ABSTRACT

The Netflix series Orange is the New Black has drawn widespread attention to many of the dysfunctions of prisons and the impact prisons have on those who live and work behind the prison gates. This anthology deepens this public awareness through scholarship on the television program and by exploring the real-world social, psychological, and legal issues female prisoners face. Each chapter references a particular connection to the Netflix series as its starting point of analysis.

The book brings together scholars to consider both media representations as well as the social justice issues for female inmates alluded to in the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. The chapters address myriad issues including cultural representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality; social justice issues for transgender inmates; racial dynamics within female prisons; gender and female prison structures/policies; treatment of women in prison; re-incarcerated and previously incarcerated women; self and identity; gender, race, and sentencing; and reproduction and parenting for female inmates.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

part 1|4 pages

Identity Construction and Prison

chapter 1|10 pages

Who Are You Really?

Identity, Authenticity, and Narrative in Orange is the New Black

chapter 2|14 pages

Trying on Gender Is the New Black

From Female to Felon

chapter 3|11 pages

A Crisis Behind Bars

Transgender Inmates, Visibility and Social Justice

part 2|6 pages

Racial Inequality and Prisons

chapter 4|12 pages

An Overlooked Link

Popular Media, Stereotypes, and the Incarceration of Black Girls and Young Women

chapter 6|11 pages

Indifference is the New Black

Season One and the Violation of Women’s Solidarity

part 3|4 pages

Pregnancy and Parenting for Female Inmates

chapter 7|7 pages

Baby Bumps in Litchfield

Pregnancy in the Orange is the New Black Series

chapter 8|14 pages

Pregnancy and Postpartum Life Behind Bars

What’s Present and What’s Missing in Orange is the New Black

chapter 9|11 pages

Pregnancy, Parenting, and Prison

Mothering While Incarcerated

part 4|5 pages

Prisons, Hegemony, and Patriarchy

chapter 10|11 pages

“I’m in here because of bad choices”

Patriarchy and Female Incarceration in Orange is the New Black

chapter 11|12 pages

Prison Privatization through the Lens of Orange is the New Black

Piper Sells Dirty Panties

chapter 12|12 pages

Executing Women

Media Explanations of Female Criminality

part 5|4 pages

Prisoners and Policies

chapter 13|16 pages

The Prison within the Prison

Solitary Confinement in Orange is the New Black

chapter 14|15 pages

Education Behind Bars

The Vital Issue that Orange is the New Black Neglects

part 6|4 pages

Prisons and Culture

chapter 15|16 pages

Consent Behind Bars

Changing Depictions of Sexual Assault in Orange is the New Black

chapter 16|10 pages

Gray is the New Orange

Older, Infirm Female Inmates and the Liminal Space between Human and Animal

chapter 17|12 pages

Broccoli, Love and the Holy Toast

Cultural Depictions of Religion in Orange is the New Black