Chicks, flicks, and more microagressions

Despite being the canine persuasion, Humphrey is not what you’d call outdoorsy. He’d much rather spend an afternoon sprawled on his favorite chaisse with a bag of Humpty Dumpty Party Mix and some good television shows (including, of course CTV News).

With all his recent contemplation of microagression, he’s found himself applying the Bechdel Test to his viewing to identify gender bias. Now, the Bechdel Test (created by Liz Wallace and popularized by artist Alison Bechdel who featured it in a comic) is pretty simple to use. To pass it, the movie or television program….

1. must have at least two women characters with names…
2. who talk to each other…
3. about something other than a man.

Sounds simple, right? But surprisingly few movies pass this threshold!

Humphrey’s highly unscientific tests have actually confirmed others’ research and reporting – that there’s a lot of gender bias in the media!

Of course, passing or failing the test is no guarantee of good gender representation but it is indicative of problems. And those problems, are of course, the acts of microagression he talked about in a previous post.

 
In the past week, he has applied the test to New Girl, Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, Big Bang Theory, The New Normal, and 30 Rock. Most of these shows are predominantly about women – and yet, they didn’t pass! Think about it - even shows with strong women, like 30 Rock, are reduced to un-Bechdel discussions because of patriarchal structures. For instance, the recent storyline in which Tina Fey's character was involved in presidential politics meant that most of the dialogue (especially with Jenna) centred around presidential candidates that are men. Had the presential candidates been women, it might have passed! Similarly, in the recent New Normal, several of the conversations among women were about Jesus - again, the patriarchal structure of the religion meant that the conversation necessarily failed the Bechdel test.

Humphrey will keep on watching his favorite stories - but with a far more critical eye.