The Bechdel Test and Gender Equality in the Film Industry

The issues of an oversimplified analysis in assessing the representation of women in cinema

Nelli Abdullaeva (SoSe 2021)

1. Introduction

„I have this rule, see… I only go to a movie if it satisfies three basic requirements. One, it has to have at least two women in it who, two, talk to each other about, three, something besides a man“, said Mo, a lesbian heroine of the comic strip called Dykes to Watch Out For, created by an American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985.[1] This little comic strip has inspired the so-called Bechdel test, also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test and Mo Movie Measure. The test has been used as a gauge of gender inequality in film and has gained increasing popularity in the last 20 years.

The original inspiration behind „The Rule“ comic strip came from Bechdel’s friend Liz Wallace (hence the Bechdel-Wallace test) and, more broadly, from Virginia Woolf and her 1929 essay A Room for One’s Own.[2] In her paper, Woolf states that in fiction, women are almost always shown „in their relation to men“[3] and not as independent human beings with their own feelings and struggles. In addition to that, the relationships between women are described as „too simple“[4]. Based on that critique and Wallace’s idea, the sketch was created by Bechdel and applied to the mostly male-dominated film industry of the 1980s.

Nowadays the Bechdel test has not only gained the mainstream audience’s attention but also inspired numerous variations. The user-edited database of thousands of films called bechdeltest.com was created. The movies are analyzed there according to the three Bechdel’s rules with an original addition that the two female characters must be named.[5] Despite being originally intended as a joke, the test has become „the standard by which feminist critics judge television, movies, books, and other media“[6]. The test is also known to be applied to video games, comic books and theatre plays.

This essay, however, will concentrate on the media that was originally criticized by Bechdel, namely the film. As it was previously established, the Bechdel test has become a prominent measure of female representation. For instance, in 2013 four Swedish cinemas have started to use a new movie rating system that was based on the Bechdel test. This system is supposed to evaluate the level of gender equality or lack thereof. To get an A rating, the movie has to fulfil all three requirements[7] of the Bechdel test. The initiative was supported by the Swedish Film Institute.[8] As seen from this example, the Bechdel test sets some kind of standard that is expected to be followed for the movie to get a better rating or review. This paper aims to examine the issues that such usage of the Bechdel test poses for both the film industry and the question of female representation on-screen. The central thesis of an essay is that while being an important trigger for the discussion of gender inequality in film, the Bechdel test itself is flawed and should not be used as a standard for measuring said inequality. The main problem of the test is that it oversimplifies the aspects of the representation and narrows them down to just three criteria that cannot reflect upon the complicated dynamics of both fictional and real-life relationships. Throughout the paper, three arguments supporting the thesis about the oversimplification will be made. Said arguments will be substantiated by two pieces of research, conducted by the author of this essay. In the conclusion, the arguments will be summarized and the alternatives to the Bechdel test will be suggested.

2. The Issues of an Oversimplified Analysis

Considering the origin of the Bechdel test, it isn’t that surprising that it can be seen as too simple and imprecise. After all, as mentioned, it was just a satirical remark on the comic strip originally. Alison Bechdel did not intend for the test to gain such popularity or be used as an important feminist gauge. Nonetheless, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the Bechdel test is defined as a „set of criteria used as a test to evaluate a work of fiction (such as a film) on the basis of its inclusion and representation of female characters“[9], thus suggesting that no matter what the original intention was, the test has evolved into something bigger over time. Still, the original outline of the three criteria remained and this outline poses a few problems due to being overly simple and lacking in-depth explanations.

The first problem with the Bechdel test is the fact that it does not indicate the quality of any examined film. This issue is not as relevant for any discussions about gender equality, but it is important for the film industry that produces the content for an audience that includes women. The second problem of the test is that it does not truly measure the level of female representation, despite being about women. It can be said that the test rather focuses on the quantity of the representation over its quality, though the quantity aspect can be questionable just as well. The last problem is quite vague due to the vague criteria of the test itself. Many individual circumstances can lead to the movie failing the Bechdel test without being misogynistic or otherwise problematic with its gender equality. It is also worth noting that some of the Bechdel test criteria can be seen as limiting when it comes to the portrayal of women on-screen. These three problems of the Bechdel test are to be addressed and explained in depth in the following chapters.

2.1 Passed Bechdel Test ≠ Good Movie

When the movie passes the Bechdel test, it is given an A rating by a few Swedish cinemas as well as a cable channel. Granted, four cinemas and one Swedish TV channel do not mean universal critical acclaim, but it creates a certain precedent that means that to be deemed „good“ the movie needs to meet the three of Bechdel’s criteria. But what about other factors? What about artistic value, directing, story? Does one single conversation between two women about anything but a man make a movie truly great? It really does not.

„The key ingredients that make a movie “good” are when the acting, directing, writing, cinematography, and overall production value all come together to tell one cohesive, entertaining, and impactful story. In essence, a good movie uses all these tools of filmmaking to tell a compelling story that makes you feel.“[10] – such is the basic assessment of what makes a good movie that is taught at any film studies class. This topic can be discussed in its own essay, but it is irrelevant for this paper. The point concerning the Bechdel test is the fact that the movie does not need to have all of those „key ingredients“ to pass. The story has to be neither solid nor compelling.

For example, out of ten top rated movies on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), only three would pass the Bechdel test on bechdeltest.com. As of July 2021, these movies would be The Dark Knight, Schindler’s List and Pulp Fiction.[11] Researching the lowest rated movies proved to be more complicated since almost none of them are to be found at the bechdeltest.com database. Instead, Indiewire’s list of critically panned high-grossing movies was used for comparison. According to that list, four out of ten movies would pass the test, namely Suicide Squad, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Couples Retreat and Saw 3D[12] The difference between what is considered „best“ and „worst“ movies is almost insignificant if one would solely judge them based on the results of the Bechdel test. Yet the actual artistic and visual quality of the movies should be taken into account as well as the writing. If any average person would want to go watch a movie that has a good rating due to passing the Bechdel test, they might find themselves quite disappointed, should the movie have two female characters in a so-so conversation, but otherwise none of the „good movie“ key elements. Because the Bechdel test was never designed as „a judgment on the artistic quality of the work – good movies can fail the Bechdel Test, and bad movies can pass.“[13] This can lead the potential audience that includes women to consume the low-quality content just because the false assessment was made and the false expectation was set, thus making the Bechdel test unreliable, when it comes to judging the film’s quality.

2.2 Passed Bechdel Test ≠ Adequate Representation of Women

Another major issue with the Bechdel test is that it could not evaluate the actual quality of representation of women on-screen. In its original form, the test is rather about the quantity of said representation. You need two women, in dialogue, talking about anything besides a man in order to pass. It is never specified how important these two women in question have to be for the overarching plot, how developed as characters. And their conversation? It can last for less than a minute of the overall screen time and be completely irrelevant. Yet if they don’t discuss men, it would still be enough to meet all three requirements of the Bechdel test.  It can be argued that these conditions are less than the bare minimum of an adequate representation. But the Bechdel test is the industry standard when it comes to measuring gender inequality. So, based on less than simple requirements of the test, a studio can produce a male-dominated, possibly even misogynistic movie, add one short scene of two women talking, pass the Bechdel test and move on. Granted, many popular, high-grossing and critically acclaimed movies still manage to fail the test. According to bechdeltest.com database, out of all the movies analyzed (8076 as of July 2021), only 57.6% of them meet all three requirements.[14] Still, even if the movie passes, its quantity of female representation can be more than questionable. As well as the quality of said representation.

To prove my point, I’ve conducted a small experiment. As a future film studies major, I feel obliged to watch the movies as often as possible in order to always learn something new. A month ago, when the idea of this essay came to me, I’ve decided to watch one movie daily for a month. The movies were picked randomly. The majority of them are American feature films, but animated features, as well as international movies, can be found in the table below as well. I’ve analyzed each of the thirty movies myself using three of Bechdel’s requirements but also judging the quality of the representation of women.

If the movie has a female protagonist, or any female characters significant to the plot that are not just sidekicks for the male protagonists, if they have their important character arcs and meaningful conversations, if the movie can be considered empowering for the female audience, it gets a „Yes“ regarding representation. If none of these elements is present, the movie gets a „No„. In case the portrayal of female characters can be considered as objectifying or misogynistic, despite said characters being relevant protagonists, the representation is to be treated as „Controversial„. With the results of the Bechdel test as well as the representation evaluation, the movie gets put into one of four categories: „Pass“ (3/3 Bechdel test, „Yes“), „Fail“ (0-2/3 Bechdel test, „No“), „Questionable Pass“ (3/3 Bechdel test, „No“ or „Controversial“) and „Questionable Fail“ (0-2/3 Bechdel test, „Yes“). The detailed results can be seen in the table below:

Table 1: The Bechdel Test vs. Representation

TitleBechdel TestRepresentationStatus
1. Battleship Potemkin1/3NoFail
2. Black Swan3/3YesPass
3. Call Me by Your Name3/3NoQuestionable Pass
4. The Danish Girl3/3YesPass
5. The Edge of Seventeen3/3YesPass
6. Girl, Interrupted3/3YesPass
7. Girlhood3/3YesPass
8. Goodfellas3/3NoQuestionable Pass
9. The Grand Illusion1/3NoFail
10. Gravity0/3YesQuestionable Fail
11. The Holy Girl3/3ControversialQuestionable Pass
12. I Care a Lot3/3YesPass
13. I Lost My Body1/3NoFail
14. In Bruges1/3NoFail
15. Innocence3/3ControversialQuestionable Pass
16. Interstellar1/3YesQuestionable Fail
17. Kill Bill: Vol. 13/3YesPass
18. Kill Bill: Vol. 23/3YesPass
19. M3/3YesPass
20. Memory Box3/3YesPass
21. Monty Python and the Holy Grail2/3NoFail
22. Moonrise Kingdom3/3YesPass
23. My Neighbor Totoro3/3YesPass
24. No Country for Old Men3/3NoQuestionable Pass
25. Okja3/3YesPass
26. Reservoir Dogs1/3NoFail
27. Silver Linings Playbook3/3YesPass
28. The Trial1/3NoFail
29. The Virgin Suicides3/3ControversialQuestionable Pass
30. The Witch3/3YesPass

From the research, it can be seen that exactly half of the movies passed both the Bechdel test and my evaluation of the female representation. Seven movies failed both, but another eight are a different matter. Out of these eight, six got „Questionable pass“ and two – „Questionable fail“. I’d like to examine two movies from both of these categories.

The first example is Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. The synopsis of the movie is: „A young man grows up in the mob and works very hard to advance himself through the ranks. He enjoys his life of money and luxury, but is oblivious to the horror that he causes“.[15] The film features three male leads and is generally male-centred, but it still passes the Bechdel test. How? In a couple of scenes, the wives of the mafia bosses discuss luxury clothes and shoes. The wives are irrelevant to the general plot, showcased mainly as accessories to their husbands and are repeatedly abused and cheated on throughout the movie. And that is all it has to offer regarding representation.

Another example of a „Questionable Pass“ is Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Girl. The movie revolves around an adolescent catholic girl Amalia who gets sexually assaulted by an older man. The film passes the Bechdel test with ease, considering that the protagonist is usually surrounded by other girls. Yet the representation of its heroine can be seen as highly controversial. According to the synopsis[16], the assault triggers Amalia’s sexual awakening. During the course of the movie, she allows the same man to assault her again and forms a rather disturbing bond with him. Considering that she is also a minor, the movie can be seen as unsettling, even triggering, its representation of female characters peculiar and questionable.

The two movies with a „Questionable Fail“ are coincidentally both about space. First, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar has a male lead but also features multiple female protagonists, two of which are vital for the plot. Both of them have continually progressing character arcs, they are presented as intelligent and independent scientists and are complex three-dimensional characters. Yet Interstellar still fails the Bechdel test. Why? These two never directly communicate with one another, only once via a prerecorded message. The lack of communication is unsurprising, considering that one of the women, Dr. Brand, is on a mission in an open space for the majority of the movie.

The last and probably the most infamous example of the Bechdel test’s drawbacks is Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. The entire film features just two protagonists, a woman and a man, stuck in space. The female protagonist, Dr. Stone, proves to be a clever, resourceful woman whose choices help move the plot forward and whose character arc can be considered empowering and inspiring for the female audience, thus doing a lot for the female representation on-screen. Still, the movie fails the Bechdel test, fulfilling none of the requirements, because there are only two major characters in the entire movie and one of them is a man.

The examples cited above prove that the Bechdel test is not truly a gauge of gender equality in the movies. A few, or even just one meaningless conversation about a topic that can be seen as stereotypical (such as clothes or make-up) is enough for the otherwise male-led movie to pass the test, whereas an entire feature film that serves female empowerment might not. Even Alison Bechdel has acknowledged this flaw, saying how Jackie Brown „absolutely fails the Bechdel test but it has one of the strongest female protagonists seen in a Hollywood movie — it’s an amazing feminist text“[17].

To truly serve the gender equality agenda on-screen, female characters should be as complex and compelling, as competent in making their own decisions and as motivated as their real-life counterparts. A strong, independent and fierce fictional woman can inspire the audience without necessarily having to meet all of the Bechdel test requirements. At the same time, the idea that two women cannot talk about a man without a movie being considered non-feminist is bizarre. The basic idea behind the entirety of feminism is that women are allowed to make their own choices and discuss whatever they feel is right. Discussing male love interests on-screen may help enforce the discourse about female sexuality, discussing sons and fathers etc. is a normal part of any real-life dialogue, while conversations about men, in general, might serve the feminist agenda, depending on the context. The point is, every single movie, every single relationship and every single written dialogue is unique and complex. One simple test that sets the bar of representation so low, while being flawed at the same time, should not be the standard method of the gender equality evaluation used by professional critics and journalists. The Bechdel test fails where it matters most – when it comes to the quality of said representation.

2.3 The Bechdel Test and its Exceptions

The last, but not least problem of the oversimplified analysis that is the Bechdel test is the fact that it does not take many important exceptions into account. Filmmaking is an artistic process; thus, it is full of artistic liberties and assumptions.

One of the movies that I’ve watched during my experiment cited above is Battleship Potemkin. This is a silent movie that was created before sound was introduced to the film industry, hence there are no spoken lines of dialogue, only the music accompaniment. It failed the Bechdel test because it had no female protagonists, but what if they were there? Many other silent movies feature female leads, Metropolis for instance. So, what if a silent movie had two women in conversation? It can never be heard, only written as a subtitle, so does it count? That can be disputed. What if the plot requires the characters of the modern movies to communicate only via sign languages, as A Quiet Place does? What if one of the women in question is not a human, but a machine with a woman’s voice, like in Her? There are so many narrative possibilities that would probably never apply to Bechdel’s rules, but would still work as the instruments of representation.

Another simple issue that was already touched upon before is a small cast. Gravity is not the only movie to feature two characters, so does My Dinner with Andre, Before Sunrise etc., the list can go on for quite some time. Same problem with any movie with just one cast member. The story can potentially be empowering and meaningful, yet such a movie would inevitably fail the Bechdel test.

One last and probably the most obvious exception is the setting that does not have any women in it per se. The entirety of The Lord of the Flies is set on the island and the book author intended that no girls are present. The top-rated movie on the IMDb, the database already mentioned, is The Shawshank Redemption, a critically acclaimed masterpiece that could never pass the Bechdel test simply because it is set in a correctional facility for men. The same could be argued about countless amounts of movies about the war.

The last, but not least problem of the oversimplified analysis that is the Bechdel test is the fact that it does not take many important exceptions into account. Filmmaking is an artistic process; thus, it is full of artistic liberties and assumptions.

One of the movies that I’ve watched during my experiment cited above is Battleship Potemkin. This is a silent movie that was created before sound was introduced to the film industry, hence there are no spoken lines of dialogue, only the music accompaniment. It failed the Bechdel test because it had no female protagonists, but what if they were there? Many other silent movies feature female leads, Metropolis for instance. So, what if a silent movie had two women in conversation? It can never be heard, only written as a subtitle, so does it count? That can be disputed. What if the plot requires the characters of the modern movies to communicate only via sign languages, as A Quiet Place does? What if one of the women in question is not a human, but a machine with a woman’s voice, like in Her? There are so many narrative possibilities that would probably never apply to Bechdel’s rules, but would still work as the instruments of representation.

Another simple issue that was already touched upon before is a small cast. Gravity is not the only movie to feature two characters, so does My Dinner with Andre, Before Sunrise etc., the list can go on for quite some time. Same problem with any movie with just one cast member. The story can potentially be empowering and meaningful, yet such a movie would inevitably fail the Bechdel test.

One last and probably the most obvious exception is the setting that does not have any women in it per se. The entirety of The Lord of the Flies is set on the island and the book author intended that no girls are present. The top-rated movie on the IMDb, the database already mentioned, is The Shawshank Redemption, a critically acclaimed masterpiece that could never pass the Bechdel test simply because it is set in a correctional facility for men. The same could be argued about countless amounts of movies about the war.

As seen from just a few examples, the Bechdel test does not account for multiple types of exceptions and is therefore invalid when it comes to judging certain films.

3. Conclusions

The Bechdel test is a smart remark on the many problems of the film industry concerning women and their on-screen presence. Yet it appears that the original commentary that Alison Bechdel was trying to make was a little bit different. „While generally taken as a feminist concept, part of Bechdel’s original point was about how lesbian women specifically feel isolated from popular media. When there are so many examples that fail, and female characters often spend all their time talking about the men in their lives, women who aren’t attracted to men can feel justifiably disconnected and underrepresented.“[18] Such was the original intention, but over time the test was misinterpreted and its point was lost. It is not a bad thing by any means. Probably the highest achievement of the Bechdel test, albeit unintended, was the fact that it started a conversation. The test has managed to trigger the discussion about female representation in film as well as in many other media. Furthermore, thanks to the Bechdel test, not only the gender equality in the media itself was examined, but also in the industry that surrounds said media.

Nonetheless, despite being a very important pillar of the feminist agenda in fiction, the Bechdel test itself is flawed and is too simple to actually gauge gender equality. As seen from the points made above, the Bechdel test neither indicates the movie quality nor adequately evaluates the representation of women on-screen, not to mention that the test ignores multiple exceptions from its rules. The Bechdel test has started the idea that representation can be measured, but due to its problems, it should not be the standard by which critics, journalists and feminists alike judge films and other media.

The Bechdel test has inspired many alternatives that can be seen as more precise and nuanced ways to evaluate gender equality. For instance, the Mako Mori test, inspired by the Pacific Rim’s female protagonist, is centered around the question of whether a female character has her own plot arc that is not just supporting the man’s story.[19] Both of the films that got a „Questionable Fail“ during my research due to failing the Bechdel test, but still having empowering female protagonists, would pass the Mako Mori test, whereas most of the movies from a „Questionable Pass“ category would not. There are also other great alternatives to the Bechdel test that can be applied to different media, e. g. the Sphinx test and Johanson analysis.[20]

The test has also been prominent for inspiring similar tests about the representation of other groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community (the Vito Russo test[21]) and people of colour as well as ethnic or religious minorities (the Shukla test[22], the Riz test[23], the DuVernay test[24], the five Latif questions[25], the Josephs test[26]). Clarkisha Kent[27] has developed an important intersectional test, The Kent Test, that concerns the representation of women of colour on-screen.

It can be seen just how much Alison Bechdel has achieved with her little comic strip from the 1980s. Numerous amounts of people, whether professional critics, scholars or just average viewers, felt inspired and compelled enough to try and create their own method of evaluation of representation. And while the Bechdel test should stop being the standard due to being oversimplified and should be better left in history, its greatest achievement, namely starting this new tendency to ask questions and critically evaluate, will continue to live on.

[1] Alison Bechdel, The Rule, DTWOF: The Blog, 16 August 2005, https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/the-rule/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[2] Cf. Megan Garber, Call It the ‘Bechdel-Wallace Test’, The Atlantic, 25 August 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/call-it-the-bechdel-wallace-test/402259/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[3] Virginia Woolf, David Bradshaw (ed.), Stuart N. Clarke (ed.), A Room of One’s Own (1st ed., John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2015) 60

[4] Ibid.

[5] Cf. Bechdel Test Movie List, https://bechdeltest.com/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[6] Kay Steiger, No Clean Slate: Unshakeable race and gender politics in The Walking Dead (BenBella Books 2011) 104

[7] Just a reminder: 1. Two female characters, 2. Have a conversation, 3. About something other than a man

[8] Cf. Associated Press in Stockholm, Swedish cinemas take aim at gender bias with Bechdel test rating, The Guardian, 6 November 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/swedish-cinemas-bechdel-test-films-gender-bias, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[9] Bechdel Test, Merriam-Webster dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bechdel%20Test#h1, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[10] Harvey Grant, The 5 Key Ingredients To A Good Movie, Filmdaft, https://filmdaft.com/the-5-key-ingredients-to-a-good-movie/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[11] Top Rated Movies, Internet Movie Database, https://www.imdb.com/chart/top/?ref_=nv_mv_250, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[12] The 10 Worst-Reviewed Films That Were Box Office Hits, Indiewire, 09 June 2017, https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/10-worst-reviewed-films-box-office-hits/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[13] The Bechdel Test, TV tropes wiki, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[14] Cf. Bechdel Test Stats and Graphs, https://bechdeltest.com/statistics/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[15] Alison Bechdel, The Rule, DTWOF: The Blog, 16 August 2005, https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/the-rule/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[16] Cf. The Holy Girl, Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_holy_girl, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[17] Shayan Farooq, It’s time to retire The Bechdel Test, The Tempest, 13 November 2015, https://thetempest.co/2015/11/13/entertainment/time-retire-bechdel-test/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[18] The Bechdel Test, TV tropes wiki, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[19] Cf. Aja Romano, The Mako Mori Test: ‘Pacific Rim’ inspires a Bechdel Test alternative, daily dot, 18 August 2013, https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/fandom/mako-mori-test-bechdel-pacific-rim/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[20] MaryAnn Johanson, Where Are the Women? rating criteria explained, Flickfilosopher, 21 April 2016, https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2016/04/where-are-the-women-rating-criteria-explained.html, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[21] Rich Ferraro, GLAAD Introduces ‚Studio Responsibility Index,‘ Report on LGBT Images in Films Released by ‚Big Six‘ Studios, GLAAD, 20 August 2013  https://www.glaad.org/releases/glaad-introduces-studio-responsibility-index-report-lgbt-images-films-released-big-six, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[22] Nikesh Shukla, After the Bechdel Test, I propose the Shukla Test for race in film, NewStatesman, 18 October 2013, https://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/after-bechdel-test-i-propose-shukla-test-race-film, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[23] Yusuf Abeer, Finally, There’s a Bechdel Test for Muslim Representation, Vice, 24 August 2018, https://www.vice.com/en/article/43peap/finally-theres-a-bechdel-test-for-muslim-representation, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[24] Manohla Dargis, Sundance Fights Tide With Films Like ‘The Birth of a Nation’, The New York Times, 29 January 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/movies/sundance-fights-tide-with-films-like-the-birth-of-a-nation.html, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[25] Nadia Latif, Leila Latif, How to fix Hollywood’s race problem, The Guardian, 18 January 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/18/hollywoods-race-problem-film-industry-actors-of-colour, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[26] Jerusalem Post staff, After NBC airs tone deaf episode of ‚Nurses,‘ Orthodox Jews hold AMA, The Jerusalem Post, 12 March 2021, https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/after-nbc-airs-tone-deaf-episode-of-nurses-orthodox-jews-hold-ama-661817, (accessed 23 July 2021)

[27] Teresa Jusino, Introducing “The Kent Test” for Female Characters of Color in the Stories We Tell, The Mary Sue, 9 March 2018, https://www.themarysue.com/the-kent-test-for-woc/, (accessed 23 July 2021)

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Source: Nelli Abdullaeva, The Bechdel test and gender equality in the film industry: the issues of an oversimplified analysis in assessing the representation of women in cinema, in: Blog ABV Gender- und Diversitykompetenz FU Berlin, 13.12.2021, https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/abv-gender-diversity/?p=155

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