Sophia Burset Character Analysis

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For the OITNB presentation, my group and I decided to analyze and critique how Laverne Cox’s character, Sophia Burset, differs from a typical black transgender woman. Although there were a few similarities that were found between Sophia and the typical transgender woman, the differences outweighed the similarities. For this project, my main argument was to show how Sophia Burset was a character that embodied an unrealistic perception of a transgender woman in prison from her appearance, hyperfeminization, her life before prison, and the crime she committed that led to her incarceration.
As a Black transgender woman, Sophia’s background differs from the lives of a typical Black transfendr women of of color for several reasons. Rather than being homeless, lower class, or having to participate in sex work or selling drugs to survive, she is middle class, married, firefighter who is incarcerated for credit card fraud. The reason why she was arrested was not because she was black or transgender, but because her son turned her in. In most cases, transgender women of color are targeted simply because of their race and class status. Transgender women of color have to overcome more barriers than just their sexuality, which is something the show does not touch on. This was most likely because they wanted to overemphasize her sexuality rather than
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This is because they are placed in a men’s prison, rather than a woman’s. In a man’s prison, their body is more vulnerable and more easily taken advantage of by the general population.Sophia is special in this case since she has already received the gender reassignment surgery. Most transgender women have not foregone the surgery, therefore, are placed in a men’s prison where they are sexually and physically assaulted. Although Sophia was assaulted, it was not the same experiences that the women in the documentary mentioned going