Sophia Burset's Transition in 'Orange Is The New Black'. Season 1, Episode 3 'Lesbian Request Denied'

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: The following paper will deal with the topic of transgender in the context of the literature seminar 'Doing (Trans-)Gender'. The primary source will be the Netflix series 'Orange Is The New Black', created by Jenij Kohan and published in 2013, which deals with the topic 'transgender'. The series is about the women's prison of Litchfield, its inmates and their different stories. This paper will focus on how the transition of the transgender character Sophia Burset is represented in Season 1 Episode 3 'Lesbian Request Denied'. First, the theoretical background and approaches on the issue of transgender will be explained. This includes definitions of certain terms and explanations related to transition. It follows a narrative analysis, which means the analysis and interpretation of certain scenes of the episode that deal with the issue of transition on the basis of the theoretical approach explained in the previous chapter. A conclusion and final thoughts will be given at the end of the term paper.