A review by shirarweiss
The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. It is truly one of the most incredible things I have ever read. I am grateful to bear witness to these stories and to have learned so much about queer and trans history. I have such a deeper understanding of how prisons, race, gender, and sexuality intertwine and it is more insidious and more horrific than I could have imagined. Everyone should read this book. It is truly a masterpiece. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Rape, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Outing, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault