We've all heard of the Bechdel test. I know it's not a cure-all to sexism and hidden patriarchy, but it is a good question to ask as a writer.

For those who don't know, the original "Bechdel test" posited that 99% of movies don't have two female characters talking to each other about something other than a male. Basically that women in fiction usually exists just to further the plot of male characters.

My novel is first person PoV of a middle school boy and he's part of a trio with two other teenage girls (these are the main 3 characters). But because he is the only PoV, it can never pass "the Bechdel test." Otherwise, I think I've made the other two main characters fairly fleshed out characters.

  • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    There's plenty of stories with nuanced female characters with their own motivations completely independent of any man, who don't happen to talk to each other. Also, there's some pretty sexist stories that DO pass the Bechdel test.

    If you want to see how applying it to individual stories rather than more broadly is flawed, technically, all lesbian porn, even the very male gaze heavy ones, passes the Bechdel test.