For those who aren't up on modern feminist lingo, The Bechdel Test was created by feminist cartoonist Alison Bechdel in her comic Dykes to Watch Out For and works this way: for a movie to pass this test, it needs to have at least two female characters who converse with each other about something other than men. Sadly, most movies don't actually pass the Bechdel test (think about movies you love, now think about if the female leads talk about anything other than men). Surprisingly, some movies do pass Bechdel with flying colours (Machete Kills passes the test, while Star Wars and Lord of the Rings do not), and you can actually look up a movie on the Bechdel Test website.
Recently, in Sweden, four movie theatres have added The Bechdel Test rating to their films in order to draw attention to the fact that very few movies actually do pass a test that we would all think is so simple that most should.
I think adding the rating is a great idea because I think even many women who think that equality is mostly achieved will be shocked to see how far from true that idea is. Very rarely in cinema do we see two women actually conversing about anything other than men, and when we think they might, they don't. Romantic comedies don't always pass the test, Sci Fi rarely does and Action disappoints, too.
One of my favourite holiday movies, Love, Actually theoretically passes because Emma Thompson's character, Karen, has a brief conversation with her daughter, Daisy, but it's the only time in the entire movie that two women are not talking about men. I don't know about you ladies, but I BARELY talk about men with my friends. It's probably less than 5% of our conversations.
Instead, I assume that most women talk about the same things that I do when conversing with other women. Here is my order ranging from what I love talking about to least talked about (your order may be different):
My YMC blog/pop culture (tied for first place)
My Business (tied for first place)
Shopping/clothing/trends
Wine/food
My kids
Exercise
.
.
.
Men
Way down at the bottom: men. Yet, according to films made by both men AND women, I should only want to talk about men, 100% of the time.
Sorry guys, I love you, but what can I say that needs repeating? Not a damned thing.
Does the Bechdel Test stop me from seeing movies? Nope. What it does do is help me think more critically about the pop culture I'm consuming and how to discuss things with my boys as I raise them. Help them to be critically thinking feminist men who appreciate women for more than their relationship to the men around them.
Because we are more than that. We are SAHMs, we are WAHMs, we are business women, friends, sisters, and children. Our worth and our lives don't revolve around the men we keep our company with; our worth lies in who we are and what we're interested in. And we sadly still need to be reminded of that.
What do you think of the Bechdel test being added to some Swedish theatre's film ratings systems?
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