Gero gyvenimo fantazijos ir įkalintasis vyriškumas : Alytaus pataisos namų atvejis

LTStraipsnyje, kuris grindžiamas pusiau struktūrintais interviu su Alytaus pataisos namuose kalinčiais vyrais, analizuojama, ką jiems reiškia gyventi gerą gyvenimą monotoniškoje įkalinimo įstaigos kasdienybėje ir kokiomis būsimo gyvenimo fantazijomis jie gyvena. Kas sudaro šių subjektų normatyvinę gero gyvenimo fantaziją ir kokiomis priemonėmis, vyrų nuomone, ji gali būti pasiekta? Kartu siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kokiu mastu šių vyrų lyties savivoka lemia tai, kad nemaža jų dalis yra prisirišę prie konvencinių gero gyvenimo fantazijų, kurioms prieštarauja ne tik jų gyvenimo patirtis, bet ir pačios ekonominės, socialinės bei politinės Lietuvos aplinkybės. Remiantis lyčių studijų ir emocijų teoretikų įžvalgomis, straipsnyje teigiama, kad itin daug vaizduotės pastangų reikalaujantis normatyvinis gero gyvenimo idealas yra kompensacinė reakcija į kalėjimo aplinką, pasmerkiančią vyrus įkalinimo kančioms ir priverčiančią juos palaikyti savo vyriškąjį statusą ir tapatybę, grįstą ,,kieto vyruko“ laikysena, agresijos ir pykčio proveržiais, fizinės jėgos demonstravimu. Kita vertus, gero gyvenimo normatyvumas yra vienas iš svarbiausi stimulų, skatinančių vyrus toliau gyventi ir optimistiškai žiūrėti į ateitį. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Geras gyvenimas; Kriminalinis vyriškumas; Laimė; Pataisos namai; Vyriškumas; Correctional facility; Criminal masculinity; Good life; Happiness; Masculinity.

ENBased on the semi-structured interviews with imprisoned men at Alytus correctional facility conducted in 2012, the article analyzes what it means to have a "good life" and what fantasies of good life these men espouse in their austere ordinary. What does their normative fantasy of good life consist of and how can it be achieved? The article also discusses the ways in which the masculinity of the respondents influences their rather conventional good life fantasies confronted by both their life experiences and the economic, social and political environment of Lithuania. Alytus correctional facility is one of the biggest prisons in Lithuania. In January 2013, it housed 1424 men repeatedly sentenced for their crimes. Both inmates and prison officials acknowledge that most men incarcerated here are drag addicts. Drag use is rather widespread in this correctional facility. A number of HIV-infected men also reside here. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with prisoners sentenced from 3 to 11 times were conducted in August 1-31, 2012. The age of the respondents ranged from 22 to 52 years. The crimes they commited included thefts, robberies, illegal possession of drags, homicides, illegal use of electronic payment devices and electronic data and forgery. During the interviews, the topics of fatherhood, masculinity, prison subculture and the relationship between masculinity and criminality were discussed. Questions on the topic of good life, its objects and emotions related to good life comprised a separate subgroup of questions. The conducted research, part of a larger study on the Lithuanian prisons, is one of the first attempts based on qualitative methods to examine forms of criminal masculinities, the prison subculture, interpersonal relations of the imprisoned men and their everyday practices in Lithuania.Studies on masculinity emphasize that criminal behavior can be used as a resource when other resources are not available for enacting masculinity. The research in the Lithuanian correctional facilities also demonstrates that the attempt of men, who are at risk of social exclusion, to achieve a normative good life fantasy can also lead to criminality. If men do not have a steady, reliable job, a stable family life or other traditional indicators of successful masculinity and of good life, criminal behavior becomes an acceptable way to affirm and reproduce their masculinity. The promise of good life and happiness direct the lives of the imprisoned men in socially predictable ways. The interviewed men still believe that conventional objects of good life including work, family, women, sex and children would secure their happiness. Therefore, these men invest their hopes and dreams into these objects. One of the main objects of good life which guarantees both successful masculinity and consumer individualism is well-paid work. It is indeed a way to achieve everyday satisfaction or at least to dream of it. A "moral-intimate-economic thing" (Beriant 2011) which the interviewed men call the good life and which serves as a self-therapeutic narrative of self-fulfillment is indeed an obstacle to good life. Based on the insights of both gender studies and sociology of emotions, the article argues that the normative ideal of good life must be rethought and re-evaluated with regard to not only the dominant forms of masculinity in the correctional institutions, but also the emotional structures used by the respondents as a means of survival. [From the publication]