferes with security. I also think that one's gender should not be a consideration for task assignment among prison guards. However, it seems worth noting that female prisoners searched by male guards are likely to experience a greater sense of being threatened than when the roles are reversed. Equal treatment does not mean equal humiliation or fear. So yes, I do feel differently about the story depending on the genders assigned to the prisoners and guards. Women experience different levels of anxiety and self-doubt than men do when they receive promotions, get married or divorced, are searched by members of the opposite sex, and any number of other situations where they are being "treated equally". Although such equality of treatment over an extended period of time may eventually result in a narrowing of the differences in these levels, they are undeniably wide right now, especially where the potential of sexual violence exists. Nancy Parsons AT&T ISL