Bechdelenalia

[andrewducker]

If you have an interest in The Bechdel Test (which a piece of media passes if it contains:
1) At least two women.
2) Who talk to each other
3) About something besides a man
)
then you might be interested in these two blogs:
http://thebechdeltest.blogspot.com/
http://bechdel-test.dreamwidth.org/

It's fascinating how much discussion is about whether a movie just about scrapes by...

(thanks to purpletigron for pointing me that way)

Comments

[ladysisyphus.livejournal.com]

I once had a (male) friend get miffy at me about the Rule, because, as his argument went, if you avoid all media that flunks the Rule, you'll miss out on a whole lot of good stuff -- and if the Test becomes the standard for super-happy feminist approval fun times, it'll mean anything that doesn't pass the Rule will be called sexist.

To which I said, no, even though the comic itself puts the Rule in the mouth of a woman who says she doesn't see any movies that don't match against it, very few people I know suggest that it's a valid filter for what media one should/not consume. Instead, it's more of an awareness tool -- if you want to understand how pervasively male most entertainment in this culture is, consider how hard it is to find something that passes. (TV series are easier than movies, mostly for sheer volume of material.)

...I also saw someone mention the Rule once on 4chan's /co/ board, looking for comics that passed the Rule. Responses were 10% comic suggestions and 90% keyboard mashing about how it's reverse sexism to force all these well-meaning comic authors to conform to uppity female ideas, women just want to whine how they're all so oppressed, is it so wrong for men to read stories about men, you never see them forcing men into chick lit, women don't read comics anyway, back in the kitchen bitch, etc. (Not that I go to 4chan for informed discourse, mind you, but still.)

[andrewducker]

I should hope not :->

And yes, it's clearly an awareness-raiser. Just having people think about _why_ there aren't any women talking to each other makes them think about things they might not otherwise think about, and raises the visibility of the issue.

It does seem traditional for people to go on the extreme defensive whenever issues of sexism or racism are raised. I can look at the issues and say "Huh. That's interesting." and then continue enjoying my silly action movies. But some people seem to take it as a threat - that they're being told "You must change" just because someone pointed it out.