Self-Concept Among Formerly Incarcerated Sexual Minority Women

Abstract

Sexual minority women (SMW) are a resilient yet vulnerable population who may experience poor psychosocial outcomes due to minority stress associated with their marginalized status and traumatic experiences resulting from interpersonal and structural violence. When SMW are incarcerated, the trauma of this experience can exacerbate existing mental health challenges. Self-concept is a key measure of mental health that is associated with increased self-efficacy and positive psychosocial outcomes. This analysis explores the ways in which incarceration impacts the self-concept of SMW. Secondary data analysis of three qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated SMW was conducted. Specifically, Gilligan’s Listening Guide was used to create “I poems” that articulate the participants’ narratives and contrapuntal voices. These poems were then analyzed to build knowledge about participants’ self-concept. This analysis informs our understandings of self-concept among SMW, violence against women, the vulnerability of binary constructs, and the ways in which people negotiate past, present and future selves. The findings can inform interventions that seek to mitigate the psychosocial risks faced by SMW and formerly incarcerated people and improve outcomes for these populations.

1. Introduction

Sexual minority women (SMW) is an umbrella term that includes cisgender and transgender women who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and other non-heterosexual identities or who identify as straight and report having same-gender partners (National LGBT Health Education Center 2019). This population is disproportionately impacted by incarceration. Among the nearly 200,000 people held in women’s prisons and jails in the United States (Heimer et al. 2023; Kang-Brown et al. 2023), approximately 40% identify as members of sexual minority groups (Baćak et al. 2018). These statistics are staggering given that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people comprise only about 5.5% of the US adult population (Flores and Conron 2023). Further, research indicates that SMW receive longer prison sentences than heterosexual cisgender women and are more likely to face disciplinary punishment while incarcerated (i.e., administrative segregation or solitary confinement (Meyer et al. 2017)). From this, knowledge about the psychosocial health of the SMW community must account for the experience of incarceration. Positive self-concept is a protective factor that can boost an individual’s capacity to cope with life stressors and trauma, like incarceration. This analysis seeks to inform social work practice by using Gilligan’s Listening Guide methodology (2003) to build knowledge about self-concept among formerly incarcerated SMW.

1.1. Sexual Minority Women: Challenges and Strengths

Research has identified myriad psychosocial risks and protective factors experienced by SMW. Challenges include higher rates of substance use, sexual victimization, and familial rejection among SMW than cisgender heterosexual women (Hughes et al. 2010; Jaffe et al. 2019; Morgan et al. 2024). For example, one study reported that 78% of bisexual women reported a history of sexual victimization, compared to 38% of heterosexual women (Hughes et al. 2010). Research has also documented the increased prevalence of alcohol and substance use among sexual minority women (Kidd et al. 2022; Scheer et al. 2021). Minority stress theory helps to explain the mental health and substance use disparities experienced by SMW (Lehavot and Simoni 2011; Meyer 2003). This theory posits that members of stigmatized social groups face increased stress associated with their marginalized status and that this stress has a significant negative impact on mental health outcomes (Frost and Meyer 2023).

Incarceration is a psychosocial risk that disproportionately impacts the SMW community. As described earlier, SMW are more likely to experience incarceration, and interpersonal and institutional violence while incarcerated, than heterosexual, cisgender women (Meyer et al. 2017). At the same time, research with incarcerated women has documented support and acceptance for sexual minorities in carceral settings, although the drama that can be produced by intimate relationships may make some women wary of same-sex partnerships (Kreager et al. 2024). This endorsement of sexual minorities stands in stark contrast to the pervasive homophobia found in men’s prisons (Robinson 2011). In terms of the transgender community and incarceration, research has focused on transgender women held in correctional institutions designated for men (Gorden et al. 2017; Tripathy et al. 2023). The experience of transgender men and non-binary people in women’s prisons is underexplored. Nascent research suggests that while masculine-identified women and transgender men may enjoy the sexual attention of their peers, these advances can also become overwhelming (Smoyer et al. 2021). Further, their masculine bodies also attract the attention of correctional officers, making them vulnerable to higher levels of surveillance and discipline (Smoyer et al. 2021).

In terms of strengths, identification with the SMW community can foster feelings of belonging that are grounded in fictive kinship (Riggle et al. 2008). Resilience, or the ability to overcome stress and adversity, is another defining feature of SMW that has positive outcomes over the life course (Colpitts and Gahagan 2016; Zimmerman et al. 2015). This resilience is a “complex phenomenon” that manifests in differential ways at both individual and community levels in response to intersecting forms of adversity and oppression (Aguilera and Barrita 2021, p. 145). Other strengths and protective factors that have been identified among the SMW community include education, advocacy, social connectivity, positive coping, and nurturing self and chosen family (Drabble et al. 2018).

1.2. Self-Concept

Among the many factors that impact the psychosocial outcomes of SMW, self-concept is a powerful construct that can be instrumental to boosting health, well-being, and self-efficacy (Coutts et al. 2023; Scheer et al. 2021). Self-concept has been described as “the totality of an individual’s thoughts and feelings having reference to himself (sic) as an object” (Rosenberg 1989, p. 3). In other words, self-concept contributes to how individuals conceptualize themselves, form identities, and establish self-control, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Self-concept is dynamic and influenced by cultural norms, gender expectations, and the social environment (Markus and Oyserman 1989). Self-concept can impact how individuals navigate their lives and respond to life events, in ways that either heighten risk or serve as protective factors. For example, in their study of sexual minority youth, Scheer et al. (2021) found that while substance use and mental health problems were associated with interpersonal victimization, self-concept mediated this relationship. Specifically, survivors who reported positive self-concept factors (i.e., higher self-esteem and elevated sense of mastery and self-control) had better psychosocial outcomes. Other studies with lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults have also reported positive associations between self-concept factors, especially self-esteem, and emotion-focused coping (Denton et al. 2014). Conversely, experiences of trauma, discrimination, and exclusion, common among SMW, can damage self-concept. For example, identity denial has a negative impact on self-concept, especially among bisexual individuals (Garr-Schultz and Gardner 2019).

Incarceration is also a traumatic experience that can damage self-concept. The experience of prisonization, wherein people adapt to prison life, can destabilize an individual’s self-concept as a new self that can cope with the prison environment is constructed (Paterline and Orr 2016). Criminologists theorize that self-concept, before, during and after incarceration, is a key predictor of behavior and misconduct while incarcerated and desistence from crime upon release (Rocque et al. 2023). For women, the interpersonal and structural violence of incarceration, compounded by trauma experienced prior to incarceration, can provoke negative psychosocial outcomes, including a “discontinuity of self” (Anderson et al. 2020, p. 197). Knowledge about how incarceration impacts women’s self-concept is complicated by the fact that most quantitative measures of this phenomenon were developed and tested with non-incarcerated people (Paterline and Orr 2016) and instruments explicitly developed for use with incarcerated people draw on samples that are all male or largely male (Debowska et al. 2017; Rocque et al. 2023). Qualitative evaluation of prison education programs has found that these initiatives promote a sense of self as learners among incarcerated women (Monteiro et al. 2023) and men (Skipper 2023).

In summary, SMW are a resilient yet vulnerable population who may experience poor psychosocial outcomes due to minority stress associated with their marginalized status and traumatic experiences resulting from interpersonal and structural violence. Positive self-concept is a protective factor that can boost self-efficacy and the ability to manage psychosocial challenges, including substance use and mental health problems (Cobbina and Bender 2012; DeCou et al. 2015; Schonbrun et al. 2019). However, self-concept can be destabilized by traumatic experiences, like incarceration. This analysis seeks to expand knowledge about self-concept among SMW by analyzing narratives of self-concept articulated by formerly incarcerated lesbian, gay, and bisexual women.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Recruitment and Data Collection

For this study, secondary data analysis of existing interview data was conducted. In 2019, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 formerly incarcerated SMW in Connecticut in order to build knowledge about this population’s lived experience of incarceration (Smoyer et al. 2021). Participants were recruited using convenience sampling methods, interviewed in private community-based settings, and compensated for their time. To be eligible for the study, participants had to self-identify as SMW and had to have been incarcerated at least once in the previous five years. The 14-item semi-structured interview included questions about sexual identity and experiences of incarceration. During the transcription process, all identifying information was removed and pseudonyms were assigned to each participant. For further information detailing the recruitment and data collection process, see (Smoyer et al. 2021).

Using purposive sampling, three interviews from this data set were selected for inclusion in this analysis of self-concept. The selection process included several steps. First, the first author read all 15 interviews, taking notes about the content of the interviews and the extent to which participants reflected on self, identity, gender, and psychosocial outcomes and experiences. Second, the first author selected five interviews in which the participants shared narratives that included both discussions of self and the impact of incarceration and sexual minority status on the life course. Third, the first and second authors reviewed these five interviews and, through consensus, selected three participants for further analysis, based on the complexity of their self-reflections and the diversity of their experiences (see

Table 1. Sociodemographic summary of sample.

	Pseudonym	Gender	Sexual Orientation	Race	Age (at Interview)	Children
1	Pamela	Cisgender Woman	Bisexual	African American	55 years old	4
2	Lauren	Cisgender Woman	Bisexual	White	29 years old	4
3	Riley	Transgender Man	Lesbian	Latino White	35 years old	1

). If the original study had included interview questions about self-concept, there may have been relevant data in all the interviews; however, given the nature of this secondary data analysis, the three interviews that were chosen had the most clearly included narratives related to this idea of self-concept. To protect confidentiality, pseudonyms were assigned by the research team.

2.2. Data Analysis

The selected narratives (n = 3) were analyzed using the Listening Guide method, a qualitative method of analysis with roots in feminist theory that seeks to center the unique and relational voices of participants within the social context that they are situated (Gilligan et al. 2003; Gilligan 2015). The selection of this methodology was informed by the work of Mountz (2020), who used the Listening Guide method of data analysis to explore the self-concept of systems-involved sexual minority girls. This community-based participatory research project used Listening Guide methods with 10 life history interviews to explore participants’ identity and “multiplicity of voice” (Mountz 2020, p. 182). The “I poems” produced by this process were a tool to convey participants’ expertise and knowledge about self. This study builds on Dr. Mountz’s work by using the same Listening Guide methodology to explore self-concept among formerly incarcerated sexual minority adult women.

The Listening Guide invites researchers to “create intimacy through a series of sequential listenings” of the transcripts in order to explore “what stories are being told” (Mountz 2020, p. 182). This methodology differentiates between listening and reading by suggesting that listening requires active participation from the researcher (Gilligan et al. 2003). Rather than simply being an analysis of text, this approach provides the listener with the opportunity to tune into the story being told, and “systematically [attend] to the many voices embedded in a person’s expressed experience” (Gilligan et al. 2003, p. 157). For this analysis, authors one and two collaborated on the following four-stage methodology articulated by Gilligan et al. (2003):

Listening for the Plot. The first stage was a reading of the transcripts by the first and second authors that listened for the main events or themes in the interview and noticed their responses to the interview (Gilligan et al. 2003). Notes were recorded about plots, subplots, recurring themes, topics, and patterns, as the authors sought to introduce themselves to the broader voice of the participants.

Listening for the Voice of “I.” During the second listening, the first author sought to understand the first-person voice of the participants by identifying all the points in the narration where the participants referred to themselves with the word “I.” These passages were then cut and pasted into a new document. Maintaining the sequence of these passages, the first and second authors curated the narrative to create I poems that summarized the participants’ self-concept. These I poems track changes and continuities in the participants’ perception of self and create a concrete example of what the reader hears over the course of the interview (Hutton and Lystor 2021).

Listening for Contrapuntal Voices. The third listening was focused on identifying additional voices expressed by the participants in order to attend to the multiple layers of a person’s experience in relation to the research question that has been posed (Gilligan et al. 2003). The term “contrapuntal voices” is “derived from the musical form counterpoint, or the combination of two or more melodic lines” (Mountz 2020, p. 182). This listening describes the ways that multiple voices intertwine to contribute to and exist within a person’s experience (Gilligan et al. 2003).

Composing an Analysis. The fourth and final stage involved exploring the relationships between the multiple voices in the participants’ narratives, noticing how these voices align and contradict each other, and composing an analysis in relation to the research question. Specifically, this stage focused on how sexual minority identities and criminal legal experiences contributed to narratives of self-concept.

Throughout this process, intentional efforts were made to notice and reflect on the researchers’ positionality. Both authors kept journals to record their reactions and thoughts about the narratives and met on a weekly basis throughout the writing process to discuss these considerations. Their own biases were both welcomed and considered as an integral part of the research process.

3. Results

Narratives shared by the three participants reflect and explore the dynamic and complex understanding of self-concept as a phenomenon that is shaped by internal and external systems (Markus and Oyserman 1989).

Table 2. Summary of results.

Pseudonym	Voice of “I”	Contrapuntal Narrative
Pamela	Passive victim, yearning for childhood	Manipulative perpetrator, committed to protecting self and family
Lauren	Selfish, destructive addict	Advocate who seeks comfort, belonging, and growth in collective
Riley	Academic gentleman	Rule breaker who hurts partners to defend self

provides a summary of these narratives.

3.1. Pamela

Pamela is an African American cisgender woman who identifies as bisexual and was 55 years old at the time of the interview. She has been incarcerated twice, most recently for two weeks, following a domestic violence incident with a former girlfriend. She was released from the prison a few days prior to the interview, when her mother and sister posted her bail. Pamela is a mother to four children and has strong ties to her family of origin, especially her mother and siblings. She shared that her first sexual experience with a woman was during a period of incarceration. Pamela identifies as bisexual but expressed some insecurity about this identity because she primarily has sex with women while incarcerated.

Pamela’s “I” statements construct a personal narrative that centers the idea that she is a good person, as well as a victim of the criminal legal system and interpersonal violence. While she admits to committing crime, her narrative suggests that she did not belong in prison. She speaks about an aversion to violence and wanting to keep to herself due to a perceived sense of fear. Overall, her conceptualization of self focuses on a lack of control; she laments moments in her lives where she has been manipulated and scared. Although she was incarcerated on a domestic violence charge, she speaks of an aversion to aggression that differentiates her from other women in the prison. Her desire is to return to her youth.

Pamela’s I Poem

• I shouldn’t have did what I did
• I just felt bad
• I think I cried for like 3–4 days
• I still didn’t want to be there
• I pretty much tried to stay to myself
• I was getting, you know, really scared
• I think
• I just did it
• I was scared
• I was there because of a woman
• I don’t want to have that type of aggression
• I would love to be 16 again

Concurrently, listening for the contrapuntal voice generates an “I poem” in which she takes responsibility for actions and demands that others treat her with respect and care. In this contrapuntal narrative, Pamela articulates a sense of control over her life and mastery of her abilities. In these demands for respect, she recognizes her worth and articulates her willingness to go to any lengths to protect herself and her children. One strategy to protect herself from violence and regain control over her life is to engage in sexual relationships with women. In this narrative, her search for control is directly tied to her sexual orientation. While her initial “I poem” generated a self-concept that is childlike and manipulated, the contrapuntal voice reveals a self-concept that is in control, protected, and determined. The contrapuntal voice is a presentation of self that is willing to manipulate others to protect herself and her children.

Pamela’s Contrapuntal Voice

• I knew that someone was trying to come help me to get out
• I was scared the first time and it was pressure
• I knew better this time
• I think I just did it cause I was scared
• I’m not gonna let anyone hurt me period
• I’m not gonna let anyone hurt me
• I won’t be thinking again why am I here?
• I’m gonna try to protect myself

These seemingly contradictory narratives exist concurrently, sharing space with each other within one narrative that constructs an authentic and complicated conceptualization of self. Taken together, Pamela’s “I poems” tell the story of a woman who has been manipulated by the legal system and society and is willing to act as manipulator and perpetrator herself in order to survive and gain control over her life. This non-binary identity aligns with her sexual orientation in that it resists a single category. She is simultaneously responsible and manipulated, victim and perpetrator, scared and in control. Her self-concept is also linked to time and place. In the community, prior to her incarceration, her vulnerable circumstances pushed her into violence. While incarcerated, her initial feelings of sadness and fear evolve into agency and control, as she reflects upon her experiences: “I think I did it because I was scared.” Her narrative also begins to disrupt the idea of prison as a completely negative experience by suggesting that incarceration allowed her time and space to wonder and reflect: “Why am a here?” Finally, her deep longing for her youth is evident, but what this represents is not entirely clear as the interview data does not include information about her childhood.

3.2. Lauren

Lauren is a bisexual cisgender white woman who was 29 years old at the time of her interview. She is a mother to four children. She shared that she has identified as bisexual since she was 16 years old and has had difficulties articulating this identity due to perceived societal stigma. Lauren became comfortable with her sexuality during her first period of incarceration when she was 22 years old. Substance use and incarceration are reoccurring challenges in her life. She was released from prison two weeks before the interview. Her primary goal upon returning to community from incarceration was to reestablish a connection with her children.

Most of Lauren’s “I” statements are past references to her history of substance use. Here she frames herself as having been a selfish and self-destructive addict. In telling these narratives, she seems to warn her future self. She is adamant about remembering aspects of her life and decisions that led to her incarceration and periods of separation from her children. Her narratives articulate a fear of returning to prison and a life fueled by addiction.

Lauren’s I Poem

• I was on a really bad path
• I was a very selfish person
• I was out to like self-destruct
• I was dedicated to getting high
• I was just a selfish person
• I couldn’t dedicate myself to somebody
• I was dedicated to getting high
• I never want to go back there
• I never wanna be that person again

Aware of her selfish, self-destructive nature, Lauren articulates a contrapuntal voice that seeks to interrupt this negative self-concept through solidarity with other sexual minority women. In this narrative, her self-concept embraces healing, knowledge, and agency.

Lauren’s Contrapuntal Voice

• I didn’t want to be here anymore
• I feel a lot better now
• I learned in those five months self-worth
• I found myself again
• I want to advocate for them
• I was interested in doing this
• I don’t come from jail
• I never wanna be that person again

These two “I poems” highlight that although Lauren expresses a negative self-concept and lack of control, she is actively constructing a new narrative. Indeed, the majority of her “I” statements reinforce her narrative of self as destructive and selfish. While these negative stories dominated the interview, she is also actively seeking to construct self-worth through personal growth, determination, and solidarity with other women. This narrative aligns with research that identifies advocacy and social connectivity as protective factors among SMW (Drabble et al. 2018).

Lauren articulates a contrapuntal voice of “we” statements that highlights and centers her solidarity with other SMW. Lauren’s extensive use of the first-person plural invites analysis. In contrast to the history of selfishness, self-destruction, and substance use described in the “I” statements,” Lauren uses “we” statements to envision herself as an advocate. Her collective narrative focuses on future-oriented thinking: she makes explicit her intentions to do advocacy work with women in prison, address medical gaps in the criminal legal system, and collaborate with women living with HIV. In this narrative, her status as a sexual minority woman creates comfort and a sense of belonging with the community of incarcerated women.

Lauren’s We Contrapuntal Voice

• We grew together for five months
• We build a bond
• We become a family
• We all like really love each other
• We shouldn’t be treated like princesses in jail but at least human beings
• We have very like, a lot of mental health, addiction, PTSD
• We don’t need no special treatment
• We do deserve

The positive self-concept that Lauren builds through these “we” statements are constructed through solidarity among incarcerated women. This narrative is at odds with the ethos of separation (e.g., confinement, segregation, and enforced solitude) inherent to the legal system. Prison policies that use administrative segregation and other disciplinary measures to punish SMW for developing intimate bonds traumatize sexual minority women for their attraction (Smoyer and Harvey 2024). Lauren’s development of a positive self-concept during her period of incarceration pushes back against these correctional policies of trauma and isolation. Her use of “we” statements suggests that she developed a communal sense of self while incarcerated, mitigating her negative individual self-concept that developed during periods of substance use prior to incarceration.

3.3. Riley

Riley is a 35-year-old transgender man who has identified as a lesbian female for most of his life. His sexual and romantic partners have included men and women: he gave birth to his son just prior to being incarcerated for eleven years. Riley came to an understanding about his identity as a transgender man while incarcerated. He had long suspected that the gender that had been assigned to him at birth did not align with his identity. At the time of the interview, he had been out of prison for eight months and was just beginning to transition medically through gender-affirming care. He responded to the study flyer that advertised a project about sexual minority women because “as I stand now, still in a female body, I feel like that still puts me in that lesbian category.” While he did identify as a transgender man, he felt he needed to complete his physical transition before he could fully assume this label. Given the dynamic, evolving, and non-binary nature of his conceptualizations of gender and sexual orientation, the decision to include Riley in this study of SMW was a topic of considerable deliberation for the research team. Ultimately, the decision was made to include him in the analysis because he identified to us as a sexual minority woman at the time of enrollment and the study’s definition of SMW includes queer and other non-heterosexual identities (National LGBT Health Education Center 2019).

Riley was enrolled in an undergraduate prison program while incarcerated and continued to study as a full-time college student upon release. Analysis of Riley’s “I poem” illustrates a self-concept revolving around a desire to be seen as a gentleman and academic. His college work focuses on researching abuses in the foster care system. He is passionate about defending the rights of women and critiquing gendered power dynamics. He describes a complexity that interrogates his identity as a transgender male who is in the midst of a social and medical transition. Riley portrays himself as a man with a strong sense of ideals and an intellectual acumen. The work he did while incarcerated embodies his identity and personal convictions.

Riley’s I Poem

• I tried to define myself within the lines of one category, that category didn’t fit me
• I complete my transition
• I would be a straight man
• I stand now as still in a female body
• I’m academic and emotional
• I’ve always kind of liked to consider myself a gentleman
• I care about the way I present myself
• I care about the way that people see me
• I was doing all the right things
• I could get home as soon I possibly could

Riley’s contrapuntal voice stands in sharp contrast to the gentleman narrative. Here, he describes the attention he received when he was incarcerated in a women’s prison as a young man. He describes “playing the field” and becoming entwined in relationship drama. Women competed for his attentions and he spent years jumping from one relationship to another. As a result, he was persecuted and blamed for harm caused to other women in the prison. In contrast to his “I poem” that described a confident, controlled man, Riley’s contrapuntal voice suggests that he was unable to control his life while incarcerated. Further, his playboy identity and relationship conflicts run counter to the gentleman identity relayed in the “I poem.” At some points, he uses the prison context to rationalize these behaviors, suggesting that this environment did not allow him to access self-concept, control, or mastery that is needed to be a gentleman.

Riley’s Contrapuntal Voice

• I don’t believe that the system deserves the credit
• I went into the facility as this little boy
• I got this streamline of attention
• I could have lost everything
• I was constantly, you know, playing the field
• I can’t tell you how aggravating and frustrating it is
• I hurt such-and-such’s feelings
• I got myself into situations
• I still was supposed to be moving back in the tier with her
• I kinda took the opportunity to not go back
• I’m in prison

In his “I” narrative, Riley displays a high degree of mastery and self-esteem which he relates to his experiences as being a transgender male. He is a gentleman who recalls “doing all the right things” while incarcerated and upon release. At the same time, his contrapuntal voice describes internal and interpersonal conflicts. Theoretically, his masculine identity would be an asset in prison, a historically patriarchal institution that punishes femininity. However, through the contrapuntal voice, he presents a sense of persecution in response to the attention he received from other women, the liberties he took in response to this attention, and his inability to cope with these relationships. His ability to navigate his relationships with self and others while incarcerated may have been strained by the fact that he presented as a masculine cisgender lesbian during these 11 years; his gender transition began after his release. His sexual minority status as a transgender man was contested—a little boy in a female body who always considered himself a gentleman. This struggle is at the center of both narratives. The difficulties he has reconciling the contradictions in his narrative mirror the ways gender alterity troubles the legal system’s attempts to segregate incarcerated people along binary lines.

4. Discussion

The Listening Guide is a data analysis method which, through a series of listens, tunes the researchers to the relational voices and psychological terrain of the speaker (Gilligan et al. 2003). Self-concept, which understands the multidimensional ways a person sees themselves though consideration of control, mastery, and self-esteem and the whole of an individual identity, requires a holistic view of a person which, through its conversational approach to attending to a narrative, the Listening Guide is positioned to provide (Gilligan et al. 2003; Scheer et al. 2021). Through this analysis, knowledge is built about the complex identities that participants express and the experiences that have shaped their lives.

4.1. Justice-Impacted Self-Concept

The goal of this inquiry was to explore the self-concept of SMW who have been impacted by incarceration. This analysis found that participants experience a dynamic and ever-changing sense of self, power, and control, a phenomenon that has been described in earlier research (Markus and Oyserman 1989). Taken together, the “I poem” and the contrapuntal narrative suggest that participants’ self-concepts are complex, contradictory, and impacted by their involvement in criminal legal systems. Incarceration seems to have offered the participants a period of stabilization that allowed them time to consider their identities. Their lives prior to incarceration were marked by fear (Pamela), selfishness (Lauren), and confusion (Riley). Once inside, the prison offered an opportunity for participants to be responsible for themselves (Pamela), build positive relationships (Lauren), and realize an authentic self (Riley). The fact that participants were able to construct a more positive self-concept while incarcerated speaks more to the chaos of their lives in community than to the safety of forced penal confinement. Indeed, the demands of capitalism and intersecting systems of oppression often place opportunities for contemplation and self-care out of reach for low-income, marginalized people.

In addition to offering the space to reflect on self-concept, participants’ involvement in criminal legal systems provided a script that is evident in their contrapuntal narratives. Discussions of personal responsibility, abstinence from substance use, and a firm commitment to never return to law-breaking behaviors reflect the discourse of recovery and rehabilitation that are infused throughout the criminal legal system. Decisions to use substances, neglect children, and inflict violence are constructed as individual choices, with little attention to external determinants. The lack of a more ecological understanding of human behavior places tremendous responsibility on these SMW to individually realize and maintain their positive self-concept. Failure to accomplish their stated goals may present a threat to their self-concept if they consider these defeats to be a reflection of their self-efficacy, control, and mastery, rather than the impact of intersecting systems of oppression and privilege.

4.2. Violence Against Women

Themes of violence perpetuated against women were present in all three participants’ narratives, aligning with existing research on the lived experience of incarcerated women and sexual minority women (Karlsson and Zielinski 2020; Porsch et al. 2023; Sangoi and Goshin 2013). Pamela’s self-concept was both as a victim and a perpetuator of domestic violence. She also described herself as a victim of structural violence. Her narrative about the injustices of the correctional system may reflect her understanding, as an African American woman, of the ways in which intersecting systems of oppression harm individuals and communities (Crenshaw 1991). Lauren spoke of the harm she inflicted on herself and others due to her addiction. She described herself as selfish and self-destructive as she tried to navigate circumstances over which she had no control. Riley admitted that his personal life had been out of control and that he caused harm to his female partners.

For all three participants, their identities as SMW offered a pathway away from violence. Pamela spoke about actively choosing to engage in intimate relationships with women to avoid the interpersonal violence she associated with heterosexual relationships. Her identity as an SMW was constructed around her aversion to violence and was used as a tool to navigate safety while incarcerated. Lauren described how solidarity and advocacy work with other SMW created a powerful sense of belonging and comfort in her life. It was through her alliance with other women that Lauren built her self-concept as worthy and wise, boosting her self-esteem and mastery and laying a pathway towards self-acceptance and self-efficacy. Similarly, Riley suggested that gender-affirming care had boosted his self-esteem and allowed him to be a more caring and thoughtful person. In these ways, membership in a sexual minority community allowed the participants to wrestle self-control, cope with lived experiences of violence, and curb their own violent behavior.

4.3. Multiplicities

This Listening Guide analysis revealed that positive self-concept factors often exist concurrently with negative self-concept factors. These personal narratives demonstrate that people can conceive of self in ways that illustrate both risk and strength by rejecting a linear understanding of self and social binaries. Participants described themselves as both good and bad, as victim and aggressor, as heterosexual and homosexual, as man and woman, as caregiver and agent of harm. Through these contradictory narratives and ways of knowing oneself, justice-involved SMW challenge academic and social expectations that a single linear truth can be known. These “I poems” invite us to consider that a gentleman can break rules without negating the ideals he articulates, that good people can participate in violence, and that selfish individuals can participate in collective organizing and community building. At the same time, these narratives illustrate the challenges of living with a sexual identity that is not clearly defined. Research has shown that sexual identity commitment is positively associated with life satisfaction (Collict et al. 2021). Indeed, the conflicting narratives of these participants suggest their struggles to commit to a single sexual orientation or gender identity are troubling for them.

4.4. Time: Past, Present, Future

Time plays a critical role within these narratives: time before incarceration, time during incarceration, time after incarceration. While these periods are differentiated, they are also intertwined as the threat of past problems or risky behaviors always lurks on the edges of their present lives, informing their daily decisions. For example, Lauren’s use of “I” statements to reference her history of substance use, self-destruction, and selfishness suggests that her current self-concept is formed around these aspects of her past. Although her counternarrative contains self-concept factors of control and self-esteem which have benefited her greatly, she recognizes that her sobriety is precarious and that her understanding of her current self is informed by her past. Her current sobriety exists within her previous cycles of addiction. Perhaps because of the insecurity of her individual self-concept, Lauren uses “we” statements to harness the strength of community and avert future risks. While her commitment to solidarity with SMW is a strength, these ways of speaking about her may weaken her current and future self-concept. Her “we” statements discourage her from speaking explicitly about her own individual life and accomplishments, creating a barrier to self-determination.

Riley also expresses an important appreciation of time. He is very firm in his current views of himself: he is an academic and a gentleman, with a firm moral compass. This self-concept provides him with strong protective factors, self-esteem and mastery, to negotiate current and future challenges. Still, his contrapuntal voice describes his past self as a scoundrel. By situating this self within the prison walls, he uses time and space to separate his current self from this previous iteration. His gender transition may also create some physical distance from the person he was before. However, this same transition makes it difficult for him to fully envision his future self. He expresses uncertainty about how his identity as a transgender man will impact how others see him and how he sees himself.

4.5. Limitations

Several limitations impact the findings of this research. One, this analysis draws on a small sample of three people, which greatly limits the generalizability of the findings. Two, the research team members each embody a bias which has shaped this analysis. This bias is mitigated by the procedures of the Listening Guide method, which encourage the researcher to examine their positionality throughout the process. Opportunities for reflections and discussion about the research team’s reactions to the data were created to notice and address their bias. Three, there are limitations to secondary data analysis. If these interviews were conducted with the questions of self-concept in mind, the data might have provided greater detail and nuance on the topic.

5. Conclusions

By exploring narratives related to self-concept, this project invites further research and informs programs and interventions for SMW. This analysis can inform social service strategies by encouraging practitioners to acknowledge the multiplicities contained in clients’ narratives of self-concept and to recognize that negative behaviors may identify inroads towards self-efficacy. Better integration of the complex and often contradictory self-concept of clients into community and individual practice can contribute to more dynamic and responsive approaches improving SMW outcomes. Similarly, these narratives invite practitioners to interrogate the idea that a person has a linear evolution over their life course and recognize that past, present, and future selves are simultaneously present within the individual’s self-concept. Listening to clients, without judgement or effort to identify a single truth, allows for an exploration of self-concept and facilitates a story-building process that can bring clients, and social work practitioners, to new and deeper understandings of self. The stark accounts of interpersonal violence invite clinical and community interventions to reduce these harms. Finally, noticing the ways in which criminal legal scripts are infused into the personal narratives of formerly incarcerated people may be useful in understanding the stories that people tell and carve out pathways to more authentic accounts.

Future research is needed to understand the extent to which these individuals’ narratives of self can be generalized more broadly. Larger-scale studies on the self-concept of justice-involved SMW adults and the effect of the incarceration experience on identity and narratives of self are needed. Qualitative research is needed to develop language that can better articulate non-binary constructions of self-concept and identify factors that move this phenomenon beyond the masculine hegemonic ideals of mastery, control, and self-efficacy. Intervention research can develop and test how these ideas can be translated into clinical and community settings.