On Yuletide and Bechdel

[whatimages]

I thought about amending my Dear Author letter to include this, but as it's already longer than the actual minimum assignment length, I thought I'd make a new post. This is basically a remix of this post but with less coherence. But I thought I'd say it anyway, because Bechdel has come up this Yuletide with regards to the "Misses Clause" challenge

Comments

[trialia]

Not to sound self-centred, but does this have anything to do with what I said in my dear yulegoat letter? I only want my femmeslash to pass...

[whatimages]

Er, what? I was referring to the "Misses Clause" challenge-within-a-challenge thing posted at yuletide. I'll edit to make that clear--I don't want people thinking I'm taking passive aggressive pot shots at them!

[trialia]

Ah, I wasn't sure. I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm rather stoned just now, to say the least, and I'm having a hard time processing. Thanks for the clarification.

[sainfoin_fields]

Not to mention the fact that the Bechdel pass, and the implicit stamp of feminist approval it carries, actually hinges on the (absence of) men. It doesn't matter if a woman is nuanced, complex and individuated--if a man is in the scene, or mentioned in the scene, it's an automatic fail. It's a test ultimately dominated by the presence or absence of men. Which...is sort of the opposite of feminism.

Yes. UGH. This was a constant issue when judging my (best beloved and IMO, probably the most successfully feminist sci-fi series I've ever seen) Sarah Connor Chronicles, and given that the mere fact of a heterosexual marriage HAPPENING SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD is enough to make ~feminists~ flunk Bridesmaids -- a movie 97% about relationships between women -- I'm so frigging done with this test dominating the conversation.

I mean I'm super glad Hollywood has started to get the memo, but for actual humans... really?

[whatimages]

P MUCH.

Also, I feel like Bechdel is a super extra useless barometer when it comes to fanfiction, which is much smaller scale and is operating within an established universe. The rules are different, I think, because the way fanfiction operates is different from the way original fiction and popular media work.

And I mean, there's something to be said for examining the way fandom treats women. But could we maybe...start with the endless parade of white dude slash that so frequently marginalizes or villainizes the ladies? COULD WE START THERE? Het is really not the problem here.