Bechdel test

[ bek-duhl test ]

noun

1. a test of gender stereotyping and inequality in fiction, having a number of variations and used especially with movies, based on whether the work includes at least two fairly important female characters who talk to each other about something besides a man.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Bechdel test¹

First recorded in 2005–10; named after U.S. cartoonist Alison Bechdel (born 1960); first introduced as a nameless concept in a 1985 comic strip in Bechdel's series Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008), later credited to Bechdel's friend Liz Wallace