Burset Sets it Straight

In the 3rd episode of Orange is The New Black, we delve into the life of Sophia Burset, who is played by Laverne Cox, transgender African American actress and LGBT advocate.  The skillful writing of the show has allowed the viewers to follow main character Piper as she transitions into the life of an image, while simultaneously covering the stories of the women who were already incarcerated and now live there. the show covers how Burset physically transitioned from male to female, as well as the effects it had on her family.

The use of Burset's character opens a discussion to so much involving not only the system of corrections but gender and sexuality as well. One of the amazing things the character of Burset lends is the critique of health care in the corrections system.

• What health care is provided?
• How is mental health addressed?
• How is pregnancy addressed?
• How funds are allocated to health care?
• Is health care based on inmates' needs or facilities fund allocations 

The character of Burset also brings diversity to the image of women. Not only with being African American does she add a dynamic to the view of womanhood, but also being transgender. Her character opens the idea and the view of what a woman is and looks like. Recently an article was published on Huffington Post, written by Brynn Tannehill, about transgender people being included in feminism. Burset is a great tribute to some of the things that the article was mentioning. (Feminist Issues Are Transgender Issues)

Also, in the show Burset's character shines light on the difference between gender identity and sexuality. While the character of Burset a transgender woman, she continued to stay in a monogamous relationship with her wife. While it is not outright discussed in the show this shows that Burset is a trans women in a lesbian relationship. I think this speaks greatly to the audience just how diverse gender and sexual identity can be.

Happy Viewing!

Welcome to Prison

Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman

In the season one first episode of Orange is the New Black we're introduce to the main character Piper chapman. We experience with her the surrender to the corrections facility. Lauren Morelli did a great job in slowly introducing the viewer into the life of a prisoner as Piper experiences prison for the first time.

Some of the issues we see introduce in this episode are:

• Racism

• Sexism

• Sexuality

• Economic class

• Problems with the Statute of limitations

(INCITE a look into "Race, Class, Gender and Prisons") -- Recently co-Founder of INCITE, Beth Richie, on a panel discussion talk about some of these issues as well as other that have affected women in the prison system.

What is interesting is how each of these things are put under the microscope while these women are in prison. We only get a glimpse of how this is dealt with in the first episode, but hopefully later episodes will give deeper insight, possibly with different characters.


Happy Viewing!