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Original poster

Tried to explain the Bechdel Test to DS and ended up making him cry. Advice on doing a better job next time very welcome.

27 replies

SolidGoldBrass · 16/09/2013 00:30

DS will be 9 next week and lately we have been having chats about Life and Ethics and Opinions and stuff. So tonight I decided to introduce him to the Bechdel Test as a way of looking at films/books/TV programmes. DS loves writing stories, and therefore immediately applied the test to his own stories. All of which failed. DS cried. I feel horrible and mean. I tried to explain that there are quite a lot of films/stories/TV programmes which are really good but which don't actually pass the Bechdel Test, and that it's not a measure of merit, but I still feel horrible and mean. Anyone got any advice?

OP posts:
burberryqueen · 16/09/2013 00:58

never heard of it til just now when i had to google it - now sitting here racking my brains about films, books etc.....

TheMagicToyshop · 16/09/2013 00:56

Oh no! I guess it this could lead to a conversation about how gender norms go so deep they are part of our imaginations? It reminds me of that theory about how there are only six stories ever told or something (might need to google that!). Not sure how to put that in 9yr old terms though.

Maybe you could look at films and stories he enjoys and talk about what happens if you apply the test, it doesn't make the story worthless, but how could the characters be different? How would changing gender change the character/story? I guess it's about realising that portraying a man as a hero and woman as damsel (for example) doesn't mean you are sexist at all but just that things might be more unpredictable or interesting if gender roles were different?

I don't know if that's helpful but I thought your question was really interesting.