incarceration, suggesting that these effects carry over beyond their time in segregation. Some prisons do allow inmates in solitary confinement to use recreation rooms and exercise yards, but these are often monitored by cameras, creating a sense of powerlessness and humiliating and deterring the women from using these facilities. Feelings of powerlessness or hopeless are exacerbated by the fact that women are often unsure of how long they will be held in solitary confinement. All of these factors combined can have different effects on women, making them either increasingly anxious or increasingly indifferent. While some women feel desperate and angry, others attempt to feel as little as possible in order to mitigate the effects of segregation. Because of the detrimental effect on their mental stability, inmates in solitary confinement often resort to self-harm; this behavior is more common in women than in men. This can sometimes lead to women being held in solitary confinement for longer, as punishment for their destructive actions. Similarly, it reinforces the guards’ perceptions of these women as particularly violent or dangerous to the rest of the prison community. Sexual abuse Women in solitary confinement are often watched over by male guards, which can result in sexual harassment ranging from discomfort caused by guards watching them during private moments to non consensual sexual contact. Male guards often are present while women shower or undress. Because women in solitary confinement experience so little human contact, the gaze of their guards is often the only interaction that they have with another person; this can exacerbate the feelings of loss of privacy. Similarly, the clothing the women are required to wear is sexualized and humiliating. In some prisons, women in segregation wear a "baby doll," a long shapeless dress, with no underclothes. Although men sometimes are required to wear the “baby doll” as well, women find that wearing it while being watched by their male guards is degrading and makes them feel powerless. Beyond this, women in segregation are sometimes subjected to sexual abuse or physical harassment by their male guards. They are often forced to undergo thorough strip searches, during which the guards are more forceful and invasive than is strictly necessary and serves mostly to demonstrate the guards’ authority over the inmates. Because so many female inmates have been victims of sexual or physical abuse, this forces them to relive the trauma of their previous abuse. This