Caged Women Incarceration, Representation, & Media Sociology Re-Wired Series

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.

Introduction Part 1. Identity Construction and Prison Chapter 1: Who Are You Really? Identity, Authenticity, and Narrative in Orange Is the New Black Chapter 2: Trying on Gender is the New Black: Female to Felon Chapter 3: A Crisis Behind Bars: Transgender Inmates, Visibility & Social Justice Part 2. Racial Inequality and Prisons Chapter 4: An Overlooked Link: Popular Media Stereotypes and the Incarceration of Black Girls and Young Women Chapter 5: Labeled Public Enemy Number One: Popular Media Portrayal of the Souls of Imprisoned Black Women Chapter 6: Indifference is the New Black: Season One and the Violation of Women's Solidarity Part 3. Pregnancy and Parenting for Female Inmates Chapter 7: Baby Bumps in Litchfield: Pregnancy in Orange is the New Black Series Chapter 8: Pregnancy and Postpartum Life Behind Bars: What’s Present and What’s Missing in Orange is the New Black Chapter 9: Pregnancy, Parenting and Prison: Mothering while Incarcerated Part 4. Prisons, Hegemony, and Patriarchy Chapter 10: I'm in here because of bad choices: Patriarchy and female incarceration in Orange is the New Black Chapter 11: Prison Privatization through the lens of Orange is the New Black: Caputo’s Declining Concern for Inmate-Wellbeing & Piper’s Descent to Dirty Panty Selling Mob Boss Chapter 12: Executing Women -- A Feminist Post-structuralist Discourse Analysis of Media Narratives Part 5. Prisoners and Policies Chapter 13: The Prison within the Prison: Solitary Confinement in Orange is the New Black Chapter 14: Education behind Bars: What Orange is the New Black Neglects Part 6. Prison Culture Chapter 15: Consent Behind Bars: Changing Depictions of Sexual Assault on Orange is the New Black Chapter 16: Gray is the New Orange: Older, Infirm Female Inmates and the Liminal Space between Human and Animal Chapter 17: Broccoli, Love and the Holy Toast: Cultural Depictions of Religion in Orange is the New Black

Shirley A. Jackson, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Black Studies Department at Portland State University. She is the editor of The Handbook of Race, Class, and Gender (Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014). She is a sociologist whose research focuses on race/ethnicity, gender, social movements, and inequality.
Laurie L. Gordy, Ph.D., is the Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology at Newbury College. Her research interests include gender, class, race in media, gender and sports, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.