# Should transwomen be allowed in women's prisons?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-transwomen-be-allowed-in-womens-prisons/979830>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 15, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-transwomen-be-allowed-in-womens-prisons/979830 "2023-02-15T13:51:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 43

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-transwomen-be-allowed-in-womens-prisons/979830/43 "2023-02-15T18:18:51Z")

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> [@WalterBishop](#):
>
> But as I said to **Dead Cat** , there are lots of different types of prisoners who face levels of risk in a male prison equal to or greater than the level of risk faced by transwomen. Snitches, pedophiles, ex-cops, effeminate gay men, and certain gang members would all face elevated levels of risk in a male prison. If the reason for housing transwomen in women’s prisons is that they’re at higher risk of being assaulted or worse, and if the level of risk faced by members of the other aforementioned at-risk groups is on par with or greater than the level of risk faced by transwomen, why should they not also be eligible to serve their sentence in a women’s prison?

Lots of the oddball prisoners housed in male prisons would indeed be safer if housed in women’s prisons. As you say.

But the other part of that issue is what risks to the existing women in the women’s prisons would be imported into the women’s prisons along with those now-safer inmates formerly housed in the male prison.

Any valid approach to harm reduction would need to look at both. Using statistics, not doctrine, as their guiding principle.  
  
  
I think @Miller nailed it. This whole topic is yet another RW freakout

> [@Freakouts of the Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631):
>
> (feel free to make the alt-thread) Looking for a simple list of all the crap the Right has freaked out about since, oh, 2000. Crap like Big Bird, Mr Potato head losing his dick, CRT, Terry Schiavo, kneeling, etc. There has been so many of them that a compendium of the freakouts really is needed. Masks, vaccines, Hillary’s emails, my God, the list goes on. Help me, Dopers!

with lots of strawmanning.

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