Recently, there was a question from a man in another group on how to write women. It garnered him some unfair criticism and he was berated for things that "he should already know" or "He shouldn't be trying to write women if he's asking that type of question" blah, blah, blah
I've been working on passing the Belchel test in my writing for awhile. It has helped to better flesh out women characters in my narratives.
How often does your work pass this test?
A brief definition:
The Bechdel test is a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women be named is sometimes added.
According to user-edited databases and the media industry press, about half of all films meet these criteria. Passing or failing the test is not necessarily indicative of how well women are represented in any specific work. Rather, the test is used as an indicator for the active presence of women in the entire field of film and other fiction, and to call attention to gender inequality in fiction. Media industry studies indicate that films that pass the test perform better financially than those that do not.
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How interesting! Thank you for sharing.
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I think the Bechdel test is an antiquated metric - it's possible to pass that test and not serve the goal of having women adequately represented or feature as well-rounded characters.
If you have two named female characters talk about bubble gum (and not talk about a man), you've passed the test.
However, that does not mean you have characters with a purpose, opinions, unique points of view, a voice, or the ability to evoke emotions in a reader.
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Interesting. I think I really need to just survey women (politely, of course) about how to write them.
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My works pass the Bechdel Test often because most of the main casts in my scripts are women.
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My approach to writing women: write a male character, then change all the pronouns to she / her afterwards.
No character arc driven off of finding a husband. No life centered around the men in their lives. No Avengers 'women get it done' cliche. Not strong; not weak; fully fleshed-out. Potentially sexy, but not sexualized. Potentially supporting character, but not a human prop. Just like any decent character written for any actor.
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Jai Jackson In AS GOOD AS IT GETS, famed author Jack Nicholson is asked how he writes women so well. His reply, "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability." (Don't do this.)
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@All Not heard of test, it’s rule of thumb is 2 women talk about something other than men? Surely instead should be “CHARACTERS” talk interestingly enough for reader to give a damn about turning the page? Neither age, sex/gender, race, mindset or social status should be singled out individually to need permission to speak by any yard stick test. There are successful films where women talk about men excessively cos it belongs in a particular “Story” but this does not make script nor actresses/actors intellectually inferior. Is there a test for two men not to talk about women in excess? If so what is it called? And why has the test obviously failed in many films? There are many “isms” at play in society, now it seems we have Bechdelism.