in general, women tend to be subjected to harsher disciplinary practices in prisons than men. in the case of solitary confinement, women are often put into segregation for committing small errors while in prison, for example spitting at a guard, while men must commit more violent infractions, such as attacking a guard, for segregation to become necessary. this could arise from the fact that women in prison are held to especially high standards of femininity, and prisons encourage them to conform to very traditional ideas of being a woman. this model of femininity requires women to be “pure, passive, heterosexual, and located in motherhood." when women do not comply with this standard while imprisoned, they are punished further. in fact, some prisons specifically isolate women who seem “butch” or not traditionally feminine.