“Orange is the New Black” was defiantly interesting. I have a Netflix account, but I had never taken the time to watch it, or even look into what it is about. I was shocked to find out that the series was based on a book of memoirs. I’m sure what all was added and taken away from the actually book and account, but I found a lot disturbing. I thought that the male guards were corrupt, and the one with the mustache was really creepy. I know that their are corrupt cops, but it is a shame if that is how female prisoners are actually treated. They should have female officers to deal with prisoners at a female facility, and vice versa for male facilities. It might not stop all mistreatment, but it might help a little. It seemed like it was the male officers from the series that were taking advantage of the females.
From tuesdays class I could see how white privilege play’s a role. Since the statistics show that back women are more likely to be in prison for non violent crimes. Although, in the series there were different races too you could tell a divide from Piper’s life before prison and the other. Also, when watching the episode the part after Piper’s mom visits stuck out to me. The other prison told her that she should be lucky that her mom even came to visit and to not “dwell on the little things” they disagreed on.
I found the race divide shocking. I think that the elections were wrong. If they wanted to elect people so the prisoners could have a voice it should not be done by race. In prison they should learn how to become better citizens. Turning races against each other in elections is promoting racism, and in the elections they ran on stereotypes. The other groups would poke fun at other races. To promote smarter more efficient citizens they should learn leadership in a more positive way, and what makes effective leaders. Learning about racism teaches effective leadership, because it promotes equality.
Intro to Women's Studies 2010 