V-coding
noun1
The placement of incarcerated trans women in cells with aggressive cisgender male inmates (who will physically or sexually assault the trans women) as a form of reward or pacification for the male inmates and abuse of the trans women.
- In a grotesque manipulation of power dynamics, sexual and carceral violence combine to produce V-coding: Prison staff “pacify” incarcerated men by putting a trans woman in a cell with them to “offer” sexual favors. But this kind of sex, usually unprotected, isn’t sex at all. It’s facilitated rape. Studies and testimonies over the past decades define V-coding as “a central part of a trans woman’s sentence.” One survivor, Kim Love, described being forced to take a “husband.” Prison authorities frame this as violence prevention.2024 February 29, Zain Murdock, “How ‘V-Coding’ Demonstrates The Violence Of Rape And Prison Culture”, in PushBlack, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2025: