Addendum to the Bechdel-Wallace test
Sep. 5th, 2011 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackTalking with Liv, I started suggesting addenda to the Bechdel-Wallace test.
* "is there a female (or other non-white-male-majority-culture) who you describe first in terms of what she does, rather than as 'this woman who...' or in terms of her sexual relationship to the main character?"
* "is there a prominent emotional relationship which is non-sexual?"
My questions would be:
1. Any more?
2. Is it sensible to suggest simplified heuristics for complex problems? (Upside: raise awareness. Downside: encourage simplistic evalutations and even worse, writing to pass the test rather than avoid the underlying problem)
3. Suggestions for names, possibly also webcomic-author related? (Should Shaenon Garrity have one? Should #1 be called after Ripley?
* "is there a female (or other non-white-male-majority-culture) who you describe first in terms of what she does, rather than as 'this woman who...' or in terms of her sexual relationship to the main character?"
* "is there a prominent emotional relationship which is non-sexual?"
My questions would be:
1. Any more?
2. Is it sensible to suggest simplified heuristics for complex problems? (Upside: raise awareness. Downside: encourage simplistic evalutations and even worse, writing to pass the test rather than avoid the underlying problem)
3. Suggestions for names, possibly also webcomic-author related? (Should Shaenon Garrity have one? Should #1 be called after Ripley?