This Wild Trailer For Girls Trip (Finally) Celebrates Black Women Behaving Badly

Universal Pictures just released the red-band trailer for its upcoming film Girls Trip and let’s just say it earned its R rating. Girls Night stars Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish as a group of friends heading to New Orleans for the ESSENCE Festival to turn up and hook up. It may or may not pass the Bechdel test, but I think it can definitely give Bridesmaids a run for its money in the all-girl adventure comedy category. What I love most about the assumed premise of Girls Trip is that it doesn’t seem to punish Black women for being overtly sexual. Being well-behaved is usually what Black female characters have to fall back on when they face adversity. Letting loose and having fun is still a privilege only afforded to white women thanks to the politics of respectability. We can thank filmmakers like Tyler Perry for always attaching HIV, addiction, or moral deficiencies to those that dare to have sex without remorse. But in real life and on screen, Black women are pushing back on the demand that we act like proper ladies all the time. Rihanna’s perceived string of casual flings is some women’s #relationshipgoals. The popularity of women like my personal lord and savior Cardi B. is a testament that “hoes” have more fun. As Black women continue to embrace sex-positivity, Girls Trip seems to have caught that wave. The film was written by Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and is scheduled to hit theaters in July. You can check out the trailer below.