about gangs in the California correctional complex, David Sharbek found that gangs formed as a response to a lack of protection from prison officials. According to his research, male prison populations rely on non-structured social norms and on formalized organizations to govern themselves. Social norms become less powerful as a structuring mechanism as populations grow, as they become more difficult to enforce, and as more new members who do not follow these norms enter the society. These new developments mean that social organizations, which have clear membership and enforcement measures, must be more heavily relied upon to govern the inmate society. These organizations typically take the form of prison gangs, which are initially formed to provide protection to their members, as these members can no longer rely on norms or correctional officials to do the same. Homosocial and homosexual activity While homosexual contact is common in both male and female prisoners, female inmates tend to emphasize an emotional connection, sometimes displaying affection without any intention of sexual contact, male inmates tend not to display any affection despite frequent sexual interaction. This phenomenon is caused partially by the extreme stigmatization of homosexuality in male prison populations. Prison conditions encourage young male inmates to emphasize their masculinity, causing participants in homosexual relationships typically explain their actions as purely physical to avoid homophobic bias against themselves. In the 1960s, Tittle observed that female inmates engaging in homosexual activity were more than five times more likely to describe their relationships as emotionally, rather than physically, based. Pseudo-families Pseudo-families, also known as familial networks, are social groups of approximately 15 to 20 inmates formed in women's prisons which have been regularly observed by many anthropological and sociological researchers since the 1930s. Within the pseudo-family, inmates take on roles which parallel standard family roles, including parents, children, and siblings, as well as extended family such as aunt, uncle, or grandparent. Family roles tend to be delineated by the age of participants, and to be gendered such that some inmates take on masculine roles and hetero normative male characteristics. These networks are often based around homosexual couples as the parents of the family. Sexual relationships between inmates are a significant aspect of pseudo-families, though the majority of relationships in an extended pseudo-family are platonic. Families and family members have been observed to interact with one another following regular kinship patterns in order to form larger social systems,