Where Are the Women? Dawn Patrol

A proudly sexist movie in which slut-shaming and policing a woman’s sexual agency is inherent to the plot, and not in a way that condemns those attitudes.

BASIC REPRESENTATION SCORE: 0

[no significant representation of girls/women]

FEMALE AGENCY/POWER/AUTHORITY SCORE: -8

+10

Is there a female villain or antagonist? [why this matters]

-20

Is her villainy/badness defined primarily by her gender (ie, is it related to motherhood, or is it of a sexual nature)? [why this matters]

Is there a woman whose role could easily have been played by a man? [why this matters]

THE MALE GAZE SCORE: -40

-5

Is a woman introduced ass-first? [why this matters]

-5

Is a woman or women used as decorative objects/set dressing? [why this matters]

-10

Are one or more either a protagonist or significant supporting character? [why this matters]

-20

Is this a major recurring visual motif? [why this matters]

GENDER/SEXUALITY SCORE: -20

-5

Is there a female character who is primarily defined by her emotional and/or sexual relationship with a man or men? [why this matters]

-5

Is there a female character who is primarily defined by her emotional or biological relationship with a child or children*? (*in this case, adult children) [why this matters]

-10

Does a man police or attempt to police a woman’s sexual agency? [why this matters]

WILDCARD SCORE: -5

Is there anything either positive or negative in the film’s representation of women not already accounted for here? (points will vary)

In one scene, a male character we’re intended to see in a positive way attempts to force his girlfriend to have sex with him… and it only stops being rape once he announces he’ll marry her, at which point she starts screaming in ecstasy. (This dynamic is emblematic of the film’s ideas about romance.)

TOTAL SCORE: -73

IS THE FILM’S DIRECTOR FEMALE? No (does not impact scoring)

IS THE FILM’S SCREENWRITER FEMALE? Yes, one of two credited (Rachel Long) (does not impact scoring)

BOTTOM LINE: This is a proudly sexist movie in which all women are crazy (and the “hotter” they are the crazier they are) and slut-shaming and policing a woman’s sexual agency is inherent to the plot… and not in any way that condemns those attitudes.

Click here for the ongoing ranking of 2015’s films for female representation.

NOTE: This is not a “review” of Dawn Patrol! It is simply an examination of how well or how poorly it represents women. (A movie that represents women well can still be a terrible film; a movie that represents women poorly can still be a great film.) Read my review of Dawn Patrol.

See the full rating criteria. (Criteria that do not apply to this film have been deleted in this rating for maximum readability.)

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