Does your game pass the Bechdel Test?

[Deset Gled]

We talk about gender issues with gaming regularly here, and I think it's fair to say that many of us (including myself) believe we are fairly equal and non-prejudiced. Recently, though, I had an interesting realization: despite the fact that there's often more than one female present, I can't say for certain the last time a game that I played in passed the Bechdel test.

For those not familiar with it, the Bechdel test is a rough measure of gender bias in movies. In order to pass, a movie must meet three criteria:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. who talk to each other,
3. about something besides a man.​

There are some minor variants in judging the criteria. The most common corollary is that the two women must both be named characters. It is also common to debate how much conversation needs to happen to fulfill the second clause, and just how far men have to be removed from the situation (i.e. can a man be present during a conversation, and can they mention a man in passing as long as it's not the focus of the conversation?). I have also seen people question whether talking to non-humans counts, especially if it's with an animal of nondescript gender.

More info on the test itself can be found here: Bechdel test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or The Bechdel Test - Television Tropes & Idioms It should be noted that the Bechdel test is not a measure of feminism. Personally, I think of it as a test of our mass media in general, not the test of an individual work; it's understandable that not all movies will pass the test, but it's interesting/troubling how few do.

Obviously, applying the Bechdel test to gaming is a little different than applying it to a movie. The most obvious difference being that the gender of the players and characters don't always match, which makes determining a pass or fail downright confusing. Therefor, I would like to propose a modified test for gaming:

The Bechdel-Gled Test for Tabletop Gaming

Criteria A: In-game

1. There must be at least two female characters,
2. controlled by at least two different players,
3. who participate in an encounter,
4. that doesn't involve a man.

Corollaries:
a. The characters do not have to be human, but must be sentient beings.
b. The characters must be definitively female (not androgynous or otherwise non-sexed).
​

Criteria B: Out-of-character

1. There must be at least two female players,
2. who talk to each other,
3. about something besides a man,
4. that is germane to the game being played.​

So, ENWorlders, do you pass the test? Please consider both criteria separately, and think about things on both a by-session and by-campaign basis. You should also consider the reverse Bechdel test, where you swap the genders.

As I mentioned, I think I fail spectacularly. Even when there are multiple female characters, it's rare for them pass Criteria A. If the BBEG is a guy, it means every encounter that starts because of him or in pursuit of him involves a male in some way. And with a male DM, passing Criteria B becomes very difficult.

I first came up with these criteria to test a game of Dungeons and Dragons, but I think they can also apply to board games, multiplayer video games, or even card games with characters. I'd be happy to try and come up with more general rules to apply to any type of gaming.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

90% of the campaigns I've been in since 1998 fail this test.

But for a campaign I ran for about 18 months for a group composed of about 50% women, all of my gaming in that time has been in a group that is 100% male, and I'm one of only 2 players who even consider playing female PCs.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Criteria A is difficult to fill for most groups, to the point of being ridiculous to hold as an expectation. It requires a party in which there are no male PCs at all (or in the case of a split party, one where no male PCs participate), and the encounter needs to contain no male enemies at all. Thus a party with 5 women and 1 man facing only female opponents doesn't qualify, despite all the female interaction, just because one man helps out. (Although my upcoming Skull & Shackles party will be able to meet the criteria, as the players all have female characters planned.)

Criteria B is pretty much the same as the movie version of the test, so it's a little better. Both my groups meet it, as I, the GM, am female and the female/male ratio of players in my groups are 3/1 and 3/2 respectively. It's quite easy to have game conversations that don't involve men.

 

[gamerprinter]

My current gaming group passes the test.

There are two female players, who play female characters - one, currently a half-elf sorcerer, the other a female cleric. The half-elf character's player joined our gaming group about 2 years ago, whereas the other who invited her to join has been with us for 5 years.

While certainly some discussions include the subject of a man, not all as they are both eager roleplayers and discuss plenty of subjects IC and out. 1 is married, the other a single mother of two children (probably unnecessary information).

We have a total of six participants (sometimes seven), four of us (male) are in our late 40's and long time group, 1 male is the roommate to one of the females, he and both females are in their late 20's. 1 of the females is the daughter of our deceased GM from a decade or so ago - which is how we got hooked up in more recent years.

I think this qualifies as a pass.

 

[Serendipity]

With the exception of one on one games, I'm pretty sure all of my games since 1996 or so qualify. Admittedly, throughout almost all of that time at least 50% (and often up to 75%) of the players in games I run have been women.
I think the only games I've been involved in during that time that didn't fit that criteria would be games in which, as a player, I've been the only woman playing. (And that, an early Eberron game which later became about 50/50 male/female in terms of player population).

 

[S'mon]

I don't think this test has anything to do with being "equal and non-prejudiced".

 

[Serendipity]

FWIW, I'm not sure that the Bechdel test per se is germane to adventure gaming, though (as with other things) it's a nice yardstick.
However, I think a strict definition of what does or does not pass a series of arbitrary standards somewhat misses the point. At heart, the Bechdel test has always seemed - to me anyway - to basically test "are the female characters possessed of equal agency and motive as the male characters."
IOW, are the women standing around talking about what the male characters are doing, or do they demonstrate having their own motives and agendas? Having an arbitrary "are female characters talking about / to male characters too much" (and vice versa) kind of misses the point.
In my opinion, of course.

 

[Dioltach]

My group includes two women. They generally play female characters. We've been playing for years, and are friends first and foremost. Not every conversation between the women revolves around men: in fact, sometimes they have quite grown-up conversations. It's almost as if they don't spend every single moment of their time obsessing about men! (Yes, I'm, being sardonic.)

But very rarely does our party split up, so most encounters will involve the men in the group as well. I'm not sure that this makes our group more gender-biased, though. We also have very few exclusively male encounters.

 

[delericho]

As it happens, my current campaign passes the test. However, it is very much the exception.

That said, I've never considered the Bechdel test of anything but marginal utility. While the fact that so many films fail the test is potentially of concern, applying the test to any specific film tells you almost nothing.

With regard to the RPG-variant test presented by the OP, I agree with other posters that the criteria are excessively strict. The reason the original test is so damning is that the requirements to pass the test are not difficult - it would be extremely easy for almost any film to pass. However, the RPG variant is very difficult to pass - how many groups even include two female players? How common is it for the group to split on gender lines, and then happen to have an encounter that also splits on gender lines?

So, if you're arguing for better representation of female characters in settings, I agree. If you're arguing for female characters being presented in a wider variety of roles, I agree. Indeed, if you're arguing that female characters should be presented as more than just 'love interests' (or, indeed, that the presence of a female PC should not lead the DM immediately introducing a male love interest NPC), then I agree.

But as for the test itself? I'm afraid I have to reject it as invalid, at least in its current form.

 

[LostSoul]

For A:

Campaign 1: Rarely. There are only two players and both are playing male PCs; however, we have female NPCs whom we play from time to time. Sometimes they talk to female NPCs. (I'm a player here.)

Campaign 2: Often. One of the players is female, who plays a female PC, and I - as DM - roll randomly to determine sex for NPCs. That results in many female NPCs that converse with the female PC without regard to the male PCs or NPCs.

Campaign 3: Rarely. While we're playing in a town that's being run by three different women (rolled randomly by me, as DM), the PCs are always in the dungeon. There are few NPCs of either sex within the dungeon. Most of the party is female, but since it's a one-on-one game, there is little intra-party dialogue.

I'm not really sure why this matters. In Campaign 2, I rolled up Vercy the Tight-Lipped (an unaligned (or LN) worshipper of Vecna, God of Secrets, who despises gossip and idle talk and thus banned it in her town - hence her moniker) as a female. The PCs talked to her a lot, but the talk between the female PC and Vercy that didn't include the male PC was banal. It's likely that we failed the Bechdel-Gled test in the sessions that included Vercy (before they killed her to take over the town - the bastards), but Vercy was a bad-ass who ruled over a little town and kept it well.

I am sexist, but I don't get why that would be a test of "gender" bias.

For B:

Nope, never happens. The composition of the group does not allow for it.