Orange Is The New Black Essay

The faces of Queer Culture has long been K.D. Lang, Ellen Degeneres, and Elton John. While these icons represent the queer community in that they are gay individuals, they are not wholly representative of the community because there is no one "queer story." However, these icons all have cisgender, white privilege which results in a great dearth of representation for transgender, non-binary, and people of color in the media. Another issue with queer representation in the media is the differentiation between gender expression and sexual orientation. Gender expression associated with masculinity such as short hair, loose clothing, and rough materials such as denim when worn by a woman is seen as a demarcation of "alternative" sexualities. However, those assumptions neglect to recognize the diversity of gender expression. Gender expression among heterosexuals varies greatly with some men presenting as "metrosexual" and some women presenting as "tomboys." Similarly, this type of variation exists within the LGBTQ+ community as members can range from "femme" to "butch" to androgynous. Portia de Rossi would be a classic example of a "femme" lesbian in terms of her long hair and frequent wearing of dresses. Often times these feminine lesbians, if they are portrayed at all, are often used to attract male audiences. However, Orange is the New Black challenges these conventions through the genres of Sophia Burset, Piper Chapman, and Big Boo.

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, a sexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture create powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women are left to make decisions based on the options

"Black Wall Street" was the name given to Greenwood Avenue of North Tulsa, Oklahoma during the early 1900’s. Because of strict segregation, Blacks were only allowed to shop, spend, and live in a 35 square block area called the Greenwood district. The "circulation of Black dollars" only in the Black community produced a tremendously prosperous Black business district that was admired and envied by the whole country.

Women are sexually exploited in the media. In today’s society if people watch television programs such as Chingy featuring Snoop & Ludacris – Holidae; Charlie's Angels; the Z100 commercial with Britney Spears; or Baywatch they will see that the feminine image is presented differently than the masculine. In these programs men are typically placed in sexual situations fully clothed, while women are presented in provocative clothing or less. The camera will frequently zoom in on body parts to focus on the woman’s buttocks, midriff, and legs. Society is still dominated by men who control what people see. As a result women are increasingly portrayed as sex symbols as a way for a media company to turn

The final film by Marlon Riggs, Black is…Black Ain't, is concerned with the state of the African American community. This film essentially asks the question, what does it mean to be black? The director and producer, Marlon Riggs, guides viewers along an “an up-front examination of racism, sexism, and homophobia within the black community itself. Bringing together personal stories, interviews, music, history, and performance, Black Is...Black Ain’t asks African Americans: What is black, black enough, or too black?”1

The Black youth is over represented at every stage in the United States juvenile justice system. Ten years ago, Black youth were more than two times more likely to have a delinquency case before the juvenile court than white youth. Dr. Shook and Dr. Goodkind examined three possible avenues to prove if black youth, are more likely to be detained than similarly situated white youth. “Three possible avenues have begun to be examined—the first is related to youths’ attitude and character as assessed by justice system personnel, the second is related to judgments about adequate parental supervision and/or school and work involvement, and the third is related to what some have called ‘‘justice by geography.’’ To conclude Dr. Shook’s and Goodkind findings, Black youth are treated

If you stop and sit on the curb, a police officer will pass and probably ask you what you’re doing. I have heard none of the Negroes speak of police harassment, but have warned me that any time the police see a Negro idling, especially one they do not recognize, they will surely question him.(pg.43)

Another great thing I took away from reading this memoir is that everyone looks at the

Black women’s bodies have always been seen as different. They are deemed as exotic and highly sexual because of the protruding nature and curvaceous shape of their hips, butts, and breast. An example of this exoticism and ridicule can be traced back to the early 1800s. Sarah Baartman, also known as the “Hottentot Venus” became an object of fascination, degradation, and humiliation. Her features were not foreign to Khoisan Women. However, the Europeans who kidnapped her and the people who went to view her body as an exhibit could not believe how big her butt, breast, and hips were. Sarah did not fit into the white standardized image of the body, so her body was seen was unnatural and even un-human. One online magazine writer asserts that, “what

The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, asexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. The typical stereotype about Black men is the violent, misogynistic thug, and the ever-enduring pimp. These images portrayed in media and popular culture createpowerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women

I will try to explain intersectionality. First of all you need to know what intersectionality is. Intersectionality is a theoretical framework which explains violence or discrimination against humans. Now I will give you an example and then try to connect it to intersectionality. I will use an example of spider web to explain this theory. This example will give you some idea about intersectionality. Think about a spider web. A Point in the centre and all threads connected to each other. If we remove one thread from the spider web, it will fall apart. Now consider yourself. You have some identities and these identities are connected just like spider web and we cannot remove any identity from you. If we remove any identity from you, then

The Strange Career of Jim Crow by Van Woodward is based on the time period surrounding the Civil Rights Movement. This book is an accurate account of events that occurred during this time. It shows how the 1896 US Supreme Court Ruling affected blacks and the obstacles they faced to overcome. This book shows how the rights of African Americans have evolved over time. Van Woodward did an excellent job illustrating the events of history with The Strange Career of Jim Crow and created a factual account of history that is still used in classrooms today.

Grouping a specific group of people together where they are targeted for conceptions about them is widely known as, “stereotyping”, an issue that is all across the globe that can be very harmful and offensive. One of the greatest culprits for the ongoing, public display of this issue is television; millions of people across the world who are fortunate enough to be able to own a television are manipulated everyday by what they watch. Television shows can make people see things as being right that are completely absurd and incorrect. In Jennifer Pozner’s article, “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas”, she breaks down the corrupt ways that the hit reality television show, America’s Next Top Model, edits each and every episode to display the young women starring on it as polar opposites of who they actually are just because of their ethnicity. A show that can relate to America’s Next Top Model’s stereotyping being displayed is Black-ish, a show created by Kenya Barris. This show displays an African American family living in the suburbs and the father thinks the family is not “black” enough. Throughout the episodes, many stereotypes of the African American race are used for comical gratification of the audience watching. In the last episode of the most previous season, there are a plethora of different examples of the African American race being stipulated as being a certain way. Likewise, Black-ish shows the different types of stereotypes that come along with the

In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than

My Year in a Women’s Prison’ autobiographical novel (“Orange Is” n.d). The series affect its audience in several aspects about gender portrayal more than normal other shows because OITNB seems as feminist. This paper will examine Orange Is the New Black, which is a female-centered TV show, in four different aspects which are the depiction of transsexuals and lesbians, and attitudes against them, gender roles and stereotypes, stereotypes in the series, and violence against women at the show from the feminist