Bechdel Test

One of the coolest things I have gotten to do at my University is take a class in Graphic Novels. One of those novels was called "Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel, which portrayed a young girl coming to terms with her father's sexuality and her own. Many in my class snickered at the drawings portraying lesbianism, some even felt extremely uncomfortable or made jokes to "lighten the mood," but I found it to be unique and insightful.

Then, as I was beginning to write my final paper in the class, I started Googling authors of these novels for more background information and came across the Bechdel Test's website. This "test" is a movie rating system that deals with feminism and goes against what we consider "gender norms." The rules are as follows:
1. The movie must have two (named) women
2. that talk to each other
3. about something other than a man, finding a man, marriage to a man, etc.
What I find intriguing is not only the very small list of movies that fit this criteria, but how focusing on these three aspects can open up a whole new world for young(er) women who want to watch a movie that isn't all about love/marriage/etc. Most of my favorite movies don't meet this criteria at all (namely because most of my favorite movies have male leads).

I'm wondering if this rule, or test, could be used with literature as well? How many of my favorite novels would be considered "unfit" by this rule? It's an eye-opener on how gendered and biased our culture still is and how women are still being told to conform into the stereotypical gender roles. Just something to make you think about how our society has "evolved" to where we now sit.

Why Gay Marriage is Bad -- Just wanna let you know, this is PRO gay marriage.

I know it's a "chain-mail" thing, but I couldn't help myself.

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Re-post this if you believe love makes a marriage.

+Andi