Dr KRZ-Commentary On The New Black Trans Narrative On OITNB

I just spent Sunday evening and early Monday morning watch the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black mainly to check out my homegirl Laverne Cox's performance as Sophia Burset and see what kind of job the writers did on this trans character.

I had some reservations about the role before the series started in whether it would be playing into stereotypes of Black transwomen, but because Laverne was playing this character, I was confident that whatever flaws were in the original script she'd be able to point out and correct.

I was blown away by not only by Laverne's performance throughout the first season, but how three dimensional a character Sophia has turned out to be.

Orange Is The New Black was renewed on June 27 for a second season.

.Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler in his latest post discussed OITNB and the Sophia character.

Sophia’s choice to rely on strategy and intellect instead of her body to get what she needs, is not the limit of her sexual agency. As a trans woman who is married to a cisgender woman, the portrayal of their relationship explodes overarching myths that have positioned trans women of color as sexually undesirable outside of pornographic imagery. At the same time, their union also calls attention to the nuances of marriage equality in relation to trans individuals who are victims of the prison industrial complex–an issue that has yet to gain traction in the marriage equality debate.

Please click this link to read the rest of Dr. Z's post entitled 'Orange Is The New Black and the New Black Trans Narrative'.