The American cartoonist Alison Bechdel incorporated her friend's "test" into a strip in Dykes to Watch Out For.
The Bechdel test (/ˈbɛkdəl/BEK-dəl),[1] also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, is a test to measure the representation of women in film and other fiction. The test asks whether a work features at least two female characters who have a conversation about something other than a man. In some iterations, the requirement that the two female characters have names is added.[2]
A work of fiction passing or failing the test does not necessarily indicate the overall representation of women in the work. Instead, the test is used as an indicator for the active presence (or lack thereof) of women in fiction, and to call attention to gender inequality in fiction.
The test is named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, in whose 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For the test first appeared. Bechdel credited the idea to her friend Liz Wallace and the writings of Virginia Woolf. Originally meant as "a little lesbian joke in an alternative feminist newspaper", according to Bechdel,[3] the test became more widely discussed in the 2000s, as a number of variants and tests inspired by it emerged.
^"Alison Bechdel Audio Name Pronunciation". TeachingBooks.net. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
^Raalte, Christa van (2015). "1. No Small-Talk in Paradise: Why Elysium Fails the Bechdel Test, and Why We Should Care". In Savigny, Heather; Thorsen, Einar; Jackson, Daniel; Alexander, Jenny (eds.). Media, Margins and Popular Culture. Springer. ISBN 9781137512819. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
^Morlan, Kinsee (July 23, 2014). "Comic-Con vs. the Bechdel Test". San Diego City Beat. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
The Bechdeltest (/ˈbɛkdəl/ BEK-dəl), also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, is a test to measure the representation of women in film and other fiction...
originating the Bechdeltest. Bechdel was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Helen Augusta (née Fontana) and Bruce Allen Bechdel. Her family...
movement. The Bechdeltest seeks to measure the gender representation within film and other fiction. The requirements of the Bechdeltest are that: A film...
The Bechdel Cast is a weekly podcast about the representation of women in film. It is named after the Bechdeltest. The Bechdel Cast is hosted by Los...
Culture Became Known as the 'BechdelTest'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-09-25. Bechdel, Allison. "Testy". Alison Bechdel blog. Posted November 8, 2013...
Alther's Kinflicks (1976) were to an earlier one". It introduced the Bechdeltest, a set of criteria for determining gender bias in works of entertainment...
demonstrating the limitations of the Bechdeltest.[clarification needed] It has been described as passing the test because it begins with a valley girl...
"Creating The Next BechdelTest". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 28 January 2019. Brainard, Curtis (22 March 2013). "'The Finkbeiner Test' Seven rules to avoid...
of sorts. As a consequence, works employing this trope often fail the Bechdeltest, an indicator of gender bias in fiction. In 2011, Pollitt discussed her...
Ultimately they came up with a test they named "The Riz Test", which has been compared to the Bechdeltest. The test came about following a speech given...
and popular culture from a feminist standpoint, such as applying the Bechdeltest to pictures nominated for the 84th Academy Awards in 2012 and highlighting...
our films: to be self-determining." The DuVernay test is the racial equivalent of the Bechdeltest (for women in movies), as first suggested by The Guardian...
Oxford University Press. September 2005. Selisker, Scott (2015). "The BechdelTest and the Social Form of Character Networks". New Literary History. 46...
only one or two aspects of female representation, such as the Bechdeltest or Mako Mori test. The analysis was developed by MaryAnn Johanson, also known...
theorists have considered the Bechdeltest, a popular test used in film to evaluate how women are represented in film. The Bechdeltest, named after 1980's cartoonist...
quality by critics, in a similar manner to whether the story passes the Bechdeltest. However, some have criticized this metric for causing authors to avoid...
localized version of its software in China. In May 2018, WriterDuet included Bechdeltest analysis functions to address issues of gender diversity in the screenwriting...
together, they rarely talk about men, causing the episode to pass the Bechdeltest. It criticizes the show, however, for showing career women like Willows...
(October 12, 2015). "Rachel Bloom on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Flipping the BechdelTest on Its Head". Time. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved...
"one of the great female-led films of the 21st century, passing the Bechdeltest with flying colors — which explains why Moore would be so keen to remake...
Hindu, Namrata Joshi writes that the film is "tailor-made" to fail the Bechdeltest, and suggests "Go with a boxful of tissues if you cry easily at the movies...
adopted policies on gender equality in media. The Bechdeltest, coined by cartoonist Alison Bechdel and originally created to evaluate popular fiction's...
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