On Scream, “Exposed,” secret after secret was exposed, and Emma learned that the reason that she and Will were together was because he had made a bet with Nina that he could get Emma to have sex with him within a month and Brooke learned that her father was being blackmailed and that he had killed her mother.

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test

“Exposed” passed the Bechdel test but did not pass the Russo or race test.

Named women talked to each other several times in ‘Exposed” and because there were three instances where named women talked to each other and they didn’t mention men (e.g., Emma and Audrey talked to each other on two separate occasions about Emma’s sex tape and about the murderer’s victims and Emma and her mom talked to each other about their secrets), the episode passed the Bechdel test. The episode did not, however, pass either the Russo or race test as there were no LGBTI characters in the episode (Audrey does not identify as LGBTI) and the one time non-White characters talked to each other, they mentioned a White woman (e.g., the new non-White detective and her non-White subordinate talked about Nina).

*The Bechdel test entails three requirements:
1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

**The Vito Russo test entails three requirements:
1. The show contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and/or transgender
2. The character must not be solely or predominately defined by her sexual orientation, gender identity and/or as being intersex
3.The character must be tied into the plot in such a way that her removal would have a significant effect

***The race or people of color (POC) test has three requirements:
1. It has two people of color in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a White person

****Just because a show passes the Bechdel, Russo and race test does not mean that it is not sexist, heterosexist, racist and/or cissexist, etc. The Bechdel, Russo and race test is only a bare minimum qualifier for the representation of LGBTI individuals, women and people of color in television. The failure to pass these tests also does not identify whether the central character was a woman, a person of color or a LGBTQI individual and it does not dictate the quality of the show.