The Feisty Chick-O-Meter and the Bechdel Test

"Dear Teya, why do you have the Feisty Chick-O-Meter on your blog?" Asked no one ever.

Well, Fictitious Reader, I'm glad you asked. The Feisty Chick-O-Meter is actually based off of The Bechdel Test. What is The Bechdel Test you ask?

The Bechdel Test originally came from Allison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Look Out For, from the strip, The Rule. The Test assesses a movie or book to determine if women are accurately and realistically portrayed, and to establish how large a presence they have in that film or book. To pass The Test, a book or movie has to meet three simple criteria:

1. The book or movie has to have at least two female characters with names,
2. These women have to have a conversation with each other, and
3. They have to talk to each other about something other than men.

For such simple requirements, you’d be amazed at how many books and movies fail miserably. Maze Runner, fails spectacularly on every front, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy fails disappointingly because while there are four female characters, over the course of the entire series, none of them ever speak to each other. I will cut LotR some slack because Eowyn is so awesome and I love the series, but seriously nine make up the Fellowship of the ring, and not a single one is a woman? Surprisingly, Furious Six passes with flying colours.

Now, just because a movie or book doesn't pass the Bechdel test, that doesn't mean you should write it off immediately. There are a lot of good films out there with one or no female characters, and strong female characters (sometimes leads) whose movies fail The Test. Also, unlike in the comic above, don't consider The Test to be a rule that you're not allowed to see anything that fails The Test; just keep it in the back of your mind each time you go to the movies or open a book and decide whether women are fairly and equally represented. (SMURFS I'M LOOKIN' AT YOU).

But back to the Feisty Chick-O-Meter. I wanted to come up with my own test to see how strong the female characters are in the books and movies I review. My criteria aren't as structured, but it takes into account:

• How many female characters there are
• How much time said female characters spend crying, or unconscious
• Whether they are capable of and do rescue themselves
• If they have their own back-story and heroes journey, or if they are there purely to advance the male protagonist's story arc

(Bonus points if they are armed with weapons and/or witty comebacks.)

While The Feisty Chick-O-Meter is not an imitation or replica of the Bechdel test, it's pretty safe to say that if a book of movie fails the Bechdel test, it's not going to get a particularly high score on the Feisty Chick-O-Meter

This is a really good video on The Bechdel Test by one of my favourite YouTube channels, Feminist Frequency.