Every Tuesday afternoon in between classes, I sit at my desk, eat lunch, and watch the newest episode of the Broski Report by Brittany Broski. She can’t go a single episode without talking about men: celebrities she’s delusional over, twitch streamers she dreams about, and fictional men she wishes into reality. She admits this theme, and she admits that she fails the Bechdel Test over and over.
What is the bechdel test?
The Bechdel Test evaluates media based on three criteria:
- There are at least two women who…
- … must talk to each other…
- … about something other than men
When the test was created in 1985 by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, it called out how women were unequally portrayed in media. Women were contained within conversations about men and their existence was defined in relation to men. The test really was a test of the male directors and writers who created these female characters. Did they think that women could think or talk about anything else besides men? Do women have a life outside of men?
Where does the bechdel test stand today?
In the years since 1985, media representation of women has improved, showing that women are complex and intelligent individuals.
However, the test has come into real life context, as seen with Broski’s admission to never passing the test. As 21st-century women, is it okay not to pass the Bechdel test?
I say yes. Female friendships are relationship-based. Giving and receiving advice on how to relate to others, including men, bonds us. Whether they be real or internet para-social relationships, they all need to be evaluated through multiple female minds.
My favorite memories of being a young girl are talking to friends about which boy we thought was the cutest and making a game out of guessing who we had a crush on. We had a new crush in each grade and noted every hallway sighting. Even now, as a nineteen-year-old college sophomore, I talk to my friends about my campus crushes and my all-consuming situationship.
Rewriting the test
I propose a revision to the test. The real-life Bechdel Test has more to do with the content than the subject of the conversations between women. If I’m second-guessing who I am in relation to a man, then I fail the real-life Bechdel Test. If I’m invigorated by a possible relationship with a man, then I pass. The real-life Bechdel Test determines if that delusional state of yours is the fun kind or the scary kind.
The relationships we are in (or not) are just a sliver of our lives, yet we should be allowed to talk about them whenever and however much we want without undermining our intelligence.