What is Carceral Feminism

[ID: Cover beige background with orange bold font reading "What is carceral feminism?" Following slides are on blue background with white font reading:

S2: Carceral feminism: Also known as "governance feminism", carceral feminism is a term which describes a feminism which transitioned from non-governmental organization/activist labour to state-based and punitive solutions to sexual and domestic violence.

S3: Richie (2012) has traced the development of the mainstream (e.g., carceral) feminist anti-violence movement in the US from the empowerment and grassroots movement to a nearly ubiquitous reliance on law-enforcement to incarcerate and punish people who perpetrate violence against women.

S4: Why is this a problem?: DeKeseredy and MacLeod (1997) outline the issue of relying on policy to resolve violence against women: “[The process of policy-making] attempts to reduce the inequality, isolation, and powerlessness that contribute to the violation of women—through policies and organizations that are themselves built on inequality, ownership of information, isolation, and hierarchies that render many people powerless.” (114).

S5: These legal and carceral approaches generally work to maintain social privilege and care for white, middle-class, heterosexual, cis-gendered women populations by supporting reform efforts (e.g., more police response to violence) strengthens institutions which maintain carceral and punitive structures, and the oppression of marginalized communities.

S6: Carceral feminism relates to neoliberalism, It can be argued that such carceral feminist initiatives are in lockstep with the neoliberal economic and cultural shifts that have led to individual approaches to harm through protectionism and dominance.

S7: References, Richie, Beth (2012). Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Bumiller, Kristin (2008). In An Abusive State: How Neoliberalism Appropriated the Feminist Movement Against Sexual Violence. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
DeKeseredy, W. S., MacLeod, L. (1997). Woman Abuse: A Sociological Story. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Harcourt
Brace. End of description.]