The Bechdel Rule

Yo sé que ya sabéis todos esta regla y que ya habéis oído esta noticia de NPR, but it was new(s) to me. So, in case you're curious, here is the link to this uberawesome little piece: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94202522&sc=nl&cc=movn-20080905 . Alison Bechdel writes the incredible strip Dykes to Watch Out For, and she is the Bechdel who popularized this rule.

The theme treated in this NPR piece, inspired by Bechdel's musing so many years ago, is something I think worth noting, and ties in a lot with many of my thoughts about image, and who controls images of whom. What I mean is, the fact that Oprah Winfrey puts herself on the cover of every issue of her O Magazine really irritates some people. Why? To me, it communicates a very powerful message that a black woman from the impoverished South has become successful enough to own her own image, and successful enough to promote certain images of Black women which are empowering rather than stereotypical and oppressive. With every issue Oprah affirms that "I am my own woman; I am in charge of myself, and the self that's presented to the world." How many other women on the covers of magazines can say this about themselves? We don't often think about the images we see in this light: who decided to show a woman in such a pose? Dressed in such clothing? Surrounded by such topics?

Women and other "minorities" (for we make up over half the world's population) rarely have complete--or even partial--control over how they are represented in the media, which is what makes the Bechdel Rule so important to pay attention to. So please listen to the linked piece.


Photo by Liza Cowan