A women’s prison in Portugal was the case study about reading practices in this environment. The female prison system (M.I. Cunha and C.R. Fonseca) and a feminist comparative perspective (M. Bosworth, B.H. Zaitzow & J. Thomas) were used as reference. In order to understand what, why and with what meanings these women read, crossing social dimensions, this study had a qualitative approach with different methodologies (ethnography, individual and group interviews with readers and mediators), and included uses of the physical and social spaces and of time, family relations, relations with other inmates and with the prison staff. The favorite titles were analyzed (chick lit, industrial, light and kitsch literature), taking into account literary genres for women and deconstructing gender and class prejudices that were connected to them. Interpretation was carried out with a diverse theoretical chart (A. Amorós, M. Calinescu, R. Felski, J. Radway and M. Sweeney). The analysis of practices, concepts and representations revealed interesting and eventually unexpected traces about their forms of reading.
Women’s prison; Reading; Light literature; Kitsch literature; Chick lit