On June 17, 2016, Netflix gifted the world with season 4 of "Orange is the New Black" (OITNB). All of our favorite inmates of Litchfield are back in this season, cracking jokes and causing prison drama. It's not all fun and games, though. It is prison, after all. Season 4 of OITNB deals with murder, the stigmatization and treatment of mental illness and rape culture. During season 3, inmate Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett landed the coveted van driving job, forming a very inappropriate relationship with C.O. Charlie Coates along the way. Coates used his power to humiliate and rape Pennsatucky, which drove her to purposefully wreck the prison van so she could be free of her job, and him. This unlikely pair and twisted relationship is a reflection of society's rape culture.
For perpetrators, rape is about power and control, not sex. Coates has power over Pennsatucky in multiple ways. He's a corrections officer, he is a male, he can bribe her, and he's not in prison, just to name a few. During the development of the unlikely pair, Coates uses his power to make Pennsatucky do things that would never happen in a healthy relationship. He makes her act like a duck during their trips to the park and crawl around like a dog. He literally reduces her to being an animal. After much "flirting" and "courting," he rapes her in the van, securing his power over her.
During season 4, Pennsatucky constantly checks on the woman who became her replacement, looking for the same signs of rape she herself suffered through. She finally asks Coates if he has raped any of the other inmates, and his response is staggering. Coates did not see what he did to Pennsatucky as rape. She never gave him consent, but he didn't see it that way. Eerily familiar to the stories of rape victims on college campuses every day.
Boo, Pennsatucky's confident, had a very powerful response to Coates' actions as well. She supported Pennsatucky, but kept pushing her to be angry and hateful. When Pennsatucky toyed with the idea of going back to Coates, Boo threatened the severance of their friendship and pressured her to stay away. Pennsatucky found the strength within herself to forgive Coates, but Boo fought that as hard as she could. While her feelings were valid, they were not justified.
The most striking similarity between the story of Pennsatucky and Officer Coates and rape culture in society is that everyone else had an opinion about how Pennsatucky should feel. Coates thought she was overreacting and was unwilling to think of the rape he committed as anything but a good time. Boo simply didn't listen to Pennsatucky. She was hurt, not angry. All Boo wanted to see was a hate-filled Pennsatucky seeking revenge, and when she didn't get that, she wasn't happy. No one should tell survivors how to feel. Everyone has their own journey and healing process, and that has to be enough. No one gets to tell a survivor how to feel, that's up to them.
