“Cassandra Clare, The Bechdel Test and why Criticising Women Isn’t Anti-Feminist.”
"The limitations of the [Bechdel] test itself highlight many other issues with media and entertainment, something [Cassandra] Clare and many other writers, of YA and otherwise, don't seem aware of. You can pass the Bechdel Test ridiculously easily if you wanted to. Have two women talk about the weather on the bus and it passes. Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency suggested an additional rule to the test: the conversation must last longer than a minute. That minute plus long talk can be about anything non man/romance related and technically it'll pass, so two women slut-shaming someone or having an insultingly sexist conversation can still passed. The problems with the test are evident."
Christina and I wrote a piece on The Book Lantern about Cassandra Clare's flop of a movie, Ally Carter's claims that we should support stories like The Mortal Instruments for the good of women in film or something, why the Bechdel Test isn't the get out of sexism free card, and how it's possible to be a woman criticising another woman and not be a misogynist. You can find the post here.
Christina is now on BookLikes too, you can find her here.
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The Book Lantern ladies are always so thoughtful and in-depth with actual research and a ton of pure awesomeness. Also, I am obsessed with the Bechdel test and apply it to every movie I watch.