So someone posted an entry regarding The Bechdel Test. Basically the Bechdel Test is a test for fiction/movies/media that works as follows. In order to pass the test a work must have at least two women in it who talk to each other about something other than men. Which, I admit, is NOT what the entry I read was really saying. It is what others have said, and it is a findable attitude of anger that things don’t pass this test and that somehow invalidates them. No, the entry somehow equated Bechdel to a measure of quality which is even stranger to me, but moving on…

On one hand the Bechdel Test makes sense. There are a lot of things that do not pass this test. A ton! The Odyssey, for one! Still, it can be a problem, the way women are treated in fiction.

But here is my problem, as a writer:

Who the fuck are you to tell me how to write?

Where are the laws about gay characters? How many minorities should I have in a given story? Do you want to tell me how many dogs? Antelope? They’re under represented all the time in fiction!

Christ I understand it’s a problem but come on. This doesn’t raise awareness. It doesn’t do anything but sound like a bigger problem. One forcing people to write to spec.

Yes, every writer should write real people, assuming the are writing about real people. I mean, no one gets on Y, the Last Man for not having enough men, right? It’s part of the story.

Are non-white-male characters often getting a short stick in terms of their portrayal in fiction? Often. Is anyone even half seriously using a test to see if a work “passes” a criteria a good response? No.

I could write you, and I am so fucking tempted right now, a story with women, that passes this test and also features every stereotype known to man, every racial slur, every horrible thing anyone would get mad at. But it would pass this test.

So yes. As a concept the test shines a light on a problem. However, taking it as an applied thing can create even more problems.

So there you go.

On an utterly reverse topic, and yet not, is the use of gays in modern fictional stories. Specifically TV and comics come to mind. If you create a gay character for any reason you are considered to be shoehorning them in for political reasons. You can not, it seems, have a character be gay simply because they are. That concept is not yet understood.

Which is frustrating. I actually saw a review of a book, a superhero book, where the reviewer said that the two women kissing threw him out of the story because it wasn’t something he could directly relate to. Apparently he can directly relate to wearing his underwear on the outside and fucking well flying around town, right?

Still. I wonder if he ever thought that there’s a gay guy in Topeka that can’t relate to all the men/women pairing going on.

Now the two seem related, don’t they?

They aren’t on all levels. One isn’t saying “Here’s a test to tell if something passes a criteria”. It’s just saying that the AUDIENCE, not the writers, are not accepting what the writers are trying to do: reflect reality.

Which brings us right back. The Odyssey. It doesn’t pass. Well. All right. But uhm, are we allowed to take the time of creation and political and social state of the world into account for older works? I don’t know.

Christ this whole thing is bullshit. Writers? Bullshit. Readers? Bullshit. Editors and publishers? Bullshit. And fuck me, I fit in all 4 categories to one degree or another. So take everything I say as having a large chance of being bullshit. Cause there you go.

Now think for yourselves and have a nice day.