Girls trip 👍

Now, I was challenged to do the reverse Bechdel test on Girls Trip, so that's what I'll do

But - let's put this film through the evaluation process as well.
Firstly, I didn't want to see this movie. It's not what I usually want to see.
But I'm glad I did see it. It's good.

V Bechdel Test
Now,
does it pass Bechdel test? Yes. Two women talking about other things than men. All the time.
Does it pass reversed Bechdel test, two men talking about other thing than women? No

V Mako Mori Test
Yes.
Does it pass reversed Mako Mori test? No.

V Sphinx Test
Rotten Tomatoes 90% - IMDb 6.3
I think it's too limited to pass the "essential story with an impact on a wide audience" criteria.

The Maisy Test for sexism in kids' shows

V Gender Balance - Gender Representation:

Whole cast
111 - women 53: men 58

of credited: 67 - women 37: men 30
17 women and 15 men are celebrity cameos.
20 women and 15 men speaking roles
of which 9 had primary roles: 6 females, 3 males
the leading lady
her 3 best friends
her agent
her cheating husband
his mistress
would be boyfriend
a best friend's toyboy

narrator: female

Directed: male
Writers: 2 females, 1 male
Producers: 1 female, 4 male
rest of the staff: 87 females, 173 males 1/3 women yay!

most of the screentime and words for women
Nevertheless, men had acceptable representation; at least 1/3 males.

Gender Freedom:

"boys and girls" don't get to do the same things. Might be the main character is "the next Oprah", but she is very feminine and doing girly things.
Now, this is a movie about girls' adventures, but nowhere is it implied boys can't or shouldn't have adventures either.
I would say most characters follow traditional gender roles. One could say all the females aren't behaving very ladylike, but is that "subverting gender stereotypes"? The "male subversive" is having a man who says "no" to a very attractive woman whom he could easily take advantage of. It is made clear that he finds her very attractive and would very much like to have sex with her, but he says "no", because it's not right. It's obvious it's hard for him to do, but he does it anyway, and that is something I appreciate enormously. The male hero is a decent guy, and not a dog, which is the stereotypical male role. (He isn't macho either.)

All the females are very obviously female. All the males are very obviously male.
Now, I am not black nor USonian, so I can't say anything about how stereotypical these characters are, but I would say they are pretty "normal". Now, I know this is a comedy, so all the characters are somewhat caricatured. What I mean is that to me these people are the same type of people I have seen in movies like "Waiting To Exhale", "Beauty Shop", "Diary of a Mad Black Woman", "Why Did I Get Married" and "Phat Girlz", and in that very limited outsider view, I would say the characters don't step much out of the traditional gender roles.

Now, I would say all four ladies are decisive, assertive, strong people, and not some frail "come and rescue me" type of frail, romantic damsels. Now, I don't know how much this stereotype differs between the black and white community, this stereotype feels to me a bit white... My idea of black women is that they ARE strong, rather independent people, who are used to take care of themselves. But - what do I know. I just know my own culture, and in my white European culture, the traditional female stereotype is a medieval maiden or Victorian housewife. And they are both very European images... All I can say that to me it is empowering to see a woman attack a man twice her size just because he cheated on her friend. To me it's empowering to see a woman having made herself and doing it being a lady through the whole thing. I don't need to play by their rules, I can do it my way. It is empowering to know I don't need men, but I can enjoy a man's company, and "I'm worth it all, I can have it all" includes a man who is worth my love.

Now, it would have been nice to see at least some of these women to have a traditionally "male" career. It is good that they all have a job and none of them is a SAHM. (Not that there's anything wrong in being a SAHM, just that that is the most traditional gender role there is.) It is good that Ryan is a VIP, even though her area of expertise is traditionally female. It is good that Sasha is her own boss, but it's not good that she doesn't seem to be very good at her job... Lisa seems to be a nurse. Dina works at an office.

Also, I do appreciate these sisterhood/friendship movies. Yes, there are female characters who aren't in the movie because they are a man's wife, mother, daughter, sister.

Now, one thing traditionally not on women's list of interest, but very strongly on the list of interest of the women in this movie, is sex.
(I suppose one could discuss about the "exotic sex goddess" image of a black woman in movies... Now, I don't think this was in the mind of the people who made this movie, but... maybe it matters, maybe it doesn't.)

I also find Dina disrespectful, but her physical aggressiveness isn't stereotypical female, and it's kind of refreshing. If she just went around beating people up, I'd love her, but it's not OK she doesn't respect her friends' boundaries, and that I hate about her.

Gender Safety:

Body image... Queen Latifah isn't a skinny girl, and Larenz Tate is 5'7", so he isn't a beefcake, so I suppose it passes.
I would say boys and girls are treated respectfully MOST OF THE TIME. Dina doesn't respect anyone. Stewart, the cheating a-hole, doesn't respect his wife.

X There's a LOT of sexual harassment going on. Women doing most of it doesn't make it any less sexual harassment.
Indecent proposals, intimate references, obscene languages, innuendoes, double entendres, unsolicited and unwanted advances, word, gestures, behaviors. So this movie does not get "no sexual abuse" stamp.

Sexualization/objectification of people. There's one 21yo who is being strongly objectified here, and considering that all the leading ladies are over 35 and most of them over 45, the 21yo IS a child. And, yeah, he's a sexy lamp. (Sure, he has a name and lines, but he's there only to be had sex with.) He was depicted naked wearing only a grapefruit. Or two.
(Funny thing about that, Queen Latifah is making out with a lamp...)

I don't think this movie caters to "male gaze". Yes, there's a lot of skin and the ladies dress up to cater to male gaze, but the movie doesn't present the women as pinups. Now, the movie does express the idea of that you have to be "sexy" to "get laid", and that's important. The frumpy nurse is being mocked and people are horrified by her not having had sex for 2 years, even though she says she takes care of her sexual needs.

V Regina Hall and Queen Latifah were both 47 and Jada Pinkett Smith 46 when this movie was made. The fourth lady of the quartet, Tiffany Haddish, was 38.
The leading men are 41 and 42 respectively. Except for the 21 years old... He was in reality 23.

X Social Justice and Equality:

I don't think this movie passes this. Yes, there are white people in this movie. Ryan's agent is a white woman, who feels quite a lot like a caricature, and I think she's horrible. Dina's boss is a white man, and she has an Indian male colleague she terrorizes and abuses. And that's the diversity there is. Seriously.

The Representation Test

V It gets an A, being a movie about African-American women.

X The representation for all the other kind of people gets C or worse.
There are no disabled people in the movie. GLBT people are presented with the question "are you gay" being asked at least twice, and at least once in a mocking sense. If an adult man isn't married and have no children with one or more women, he must be gay.

How to make it better?

* Don't objectify men, don't stereotype men, give men some good roles too. Feminism isn't misandry nor Matriarchy. It's not feminism to treat men as badly as women have been treated. Feminism is equality and equity, where ALL genders get respect and rights and presentation.
* "All black" is just as bad as "all white". I wish they had cast a person of another color as Ryan's agent. Dina's boss could have been a Latina. The a-hole coworker who stole her lunch could have been a white person. I really don't care if they had cast all white people as a-holes. Come on, we have enough good representation, we can take it. And it would have been nice to see a black woman whip some white ass. Aren't the "Indian" POCs already enough discriminated? Do they have to be shown abused by their coworkers, too?
* Give the women less traditional work role. I mean, make Lisa a surgeon and Dina a cop or fireman. In this movie the only ones whose work meant anything in the plot were Ryan and Sasha and the consequences of Ryan abandoning Sasha for her man.
* There were two things about Black Panther that made me cry: 1) They casted DARK skinned people. 2) They casted women with natural hair. Now, I'm just a white girl, what do I know, but I am horrified by the fact that people damage their hair and skin because they are being told the hair and skin they were born with are not good, and Black Panther told them that it IS good. Some people actually chose to embrace their dark skin and natural hair because of it, and that is wonderful. Still makes me cry. I am disappointed at Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama for not having natural hair. In my eyes dark skin and natural, black hair are beautiful. In my eyes black people are beautiful. I would have appreciated more natural women in Girls' Trip.
* I don't like the clothes. I would have wanted more diversity in styles.
* I wish they had allowed Sasha to be gay.

I would like to say something here. I went natural. I have Scandinavian thin, straight, mousecolored hair. Now, it's not mouse colored, but that's how I see it. (It's sort of bronze colored... in some light it's pure grey. Grey as no color what so ever, not white, silver grey.) I would want it to be wavy-curly and red. I won't dye and perm it, because I want to learn to love my hair as it is. There's a lot of good things about it, if you ask other people. A lot of people are dyeing their hair to get it the color I have, and a lot of people wish their hair was straight like mine.
I also haven't shaven for years, and won't.