Jenji Kohan’s television show, Orange is the New Black, which ran from 2013 to 2019, has many thought provoking moments that connect directly to the critical theories of Kimberly Crenshaw and Judith Butler.
The series tells the story of several women in the Litchfield Penitentiary, a minimum-security prison in New York State with inmates who have committed a wide range of crimes. The main story follows that of Piper Chapman, a character who is supposed to portray someone who really doesn’t belong in prison. Chapman had way more luxuries compared to the other prisoners at Litchfield, as she has more resources outside of the prison, she is a white woman who has a loving fiance, Larry Bloom, and she has a growing soap business. Her crime of money laundering for a drug cartel was only done out of love for her ex-girlfriend, Alex Vause, who was a part of the cartel.
Chapman does struggle in prison, but her struggles feel less trying than those faced by the non-white prisoners. She is a foil to characters such as Sophia Burset, a black transgender woman who committed credit card fraud out of necessity to finance her transition, and Taystee, a black woman who grew up in the foster care system who has suffered through immense poverty. Looking at the first season of OITNB, released in 2013, Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality sheds light on the realities of intersectionality that takes place in the prison and how their suffering correlates with the intersections, and Butler’s queer theory shows the complications of having a queer identity in Litchfield, especially for Sophia.
Piper is often viewed as an annoying character in the show because of how much privilege she has and takes for granted. Her mother comes to visit her in episode 6, “WAC Pack,” and tries to encourage her, but Piper acts immaturely and is rude to her.
When her mother leaves, she complains to Nicky Nichols when Nicky comments on their appearance similarities, “I prefer to be in denial about the shared genetics” (Episode 6 7:48-7:51).
Piper is fortunate to have a parent who cares but she doesn’t appreciate it.
Nicky says, “Look, don’t say ungrateful crap around here. Your mother shows up, buys you pretzels. poor you.” She calls her “princess,” and says that “your shit smells like Shalimar. Must have rubbed off when she hugged you goodbye. What a bitch” (Episode 6 8:10-8:36).
Characters on OITNB like Taystee, who is black, are disproportionately affected by family issues because of the intersectionality of her race, her poverty, and her time in the foster care and prison system. In Crenshaw’s Ted Talk, “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” she states that “African-American women, like other women of color, like other socially marginalized people all over the world, [are] facing all kinds of dilemmas and challenges as a consequence of intersectionality, intersections of race and gender, of heterosexism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, all of these social dynamics come together and create challenges that are sometimes quite unique” (10:46-11:25).
Taystee’s character comes into play here, as she struggles with class discrimination and the effects of being a child who was a part of the foster system. Taystee is briefly released from prison in the episode “Fucksgiving.” Taystee does not have a great time outside of prison because as soon as she is released, she tries to go to someone who was a part of her foster family, but finds out she wasn’t there and the people there now weren’t willing to let her stay.
She says in the episode that “I have to stay here. This is the address I gave my supervisor. The system is gonna check on me” and the woman reluctantly agrees she can if she can sleep in a corner of the room on the floor, and that she has to be “out in the morning” (54:19-55:44).
Taystee violates her probation, partly on purpose because she has no home to go to, and winds up back in prison. Poussey is angry at Taystee in the 12th episode “Fool Me Once” for violating her probation, and she confronts her about why she came back and to criticize her for doing so.
Taystee responds by saying “I got part time workin’ at Pizza Hut, and I still owe the prison $900 in fees I gotta pay back. I ain’t got no place to stay… One of the bitches stole my check, I got lice. Everyone I know is poor, in jail, or gone…I know how to play it here… I got a bed. And I got you” (Episode 12 47:35-48:20).
This is very different from what Piper’s release will look like, as she still has people around her to be her support system and she would have still had her soap business.
In the essay, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color, Crenshaw says that “It is helpful…to distinguish intersectionality from the closely related perspective of antiessentialism, from which women of color have critically engaged white feminism for the absence of women of color” (1296).
Antiessientialist conservatives have argued that race and gender because they are intersectional constructs, are not real. However, the show displays that is not the case because of how different they are treated in the prison because of these constructs, so they still hold a lot of weight.
Piper Chapman’s family issues, as well as her situations once she is free as a white woman are not on the same level as Taystee’s, a black woman who grew up in the foster care system and will be affected by the justice system in an entirely different way. but her issues are overshadowed by the issues of Chapman, on whom the show focuses most of its attention–Piper who, wrote the show, seems to be blind about her own privilege to some degree.
Sophia is another example of intersectionality throughout the show, as well as the theories Judith Butler highlights around queerness. Since Sophia’s identity as a transgender woman is an important aspect of her character on the show, Judith Butler’s theories are the perfect place to start for her. One thing that is true of Sophia is that she is constantly being defined by her old genitals, even though that is an invalid argument against transgender people and Sophia already had gender reassignment surgery for that specifically.
It was a pleasant surprise she was placed into the right prison for her gender, considering how in society transgender people are often forced to serve their sentences from their biological sex, even though that is dangerous to them and dehumanizing. However, Sophia gets horrible treatment in the prison because she is transgender. The other prisoners treat her transgender identity like she is just playing dress up, and this was the case for Sophia’s wife back before prison too.
The prisoners are terrible in the way they talk about Sophia, such as when in “Lesbian Request Denied.” Anita said that “I wouldn’t let that he-she touch my hair with a ten-foot hole” and Nicky defended her by saying that “Sophia’s pole is a hole now” (Episode 3 4:43-4:53).
This scene is reminiscent of a quote from Judith Butler’s interview entitled “Judith Butler on Culture Wars,” as she stated “the [person] who holds such a view presumes that the penis does define the person, and that any person who has a penis that identifies as a woman is engaging in a base, deceitful, and harmful form of disguise” (3).
Sophia does not have a penis anymore because of her surgery as she has fully transitioned, but she is still treated like someone who should not touch the women’s hair by Anita, and while Nicky’s defense was in good spirit, it gives idea to this notion that Sophia is okay now to be a hairdresser because she no longer has a penis, and if she still had one it’d be bad, even if that was probably not Nicky’s intentions.
She is constantly being defined by her history of having a penis by all of the inmates, and even some of the correction officers. Pornstache, one of the guards infamous for sexualizing the inmates, described in the same episode about how she has a “Cyborg pussy. Bet it’s fucking perfect…Besides she used to have a dick, and so she knows what it likes” (9:39-9:52).
Sophia also struggled with some of the performativeness that occurs with gender, as she was never able to grow up with the experience of dressing like a regular teenage girl or a young woman in the same way her wife had. In the same episode, Lesbian Request Denied, there is a flashback scene of Sophia and her wife, Crystal, modeling off the clothes she bought for herself. Sophia is trying to perform to fit her gender, as stated by Butler in “Critically Queer.”
Butler stated that “The practice by which gendering occurs, the embodying of norms, is a compulsory practice…but not for that reason fully determining” (147). Dressing up to fit the gender roles and norms of other women is important to Sophia to affirm her gender identity by having it match her gender expression, even if that is not what makes her a woman. She wanted to be able to find a style to match what her gender was, but in fact her use of gender expression based on previous understandings that differ from that of cis women, as she “never quite carried out according to expectation, whose addressee never quite inhabits the ideals that s/he is compelled to approximate” (147).
When Crystal sees the outfit that Sophia wore, she said, “You look like Hannah Montana” which Sophia responded with, “that’s what happens when I shop for myself” (21:37-21:47).
Sophia fits into the description of the Judith Butler quote within this scene because at this stage she struggled to fit into the expectations to properly conform as a woman, even though she wants to outwardly express as one. She is frustrated with herself that she can’t seem to get it perfectly right, but Crystal helps her by showing her a better outfit to wear that would fit her demographics as an older woman better as well as not clash as harsh as the outfit Sophia had on did.
This does not take away from Sophia’s gender identity, as Judith Butler stated that “I never did think that gender was like clothes, or that clothes makes the women” (146-147).
Chapman, who is a cis woman, does not have to question the same things about herself, even though she is struggling with the reminders of her past history as identifying as a lesbian, as she had more support by people around her about this past such as Larry, even though he was disappointed in the fact it was kept from him for so long, and didn’t have to deal with the complexities of gender dysphoria or the unique experiences Sophia has as the only transgender woman in Litchfield.
She later has a realization about what prison is doing to her in the episode “Bora Bora Bora,”stating that “Other people aren’t the scariest part of prison, Dina, it’s coming face to face with who you really are. Because once you’re behind these walls, there’s nowhere to run, even if you could run. The truth catches up with you in here, Dina. And it’s the truth that’s gonna make her your bitch,” (S1E10).
Sophia is a perfect example of intersectionality issues inside of the prison as well according to Crenshaw’s theories in Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Many of the women inside of the prison have medications that they need to take while inside, but Sophia’s medicine gets cut because of the funding issues inside of the prison deeming her hormone pills as not necessary.
Sam Healy, who is a homophobic counselor inside of the prison, is even less tolerant towards Sophia and doesn’t bother to listen to her when she tried to explain how bad it will be for her to get off her hormones by acting uninterested in what she had to say and talking over her.
He ended up saying to her in “Lesbian Request Denied” that “the bottom line is that the prison can no longer provide high-end hormones” (15:44).
Sophia tried to fight this situation by eating one of Healy’s figurines to get sent to the clinic so she could see a doctor, but the doctor is dismissive towards Sophia, and she ends up saying Sophia will be off her hormones permanently because of the levels in her liver. The only thing the doctor said to her about how that’d be too long was that “I can offer you an antidepressant” (21:19-21:23).
Crenshaw said in her book that “the myriad ways in which those of us so defined have been systematically subordinated” (1298). Sophia as a black, transgender woman has been placed at the bottom of the prison’s priority list, and has faced unique systematic oppression in the prison that is very different from the others inside and has to deal with it largely alone, as she is the only transgender prisoner and she is also a black woman at the same time. Sophia is held back in her labels, and when time comes for the women to have a board of female prisoners to try to inspire change in Litchfield, Sophia has no one to truly represent herself.
The quote,“Moreover, ignoring difference within groups contributes to tension among groups, another problem of identity politics that bears on efforts to politicize violence against women” (1242).
In “WAC pack,” the election board for this committee has the rules set so you can only vote for those within the group, which Nicky explains to Piper for her to understand that she should “ just pretend it’s the 1950’s, it makes it easier to understand” (Episode 6 18:13-18:15).
Sophia is a part of the group of other black women, and wanted to run for the position so she could advocate for the rights to get placed back onto hormones. The quote of how there can be tension between the group because of their differences really starts to shine with the elections for this committee.
The other black women don’t take her as seriously, as even Taystee said “If y’all want a man representing you, be my fucking guest. That bitch got a plastic pussy or some shit” (19:01-19:08).
Taystee does not want to make efforts to change Litchfield at all and wants to focus on less serious issues, while Sophia wants to improve human rights, and the other people at their table all mock Sophia’s desires with different political issues in a condescending tone. The work for anti-racism within the prison does not cross over with stopping transphobic violence, even though there are disproportionate effects towards those who experience both.
Violence is also disproportionate in the prison between the correctional officers and the inmates. Chapman and Sophia both faced inappropriate treatment by Mendez, also called Pornstache, while in Litchfield. In “Imaginary Enemies,” Chapman is working for the first time in electrical. She accidentally smuggled a screwdriver outside of the prison which caused the prisoners to get searched. Mendez groped her breasts during the search, which Caputo completely ignored as he spoke into her face after. In that episode, Piper said to Nicky after it happened, “Jesus Christ, that was scary. Did he touch your tit?” which Nicky responded back with “cupped my ass” (22:54-22:58).
Meanwhile, Pornstache has been sleeping with several of the inmates in order for them to get drugs or special privileges within the prison out of desperation for these things, which is considered rape, and he disproportionally sexually harasses the women of color more, as well as Sophia for being trans.
In “Lesbian Request Denied,” Mendez called Sophia over to him and said, “How long’s it been since you had one of these? [An Egg McMuffin]…Mhm. Long time…You can suck it out of my dick” and then threatened to give her a shot, which is a disciplinary warning that can have serious consequences in Litchfield, when she refuses to suck him off for a taste of McDonalds (8:57-9:11).
Mendez learned that Sophia was desperate to get hormones, so he approached her in the same episode by saying “I heard you’ve been looking for something. Change your mind about the Egg McMuffin?” to which Sophia replies with, “You got the wrong girl” (54:00-54:10).
Mendez tried to exploit this struggle of hers, like he did with the other prisoners, but she stood up for herself. “Focusing on two dimensions of male violence against women-battering and rape-I consider how the experiences of women of color are frequently the product of intersecting patterns of racism and sexism, and how these experiences tend not to be represented within the discourses of either feminism or antiracism. Because of their intersectional identity as both women and of color within discourses that are shaped to respond to one or the other, women of color are marginalized within both” (1244).
Chapman’s incident of groping occurs because she is a woman, but it does not go much further because she does not have intersection for both the identity of her race or the gender nonconformity that Sophia deals with which would have made her more of a target. Chapman is largely shielded from the sexual violence that Mendez envokes towards the other women. She had privileges Sophia did not have when it comes to combating violence, as Piper also had support from the outside.
The attack on Sophia’s hormones as well as the advances from Mendez doesn’t get her a lot of support, as her wife on the outside called her selfish for wanting her hormones to be smuggled in.
Meanwhile, when Healy violently used his power to target Chapman for dancing with Alex because of the homosexual implications by sending her to solitary, Larry was instantly calling up every prison official he could and threatened legality and press exposure if Healy forced her to continue her stay in solitary confinement. The prison system knew they could not abuse their power over Chapman, like they could and did with Sophia, which is a direct butterfly effect of the intersectionality issues at play here with violence.
“Recognizing that identity politics takes place at the site where categories intersect thus seems more fruitful than challenging the possibility of talking about categories at all” is a perfect quote from Crenshaw highlighting all of these differences with Sophia and Chapman, her direct foil, as the intersectionality is truly at play on every level of these women’s lives (1299).
The stories of these women in prison are truly heartbreaking, especially with how it is a reflection of the real life prison system. The real life prison system is even more violent and corrupt than what is depicted on Orange is the New Black as inmates aren’t treated with human decency often, especially those a part of marginalized groups. People in real life are living this television show, and face these extreme effects that the prison system has in place to prevent these people from ever being truly free from this oppression, as it is a violent cycle.
The television show offered a lot of attention to these issues with bringing the audience in with Piper Chapman, and kept everyone with the stories of women like Taystee and Sophia. Butler and Crenshaw offered perfect theories to analyze the show on all kinds of levels, as each character has unique intersections and queer identities that make their time in prison more challenging, especially with these three characters.
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