The Bechdel Test and Me

Recently I started looking into something I'd heard about only slightly called the Bechdel Test. In order to pass the test there are three criteria that must be met.

1. There must be at least two female characters
2. Who speak to each other
3. About something other than a man/men.

This test is applied to movies and TV shows to look at how women are presented. Mainly, the goal of the test is to try and shed some light on how infrequently women exist in movies independent of their relationships to men. Think about your favorite movies. How many of them pass this test?

This test is interesting for a lot of reasons. It's very revealing when looking at the percentage of movies that pass, but when the actual movies themselves are examined, passing the test doesn't always mean the movie is female friendly, or contains a strong female role model. Similarly, not passing the test doesn't mean the movie is antiwoman. After all, according to the Bechdel Test Movie List Paranormal Activity 3 passed the test while the final Harry Potter movie does not.

After all, a thing to note is that the test doesn't care if the women talk about stereotypically "girly" things like shoes or make-up, so long as they aren't talking about men. As a result plenty of movies that don't provide positive female role models or positive messages about women pass. Meanwhile an action movie where the strong female leads discuss defeating the evil male bad guy, would fail.

It's also interesting  because of how strict the definition of men is. The test doesn't care if the women are discussing a romantic lead, an ailing father, or a mortal enemy, if the person about whom they are speaking is male, the movie fails. My problem with this is when the topic of conversation is about a public figure. If the women are discussing the recent actions of the male president and how they feel about it, I'd view that as a pass, because they are discussing politics, however according to the test, it is a fail because they are talking about a man. Luckily from what I've seen, while my president example would fail, a discussion about congress would pass, because it is an organization, even if it is an organization mostly made of men. A more concerning part of the test is that women who discuss their daughters pass, but women who discuss their sons don't. While this makes sense when characters are talking about adult children, if characters say "Nathan rolled over today. Did Bobby" "Why yes, Bobby did." instead of Lucy and Emily, I feel this should be a pass.

The test is further complicated with the added requirement that the female characters be named. The purpose of this restriction was to avoid movies in which two background characters that have nothing to do with the story are the only reason it passes (ie. Police Woman 1: Boy it's hot today. Police Women 2: Sure is. Say what's that? Police Woman 1: Why it's a meteor. And it's heading right towards us!). Unfortunately, there is no clear definition of named. Do the characters have to be addressed by name during the movie, or is it sufficient for them to be named in the credits? There is no clear indication, which leads to interesting fights in forums about the test.

I think the Bechdel test is a useful indication about how women are presented in film and other media, but it cannot be used alone. Context is not a part of this test, and context must be provided to fully understand what is going on in the world of media in regards to women.

Feeling Like a Grown-Up

I am not a grown-up. This has been pointed out to me on several occasions. However, the past few days I noticed myself engaging in activities that I would classify as "stuff grown-ups do".

I set the table without being asked (twice now). In the past I would have done it but would probably have needed to be asked.

After my mom came to me and asked that I call someone during business hours about something, I did it the next morning, before my Mom and Dad both called (separately) to remind me. In the past this has been the sort of thing where I'm told I need to call them on Monday and I maybe got around to it on Thursday.

When my Dad asked to me tell my Mom that dinner was ready I went upstairs, found her, and told her in a normal speaking voice. I totally would have yelled up the stairs.


I know I'm not a grown-up. But I've clearly started taking some small steps towards adulthood and maturity. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

I feel like the fact that I meant to write this yesterday somewhat proves my point that I'm not a grown-up yet.

First Day of Classes (Winter 2012 Edition)

As a student in a school that uses the quarter system, today was my first day of Winter Quarter. It did not start well, but then it got better.

I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night. Eventually though I awoke and discovered it was past 9 AM, the time when my alarm clock was supposed to go off. I was understandably concerned and asked my roommate if it had gone off. She informed me that it had not because I had forgotten to plug my iPod into it. Then I woke up for real and discovered that it was around 8:45 AM, my roommate was asleep and I had been dreaming. I went into the dozing state. After a little while I looked at my watch and discovered it was 9:05. My alarm really hadn't gone off. Then I remembered that I had changed my alarm from 9 to 9:15. I lay in bed, somewhat nervous, somewhat sleepy until my alarm went off at the correct time.

I then got up and went about my morning routine before heading to class. I got there just as the previous class was exiting, that is to say, 10 minutes early. Strangely, there were only about 6 of us in the room. Someone pulled out her phone and checked online. Apparently, the room had been changed. It was now 1 minute until class. Luckily, I got there on time and found a seat quickly.

This is where my day started to improve. I had not bought any textbooks yet, except for my chemistry book as it was also the book used last quarter in chemistry. I had looked online at some of my books and was prepared to buy them once the teacher confirmed that they were the right books. Sure enough my math teacher had a slide featuring the math book. He then went on to tell us that he didn't like it and that we really wouldn't need it, so there was no need to buy it.

My next class I went to I learned that I would need to buy it, and since this was the first year they were using a school specific version of the text, I would have to buy it new from the school bookstore. However, my teacher made it clear very quickly why he's a sought after professor so at least there's that.

Next class was chem where I already had the book. The teacher was also very good and made a flying spaghetti monster reference, so yay.

Finally I had my last class. The bookstore website had listed 1 book for the class. During his introductory lecture to us, my professor told us we'd need three books. Then he let us know that they were available for free online and that he would have links to the relevant material.

Basically I only had to buy one textbook (though I did have to buy it new). So far this year is off to a great start.

The Next Few Days are Really Big

Just a reminder to everyone about the big events coming up in the next two days.

Tomorrow, December 15, the House Judiciary Committee will be voting on the Stop Online Piracy Act. This is not something that should pass. This bill will stifle creativity and hurt independent creators online. Please call or email your representatives and tell them not to support this bill. I'll put more information about how to help down below.

Friday is also a big day. December 16 is "Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars Day". This day was created in honor of Katie Goldman, who last year was bullied for having a Star Wars water bottle, because she's a girl. The original story can be found here. The idea behind this day is to celebrate geek pride, but also to encourage the breaking down of gender stereotyping. This is a cause I hold dear to my heart. While I have been fortunate in that those who bullied me never focused on my interest in things that are considered to be "boy things" (like Science, Karate, Math ect.) bullying of any kind is hurtful, but this type of gender stereotyping can be especially hurtful.

When I was coming home from school this weekend I stopped by the airport bookstore and overheard a mother talking to her daughter about the types of coloring books they had. The mom pointed out a Dora the Explorer book as well as a few other things, but what stopped me cold was when she said "They have Spiderman, but you're a girl, so you don't want that." It's one thing if another kid makes a comment like this but for a mother to say this to he daughter infuriates me. While I may prefer Batman to Spiderman, I get the feeling that to this woman both fall under the category of "boy things". Maybe this mother knew her daughter didn't like superheroes, but if that was the case, why not say "but you don't like that". Saying that her daughter shouldn't like something simply because she's a girl is only reinforcing an outdated cultural idea.

Please help celebrate "Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars Day" and put an end to gender stereotyping. For more information click here.

The final big event is the Project for Awesome, which begins Saturday at noon and last through Sunday as well. This is an event on YouTube where people are encouraged to make videos promoting their favorite charitable organizations, as well as viewing the videos made by others and liking, favoriting and commenting on them so that they are more likely to be put in the front page of YouTube. This is an annual event, and does a lot of good. Even if you can only look for a little bit, this is such a worthy cause. You may even find a new favorite charity. While I'm not making a video, I will be writing about some of my favorite charities on Saturday, as well as spending as much of the day as possible on YouTube liking, favoriting and commenting to help promote this great event. More information can be found on the project for awesome website, which will be getting updated more as we get closer to Saturday.

Here is more information about SOPA:

Definitions

So I've been thinking lately about the way we define ourselves versus how we actually are. For years I was able to read in the car without a problem, even though others in my family couldn't. Recently I've become aware that I might not have this ability anymore. Mostly because I got sick after the drive to the airport to come to school after reading in the car. Yet, because I define myself as someone who can read in the car without a problem I still don't think of myself as someone who gets carsick. Currently I'm blaming the fact that the road leading up to the airport was very bumpy, and have therefore amended my definition of myself to someone who can read in the car as long as it's not bumpy.

A more positive proof of definition failure is that for years I got really puffy and red whenever I cried so that people could tell I'd been crying literally hours after the fact. I still think of myself as someone who gets this way even though I've noticed that it isn't really true anymore (YAY).

The point of all this is that I'm starting university now. I've always thought of myself as a good student, particularly when it comes to math and science. I don't know if this definition is going to hold true for university, but I hope it does. There are somethings about ourselves that must change and somethings we pray never do.

Update: I went to my first class in the middle of writing this and it was awesome! Obviously the first class will be very different in terms of difficulty from say, the final, but so far I'm feeling pretty good.