This clip is from the episode “We Can Be Heroes” of season three of Netflix’s show Orange is the New Black. Orange is the New Black tells the stories of women imprisoned in a U.S. correctional facility. In this clip, the inmate Big Boo discovers bruises on fellow inmate Pennsatucky’s wrist and realizes that she is being sexually abused by one of the prison guards. Pennsatucky denies she has been forced to engage in sexual activities, citing the fact that the guard has bought her presents and that she was “flirting too much and smiling.”

discussion

What reasons does Pennsatucky give for saying that what happened isn’t the guard’s fault?

For what reasons might Pennsatucky be unwilling to say that she was raped?

Pennsatucky tells Big Boo that she might not understand that “how sometimes when men get around boobies and stuff they don’t know how to act” because Big Boo is a lesbian. How does the clip’s discussion of sexual abuse relate to cultural ideas of gender and sexuality?

If you were Big Boo, what would you say to Pennsatucky when she claims that being forced to engage in sex is actually her own fault?