page_title: Tiffany Doggett
section_title: Critical commentary
hierarchical_section_title: Tiffany Doggett / Critical commentary
caption_attribution_description: Taryn Manning at Paley Fest promoting Orange is the New Black
context_page_description: Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett is a fictional character in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, portrayed by Taryn Manning. Manning was offered the role without needing to audition. The character of Doggett is based on a real-life prisoner, a "young woman from western Pennsylvania who proudly called herself a redneck". She is originally from Waynesboro, Virginia. Prior to her imprisonment, she is shown to be exchanging sexual favors for soda or money. Doggett is also known to have had five abortions. She is charged with shooting an abortion doctor and decides to hire a Christian lawyer; the ensuing support she receives from Christian groups leads to Doggett's becoming a born-again Christian.
  Doggett makes her first appearance in Season 1, episode 5 and initially is the main antagonist but becomes a protagonist in later seasons. In her debut episode, she unsuccessfully attempts to hang up a cross in the prison chapel and expresses homophobic views. She conflicts with Alex Vause and Piper Chapman throughout the first season. In the second season, Doggett's storyline revolves around her friendships with Sam Healy and Carrie "Big Boo" Black.
context_section_description: Doggett was widely perceived to have been the series' main antagonist in its first season. She was seen to be homophobic and racist; one Cosmopolitan critic described her as 'vile'. A critic for TV Insider described the first season Doggett as "terrifying, manipulative and so entirely unlikable" but also "hypnotic to watch". Horatia Harrod's review in the Daily Telegraph described Manning's portrayal of Doggett as "brilliantly unhinged". Other critics have praised the character, especially in the final episode of season one; calling her "fantastic", a "solid character" and "one of the best characters on the show". Some also felt that Manning's performance was worthy of an Emmy nomination.
  Following the release of the first season of Orange is the New Black, Doggett received some criticism from different media. Writing for The American Conservative, B. D. McClay claimed that Doggett was a poor and inaccurate representation of American Christians; "Pennsatucky is such an aggressively terrible character" and "her faith is neither well-understood nor well-drawn". Laura Leonard of Christianity Today, supports Clay's view and goes further to say "it was frustrating to see this one painful narrative represent Christian faith on OITNB, a show that masters other aspects of the melting pot so well", speaking about Doggett's background story and conflict with Chapman. Two critics for The A.V. Club also gave negative reviews of Doggett; Emily VanDerWerff says that "Pennsatucky never really comes together as a character in the same way as some of the others on the show" and Myles McNutt opted to criticize the storyline of the final episode of the first season specifically, saying that it "[treats] her like a cartoon villain instead of a real character". Betsy Leondar-Wright accused the series' creators of classism and said that Doggett was an "outrageous Redneck stereotype".
  Doggett's rape storyline in the third season garnered much reaction, both positive and negative. Jada Yuan of Vulture described the rape scenes (both the one in the flashback and the one involving correctional officer Coates) as "heartbreaking" and praised episode director Jesse Peretz's decision to keep the camera focused on Manning during the scenes. Megan Vick praised the 'transformation' of the character of Doggett, calling it "the season's breakout storyline and performance". McNutt, who had been critical of Doggett in the first season, spoke positively about the rape storyline.
  Marissa Higgins, writing for xoJane, contended that the show "didn't accomplish anything with their portrayal of sexual assault" and said that she disliked the way that the story ended with Doggett effectively quitting her job as van driver in order to avoid further contact with Coates. Emma Eisenberg, of Salon, criticized the scenes depicting Doggett growing up in Waynesboro as being "riddled with excessive Appalachian clichés". She went further by calling Doggett's mother unrealistic in her attitude towards sex: "the mothers I met [near Waynesboro] wanted their daughters to understand sex and to make informed choices". Eisenberg claimed that, therefore, Doggett's mother's speech about sex − "it's like a bee sting, in and out, over before you knew it was happening" − was not representative of people in Waynesboro at that time. Chloe Stillwell completely disagreed with Eisenberg and insisted that the character of Doggett was realistic: "Eisenberg's argument completely misses the point that perhaps the show is trying to be as real as possible, and acknowledging that there are real life Pennsatuckies in this world isn't to disenfranchise Appalachia."
caption: Manning was described by critic Horatia Harrod as "brilliantly unhinged" in her portrayal of Doggett.[57]
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