The transition from sex to gender in English prisons: human rights and queer theory
sex-matters.org
When gender identity replaced biological sex as the organising principle in English prisons, a quiet legal revolution unfolded — and queer theory was the unlikely engine driving it.
Queer TheoryHuman Rights FrameworkSocial ConstructionismInstitutional Theory
Theory Briefing
- Michael Biggs traces how English prisons shifted from housing inmates by biological sex to housing them by self-declared gender identity.
- Queer theory's deconstruction of fixed sex categories provided the intellectual scaffolding that reformers used to reshape prison policy.
- The paper argues this shift created measurable human rights tensions, particularly for female prisoners housed alongside transgender women.