#gender – Page 2 – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Jessica Jones is the main heroine of the show, as implied by the name. A female show runner already puts the show above others in terms of gender representation and inclusion. The show does well to focus on strong female characters such as Trish and Hogarth, the lawyer.

This show is based off of a comic and follows the trends of such modern superhero shows. Basically, the producers change the race and gender of several characters so that the show is more inclusive and appeals to a wider audience. Jessica Jones, for example, swapped the lawyer’s gender to the stone-cold, homosexual woman that is one of the central characters of the show. This move made by the show shows that it is trying its best to represent more sexual orientations and genders than its source material. This is an obvious indicator of the improvement of representation in today’s world, because the producers would go to such lengths as changing and introducing new characters so that they steer away from how it was back when the comics where first produced.

Even without the changes, the Jessica Jones’ New York City is rather inclusive when it comes to its representation of gender and race. Of cours

e one of the underlying themes in the show is its discussion of rape culture and how women are represented to deal with that and the issue of consent, especially while under the influence; though it may be mind control, its no different then the effects of alcohol. Jessica Jones is shown to be a strong individual who still has emotional issues as all of us do, so the show really balances stereotypes with actual humanity in a way that makes Jessica the character that she is.

Lastly, as far as inclusion, the interracial relationship between Jones and Luke Cage makes a big jump towards discussing a topic that is often shied away from and under-represented. Overall, I feel like my opinion as a dude does not do the show justice, but I think the show does a pretty spot-on job with its embracement of all viewers and potential fans.

Fresh Off the Gender Stereotypes

By Bailey Moore

So far in season one of Fresh Off the Boat, the genders have been fairly traditionally represented. The main characters are a nuclear family with young boys. In some aspects, I suppose the show could be somewhat progressive for the way in which the mother is represented as being rather equally in control over the family as the father. However, it is also his job that moves the family, he who is the main breadwinner, and she who is at home with the kids. For the purpose of playing devil’s advocate, it is true that she very much has a backbone and that she pushes the children in school and calls her husband on his BS, often times saving his skin at the restaurant, but she is also placed in very traditional roles, almost stereotypical for an Asian mother. This way, the show plays with the transitioning role of women in society and emphasizes the context of the character both in her sex and ethnicity in terms of her role in the family. She represents the progression of the role of women in society as she is not as empowered in her career, yet she owns being a stay at home mother and takes an active role in her husband’s business, indicating that although she is in traditional roles, she still has a backbone.

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the family-friendly “yo mama”

With the issue of gender, this show is much less progressive than it could be. There are only the two traditional genders represented, and even these aren’t represented very progressively. We don’t see any instances of the characters being gender fluid, transgender, cross-dressing, androgeny, or otherwise. All of the female characters are feminine and so far all have been straight. All of the men act and dress as a cis hetero male would. The show’s cultural focus is clear. It is not gender. It is not sexuality. It is about Asian immigrants in America. In a way, I can respect this because the focus is not being distracted from. The narrative is told. However, I also take issue with this because it does not reflect the reality for most Americans. Gender is a spectrum. Sexuality is a spectrum. Fresh Off the Boat isn’t too fresh with the facts.

that’s the tea

If All the World’s a Stage then Identity is a Costume

By Blair Johnson

The issue of gender and identity is one that we discuss often in this class, and few shows are as diverse in their depictions of people and their identities as Sense8. Season 2 Episode 10: If All the World’s a Stage then Identity is a Costume begins with an intro reflective of the episode’s title. The intro includes many more clips of people than normal- gay, straight, young, old, male, female -people from all over the world going about their everyday lives. This set the scene for an episode focused on identity. We see Kala in her element reproducing the blocker drug, showing a smart woman doing science. Kala and Riley have a long conversation in which they discuss their fears for the future and the road ahead of them. This is significant because it passes the Bechdel test, showing two women in a non-male-oriented context. Even when the scene shifts and the characters do discuss Will, the conversation does not play into a fantasy, but rather feels like two real women sharing their experiences with sex, loss, and pain; Will was merely a catalyst for this conversation to occur. The episode then takes us to Kala’s complicated relationship with Wolfgang. The two speak very frankly about their needs and their individual situations. Power is clearly shared evenly in their relationship. As the episode progresses, we begin to see gender and the concept of masculinity intersect with homosexuality. During his audition, Lito’s producer describes Lito’s previous strong-man ‘macho’ roles as ‘typical male apery’, a sentiment that supports the notion that Lito’s more sensitive natural masculinity is greater than the narrowly-defined masculine roles that he has been shut out of. The producer does not ask him for strength, or any traditionally masculine traits, but rather to ‘break his heart’ during his audition. Speaking with his homosexual romantic lead, Lito is encouraged to be vulnerable. While Hernando and Lito’s Co-Star view some of Lito’s previous work as ‘offering insight into the interdependence of identity by rejecting the narrative of male sovereignty’, the producer is focused more on the sexy aspect of film, repeatedly making gay sexual references and affirming the reality that sex sells. The final significant moment of the episode is when Lito and Hernando talk about Lito’s insecurity about his acting on the beach, and the two make out romantically in the surf. There is no pan-away, and the moment is captured beautifully in its entirety with the same level of romance and attention that would be given to a similar heterosexual scene. This is just one more example of how Sense8 seeks to show people’s lives as they are, and not to limit the experience of the viewer to traditional patriarchal and heteronormative lenses.

Lito and Hernando share a romantic moment in the surf celebrating Lito’s dream role.

Sense8 Represents Gender Equally

By Schuler Kleinfelter

So obviously there are 8 main characters. Four of them are male and four of them are female (assuming you count the transgender woman as female) so that’s a pretty good start.

One of each has advanced combat training and has used it to help out someone of the opposite gender, so at least the ‘ability to stand up for oneself and others’ front is covered. Technically the male has used his combat training to help the trained female, but that was a specific circumstance in which his training was more applicable so it seems like it all checks out.

One of each gender feels trapped in a relationship with someone of the other gender and one of each gender is not cis-hetero — the gender representation seems pretty intentionally split evenly.

There isn’t any representation of individuals who identify as other than male or female, but there is a transgender woman, which is better than most TV shows can claim.

As of yet there hasn’t been any obvious discrepancy in the agency of the characters because they haven’t been directly interacting with each other so they have inherently been making their own decisions.

Half of the 8 are white, but the four that aren’t represent four different ethnicities and are split evenly between male and female, so on that intersectional front the show is also doing well.

The side characters that each of the 8 interact with are dictated realistically by where they are from and by their gender identity and sexual preferences, which results in a diverse cast of side characters to complement the diverse main characters.

The only area I can see in which the show could be considered to be failing to represent a class is that none of the main characters are noticeably disabled or suffering from mental illness, but since there is no representation clearly the representation can’t be tied to gender.

Overall, the casting crew and writers of Sense8 seem to me to be doing their due diligence to ensure that gender is represented equally.

The diverse main characters of Sense8

Picture from Sense8 Wikia

Gender Inequalities don’t Exist in the Eyes of Science

By Tanishq Sandhu

I think one thing I really enjoy about Grey’s Anatomy is that it touches upon stereotypes and how they exist to a certain degree but also shows that people aren’t defined or restricted by those stereotypes and they are capable of so much more. For example, Meredith Grey, the main character, is shown as needing of her husband’s protective care at sometimes, but also the television show shows how she has gone through a rough upbringing from separated parents and a mother who neglected her and how it has made her tough and brave. In general, there is a good spread of women and men on the show in terms of doctors, patients, and other actors which is an accurate representation of the medical world where there is no gender inequality in the eyes of science. Both genders are shown as equals, with equal potential in terms of career growth or medically surviving their issue based no whether they are doctors and nurses or patients, respectively. There is also an equal balance of male and female characters in the forefront and outskirts of the show. Additionally, in terms of reactions, males and females are shown as generally reacting in the same ways, even with men generally being thought as “tougher” in the confines of the hospital where terrible medical news is dropped regularly, both genders have equally upset reactions. Another wonderful thing about this show is that it touches upon social issues and shows general perceptions and then changes them in a lowkey manner. Yes, disable, mentally ill, overweight, medically serious patients come in all the time, and the television show shows how nurses and doctors can be snarky and judgmental behind the patients’ backs. But, the show doesn’t stop there; the show then goes on to give the whole story and shows the patient as a whole person who is more than just their medical condition and how they deserve to be treated as such. The show also comfortably shows both straight and LBGQT couples.

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The show has a good mix of both gender characters.

Finding Everyday Women in Litchfield’s Guards

By Lauren Garrett

On October 14, 2018

Gender plays an interesting role in Orange is the New Black, since almost everyone in the show is female. All prisoners at Litchfield are female, and most of the guards are male. Obviously, since the story is told from Piper’s point of view, all the guards are seen as antagonists (and all of the male guards are portrayed as perverted and sex-obsessed in some way), but the three female correctional workers also play a significant role in examining the stereotypes of working women.

Officer Fischer is very empathetic towards the prisoners, as seen in her buying Miss Rosa a Coke at her chemotherapy appointment. Her voice is often soft and kind, she is new to the prison and she is willing to let the prisoners bend some rules. However, she is choked by a prisoner after trying to enforce a rule, a product of both the strong emotions at the time and, likely, the image of the officer as someone that could be an easy target. In this way she is seen as the caring one, yet also someone that can be taken advantage of and manipulated, as are many women beginning their career. They are uncertain of their future or concerned about causing others to dislike them, so they “play nice” to avoid creating hostility, instead compromising their respectability.

Officer Fischer is known for being kind to the prisoners – arguably to a fault.

The other female guard is older, has a hardened face and a sharp tone. She is the foil to Fischer and snaps at prisoners over tiny infractions. However, even she is empathetic to the fact that the female prisoners have specific needs and expresses concern for kids’ futures when Scared Straight visits Litchfield. She represents the women who have worked long enough in a male-dominated career or job that they recognize they have to overcompensate to prove themselves, yet still care.

Another female guard is much less caring, yet still views the prisoners as human.

Finally, Fig, the warden, is a power-happy, cold female who is unsympathetic to anyone, even the other administrators. She repeatedly tells the prisoners that she doesn’t care about their complaints and takes actions only to improve the prison when journalists begin asking questions. She represents the stereotypical powerful female, someone a bit like Petra from Jane the Virgin, who has had to harden herself and get good at manipulating others in order to achieve success.

FIg is cold and cares only about the prison avoiding the spotlight.

Looking at these three women, all struggling to make themselves in a very male-heavy arena, it begs the question – is it possible for a kinder, caring female like Fischer to be rise to the success of someone like Fig? Does a woman have to be as uncaring as Fig in order to achieve success? And finally, is Fig a product of a system that forced her to be cold or was that how she was before, allowing her to be successful?

It Can’t Always be Black or White – or Can It?

By Yasamin Khorashahi

On October 12, 2018

Search Party has a pretty limited gender spread. Of the entire credited series cast so far, there are 69 men and 77 women. There is only a single actor on the show that does not identify as cis-gendered male or female. That actor is Jason Greene, who identifies as genderfluid. The character they play on the show is ambiguous in gender, but is only present in a single episode. Other than Greene’s character, however, the rest of the gender spread on the show is fairly black and white, varying only between cis-gendered male or female.

The show divides the agency of males and females relatively equally. All the characters on the show are relatively bad people. They’re self-interested and misled. Our lead, Dory Sief, is so absorbed in her fixation with Chantal that she recklessly bulldozes through her friends’ lives and drags them down the rabbit-hole with her. In fact, out of the four main cast members, the only one who seems to have unselfish intentions is Portia, but her decisions are still influenced by a deep rooted desire to feel important. The main cast is evenly split between male and female (as long as we consider Julian, Keith, and Chantal as satellite characters), so agency in the show is also split fairly evenly. Additionally, many of the supporting characters also make decisions that influence the progression of the show. Some notable endeavors are the controversial articles that Julian publishes or Lorraine’s suicide.

Race, unlike gender in the show, is represented relatively well. The show does take place in New York City, after all. Of the five main cast members, two of them are explicitly not Caucasian: Dory is Iraqi-American and Julian is African American. Other characters in the show are also non-white, including Agnes Cho, Lorraine De Coss, and Keith’s ex-wife Deb. An interesting observation to make is that most of the notable minority characters also tend to be female.

The majority of the women on the show are presented as heterosexual. The one exception is the woman Dory meets with to discuss a job offer, who is so completely upset with her wife leaving her that it scares Dory away. There are far more gay men present in the show, however, particularly because Elliot himself is gay. Through love interests for Elliot, the show introduces several gay characters, particularly Elliot’s on-and-off boyfriend Marc.

Only Elliot can manage to look this fresh in rehab.

Mental illness is explored more deeply than disability in Search Party, as there aren’t really any characters that are explicitly physically disabled. On the other hand, several of the characters on the show experience varying mental illnesses. Lorraine is the greatest example of this, as it can be inferred she may be schizophrenic. Additionally, Elliot is a “self diagnosed narcissist” and compulsive liar. He has a psychotic break following his involvement in Keith’s murder, and admits himself to a rehabilitation clinic.

Are socially conscious shows more gender-inclusive? In Portlandia’s case, yes.

By Adam Lederer

On October 12, 2018

Playing with gender is a common theme in IFC’s hit show, Portlandia

The very nature of Portlandia leads it to be more experimental with gender relations and representation on the show. Being set in a progressive town like Portland, Oregon, the show is bound to reference gender frequently, and it does just that. One prominent example of gender being referened repeatedly is through the show’s recurring feminist bookstore bit, where Armisen and Brownstein play two women selling third-wave feminist literature. Through dialogue in these scenes, gender issues are referenced a lot. Furthermore, the fact that Armisen, a biological male, is dressed as a female sheds light on the trans community. Brownstein also dresses as a man multiple times over the course of the show.

As such, not only male and female are represented, but so are many other gender identities in certain bits. The transgender community also has decent representation in the show, as mentioned above. However, the majority of the scenes take place with exclusively cisgender men and women. From the episodes I watched, it does not appear that men or women received notably more screen time; most of the screen time is consumed by the two main actors (Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) and the characters they happen to portray in a given scene.

The show does a good job of giving each gender agency and power. Sure, there are some scenes in which a given character seems irrelevant or powerless, but on the net it evens out. Male characters are oftentimes portrayed in a manner uncommon in mass media today: as sensitive beings with a desire to from non-superficial relationships. Armisen even gets his nails painted in certain scenes, highlighting gender performativity in such scenes. Women are also portrayed as less indecisive and more powerful on the show, but more work could still be done on this. The show does have a decent minority population, but these characters are often supplemental and temporary (as are about all characters on the show to be fair). Since Armisen an Brownstein are the main characters in each sketch, they take up most of the time as white people.

Overall, the show does a good job of representing a wide range of genders and highlighting the problems with a simple male-female dichotomy. Men and women are considered to be essentially equal, and the show does a good job of putting forth a model for shows going forward on how to approach these issues.

Success as defined by your gender in #FOTB

By Amanda McAuley

On October 11, 2018

From the opening scene of episode 4, it was obvious that the show would continue to stick to traditional and exaggerated gender roles that have played out in the prior episodes. The characters’ success is determined differently by their gender.

Let me set up the scene… extended family members (including an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, and a grandma) are visiting the Huang family from D.C. Within the family, it is a constant competition to be more successful than the others.

For Jessica and her sister, the battle is over looks, shopping deals, and mother’s love. These are the ways that the show gives them their value. The reasons for this might be because the show is suppose to be a throwback to the 90s, so they are overemphasizing the progress that has been made in the past two decades. Also, the roles might be cultural. The sisters are battling to be their mother’s favorite and not chasing after careers, which means that cultural loyalty remains at home for the women. While it is amusing to watch the sisters battle over perms, breast size, and discounted prices, the gender roles in the family are restrictive and limiting. The women seems to add nothing to the family except housekeeping and eye-candy…

Jessica and her sister Connie battle over their mother’s favoritism (w/ Jessica rocking the “success perm”)

For the men of the family, Louis and his brother in law (and ex-boss), their success is determined by their career, cars, and technology. The male characters are expected to have it all; the car, the computer, the successful company, etc. BUT, this is so restrictive, even for a comedy show. It is just another example of a place where female are not shown as succeeding in the workplace and where men are forced to be the sole provider and suporter. This scene makes men look like they have to be superheros and have it all, when realistically they don’t. This family gender role could also be tied to culture of the Huang family, so the roles speak more to the cultural expectations from this time period.

It is super easy to box genders up and make the characters easy to understand. For FOTB, the focus is on comedy and fast-paced plot, not intricate characters. In every show, something is sacrificed in production and through the family reunion scene, it is obvious that Fresh off the Boat doesn’t waste time having dynamic characters that redefine family gender roles.

Since 2008, what has been the gender spread of primary news anchors across the the 25 most-watched news programs in America?

By Adam Lederer

On October 2, 2018

In Research Question

Through our research we saw that women are generally underrepresented in the news at all forms and at all levels. We wanted to narrow our scope, so we chose to take a closer look at the most viewed news programs to see the impacts and presence or lack of diversity at this level. We chose this research question because it was a direct quantitative analysis of female representation in news programs. Rather than looking at programs across different networks, we chose to look at the top 25 most watched programs nationwide since those programs received the highest viewership and ratings and thus are most representative of the news Americans are consuming. Additionally, this question can be expanded to look at intersectionality in news networks and how both gender representation and diversity in other forms such as race and sexual orientation translate into audience demographics.

Will is one of the people in our group

We chose to look at “gender spread” since we cannot assume that every news anchor identifies as just male or female. This question is important as it reflects larger societal preferences that news corporations are acting on for profit, and this can lead to furthering gender roles into the news industry which in turn transpires back to the viewers. We can measure gender spread through the gender ratio of primary news anchors per program. Through this question, we expect to demonstrate that there is a discrepancy within the genders of primary news anchors on the 25 most watched news programs and determine if there are any fluctuations or patterns that may line up with a given year’s political or social climate. As such, we are interested in how these factors may have changed since 2008. It could be the case that the election of Barack Obama spurred an increase in diversity in TV news, but it could also be the case that there was some sort of diversity backlash against the idea of the first black president.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Really Represents

By Carson Hulsey

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of the most unique shows on television. Males and females are mostly represented equally and there is representation of other sexual orientations and of people with mental illness. The genders represented are male and female. The main characters are equally represented by both genders (Rebecca, Paula, Josh Chan, Greg, Darryl and Heather). However, males are represented more in the show because Josh Chan has many male friends and Rebecca does not have many friends other than Heather, Paula, and Valencia.

Male and female characters make decisions in the show, but more often than not, women, mainly Rebecca Bunch, make significant decisions. Rebecca has to decide who she’s going to make friends with, who she wants to be in a relationship with, and many other important decisions. She constantly has internal conflict about social situations and so these decisions are even more difficult for her to make. Josh Chan is a person who simply reacts. His personality doesn’t have much substance and he lets things happen rather than taking action. This matters because it gives the main male figure in the show less of an impact than the main female figure and lowers the significance of male decisions in the show.

Race and gender interact through the varying amount of racial representation in the show. Josh Chan is Filipino, Valencia is Latina, and Darryl claims to be Native American. Class and gender don’t usually interact because they’re all middle class or upper middle class. There is representation for other sexual orientations through Darryl. In the middle of season 1 Darryl comes out as bisexual by performing the song “Gettin’ Bi”. Shortly afterward he began dating White Josh. Mental illness is also represented through Rebecca Bunch. Rebecca has severe social anxiety and other undiagnosed mental illness that is very prevalent throughout the course of the show.

Overall, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend does a great job representing both genders and multiple races, sexual orientations, and mental illnesses. The show gives many different perspectives and explores these perspectives thoroughly.

Building a World of Female Power Out of Crumbling Masculinity

By David Veres

The scenes of the expansive west have been dominated by by the male gluttony for decades on televisions but in the futurist park of Westworld something is happening: the abusive male dominance is not only crumbling, but is forging strong, powerful, and rebellious women. In episode two of the series we feel a strong emergence of three women — two androids and one park quality assurance director — who are in control of determining the park’s fate going forward.

Throughout the episodes we are exposed a fairly stereotypical view of the guests in this free roam park as males are portrayed as rich Caucasian daredevils releasing their excessive testosterone in adventures filled with blood and lust while female visitors to the park are depicted as very fragile and fearful housewives. While the show may seem very basic in choosing to represent only the two main genders types, it focuses expansively on the dynamic between the evolving androids who are led by an early twenties farmgirl, Dolores, and a female prostitute, Maeve, and the one of the park’s controllers, Theresa. As the show chooses to blurry out the repetitive male dominated story lines of the park as white noise in the background, we begin to understand how the masterful each woman is with their knowledge and how they can manipulate others around them.

Dolores manipulating Bernard in their private conversation.

Initially, the show directs us to focus on Dolores because her dad reaches an existential crisis about their existence as an android that he reveals to her. However, Dolores immediately becomes a character striving with her duplicity. For example, when she is talking another one of the park’s directors, Bernard, after being recalled, the viewer cannot distinguish who is in control of the situation. Bernard seems to be bluffing his confidence in his control as he does not know that Dolores is memorizing everything to manipulate him and help her fellow androids in her grassroots movement.

Dolores warning Maeve that they are being controlled with the famous Shakespeare, “These violent delights have violent ends.”

Dolores actually ends up leading us to our next face of the rebellion: Maeve. Maeve’s carefully structured character as a lower class African-American citizen in the fictional society of Westworld allows her to takes her trauma she has experienced to fight back more relentlessly as she has been exploited. Furthermore, the symbolic image of Maeve being completely nude, gushing blood, with scalpel in hand when she escapes during repair two park technicians conjures a sentiment not too distant from the emancipating escape of slaves and shows her determination and desperation for liberation in the most vulnerable form one can be.

Finally, we are exposed to Theresa. Theresa is an extremely dangerous wildcard because of how potent she is when left to her own devices. Not only does she seem to have a grasp of what the problem may be with the “sudden” evolution with the park’s androids but she may as well be controlling them. She flexes her ambiguity in personal relationships with Bernard to wins conversations firmly and confidently.

Theresa has no fear of calling out her superiors and flaunting her intellect when she feels necessary.

Gender, Relationships, Stereotypes: Being Single and Sufficient

By Zoe Maisel

New Girl does a great job of representing gender equally. In the episode, “Single and Sufficient” the concept of gender can be explored in many ways. This episode is about the “couple’s retreat” that many characters attend, regardless of their relationship status. I believe this would have been a great episode to introduce characters that were homosexual or of genders other than male or female, but the writers of New Girl still did a great job of breaking the stereotypes between the two.

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Both genders react similarly to being single in this epsiode

Equality in Agency: This episode of New Girl gives equal amounts of power to both genders. Robbie, a male, is the leader of his own social group. Jess supports his leadership and is more of a “supporting woman” in terms of the group dynamics. She sends Robbie to do the hard work in separating members who are flirting. However, this male dominant relationship is contrasted by Cece and Schmidt’s decisions throughout the show. Schmidt is often dramatic and angry and Cece is the one thinking logically, making decisions, and calming him down. This is the opposite of the “dramatic female” stereotype. Though the gender spread of this episode is 6 males and 4 females, 3 of the females are strong and important in this episode, as well as 3 males. So the true spread is about even.

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Classic Schmidt, sassy as ever

Breaking Gender Stereotypes: New Girl’s characterization often defies normal gender stereotypes, especially in the character Schmidt. He is very dramatic and feminine. In this episode, Schmidt obsesses over Nick’s romance novel, talks about the advantages of glamping and how he will never use a sleeping bag, and goes to the spa. These are all stereotypical female activities, and it is good of New Girl to show that straight males can enjoy these activities as well. In this episode, Winston also breaks a gender norm by telling he wants to “be the mermaid” in their activities, even though mermaids are often women.

Race and Gender: There is many interracial couples within the show and not the slightest bit of stigma associated with it. Their race also does not determine their level or femininity.

Gender and Love: There is a lot of talk about relationships in this episode because of the involvement of the group “single and sufficient.” Jess is a part of this group, but the she clearly does not enjoy being single as she struggles to do many couples activities, such as playing badminton, alone. However, there is not a strong correlation between gender and desperation within the group, as all members seem desperate. The stereotype is that women are always looking for love, but Jess tries to defy this stereotype by being “single and sufficient.” In the end, however, the group begins to find love interests, with equal representation in gender, and including Jess and Robbie.

Gender in a Women’s Prison

By Adhav Arulanandan

When I first read this assignment, I was wondering how I would be able to write a post about gender representation in Orange is the New Black, a show about a women’s prison where the vast majority of characters are women. And then I re-watched Season 1 Episode 3, which by itself deals with gender enough for me to write multiple posts about it (only doing this one though).

Within the nearly all female cast of characters in the show, both inside and outside of prison, there is a great amount of diversity, not just demographically but also in terms of personality and background. No two female characters in the show so far, who have been fleshed out to any extent, share the same blueprint. The same can’t be said of the few significant male characters, who are either perverted or apathetic prison guards (with the notable exception of Bennett), or boring like Larry (at least I think that’s his name, I don’t know. He’s boring).

“Lesbian request denied.”

The title of this episode is “Lesbian Request Denied,” which lets you know pretty clearly that it is going to deal with sexual orientation. LGBT representation and issues are heavily shown throughout the first three episodes, with Piper having been in a relationship with Alex before the events of the show, the presence of many lesbian inmates, a handful of lesbian sex scenes, and homophobic attitudes coming from multiple characters. In this specific episode, Piper is pursued/stalked by “Crazy Eyes” Suzanne, and Piper turns her down, but not before Crazy Eyes turns in a request for them to be moved in together, which the apparently homophobic Officer Healy strikes down with the line, “lesbian request denied.”

Pre-transition Sophia, a.k.a Marcus, was played by Laverne Cox’s identical twin brother.

But as is the case with many episodes of Orange is the New Black, the focus of this episode isn’t Piper, but the show’s transgender character, Sophia, and her struggles. The arc follows Sophia’s dose of estrogen being reduced and then canceled altogether, leading to her asking her wife to smuggle some in, a request which causes tension between them. As in the first episode, flashbacks help to establish the story of Sophia’s transition and the reason she is in prison. Sophia’s son, Michael, does not cope well with his father making the transition, and reports her to the police committing credit card fraud, which she did to pay for the surgery. Her wife remains supportive through the transition, but not without some resistance to the idea of her getting sexual reassignment surgery. When Sophia asks her to smuggle in estrogen, she bristles at the idea and tells Sophia to “man up.” She also mentions that her decision to support Sophia has led to her becoming distant from her family, which shows their transphobic attitudes, something Sophia will deal with throughout the show.

New Girl: Are Men Too Competitive?

By Matthias Heyrman