The Baffling Gender Politics of Netflix’s New Stanford Prison Experiment
Netflix's reality-TV restaging of the notoriously unethical study incorporates women—but doesn't know what to do with them.
From left: Chris Lee, Shavonnah Jefferson, and Kiana Goana in The New Stanford Prison Experiment —Netflix. This article explores all six episodes of Netflix's The New Stanford Prison Experiment. Scholars have long debated the lessons to be drawn from Philip Zimbardo's 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, which was criticized for its ethical implications when it was conducted.
However, the experiment's popularity has persisted, with the reality-TV machine eager to recreate its dramatic scenarios. Netflix's attempt at a modern retelling of the study, while taking steps to appear more legitimate, fails to adequately address the inclusion of women in the experiment and the dynamics that arise from combining male guards with female prisoners.
The show's inclusion of three female participants is notably limited, as they are all assigned to positions of authority over the male prisoners. The reasoning behind this choice is unclear, as it limits the representativeness of the experiment and fails to provide a comprehensive examination of the potential power dynamics at play.
While the producers have taken measures to ensure the safety and psychological well-being of the participants, the decision to exclude transgender, nonbinary, and queer individuals from the experiment remains unaddressed. The addition of expert commentary from a corrections officer, journalist, and behavioral scientist does little to enhance the experiment's credibility, as their brief contributions do not provide substantial insights into the issues raised by the limited female participants.
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