8 Times Orange is the New Black Was The Most Feminist Show on TV

It takes a special kind of woman to keep her power when she's supposed to be powerless, her dignity when she's meant to be ashamed. It just so happens that Litchfield penitentiary has no shortage of such women.

8. Piper lays her cards on the table.

"Isn’t that part of the self hatred that has been bred into me by the patriarchy? And those same men that will shame me? Are they not the same men that will wear my panties on their head, inhaling deeply?"

Piper artfully harnesses some pure feminine, er, spunk from the inmates. Sadly this kind of DIY, illegit industry is pretty much the only way for prisoners to make a profit which outstrips their typical $1 a day legit prison job. 

7. Pennsatucky alludes to her troubled past.

"No offense but men being in charge hasn't ever done me any good."

Pennsatucky's tragic backstory was compounded when she was raped by a prison guard. A recent report shows that a shocking half of all prison rapes are perpetrated by guards.

6. The inmates learn a little more about their bodies.

"Get to know your own cha-chas!"

In this case it took someone who's had to work to achieve female genitalia to actually know what's going on down there. Knowledge is power. And, Ms Cox, we love you. 

5. Piper refuses to be let anyone blame her emotions on her gender.

"By all means, attribute my legitimate feelings of sadness to menses."

You might want to read this twice. In prison, inmates are generally expected to BUY their own tampons/towels from the commissary. OMG. And let's not even get started on male prison guards coming out with the sort of crap encompassed in this quote. She's in prison, she's sad. Period. And word is that forced sterilization still occurred until 2010. We cannot even. 

4. Janae reminds us that it's a double-whammy for non-white prisoners.

"Because the white man said so."

Although people of color make up only 30% of the US population, they account for 60% of the country's incarcerated. 

3. Nicky knows who she is... 

"Someone who doesn't get excited by the wedding industrial complex and society's bullshit need to infantilize grown women."

It's just a shame that prisoners are generally dumped on the streets with a few dollars and not much other support. We doubt she'll be wandering straight into any Vaseline screen moments.  

2. Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren defies labels. 

"I am not crazy. I am unique." 

Labeling women 'hysterical' or 'crazy' has a long, sordid history that goes back centuries, but thanks to that fetish-loving lightning rod Dr. Freud, it became a pretty legitimized thing to call women 'crazy.' Suzanne bucks against at least a century of pychiatric oppression to eschew the term and use the label she feels best fits her! Feminist indeed! 

1. A strong woman gives a lesson in survival

"The second you're perceived as weak, you already are."

To survive prison, experts say you have to really brazen it out. Show no frailties. Hold back the tears.