# Bechdel test > A three-question check on a film or script: does it have at least two women, do they talk to each other, and do they talk about something other than a man? It measures whether those conversations exist, not how well a story treats women. Also known as Bechdel–Wallace test ## In practice The test comes from Alison Bechdel's comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. In a 1985 strip called "The Rule", a character explains the three requirements a movie has to meet before she will see it. Bechdel credits the idea to her friend Liz Wallace and prefers the name Bechdel–Wallace test. A common variant adds that the two women must be named characters. Its strength is that it is quick and countable. Its limits come from the same place. A script can pass on one exchange of small talk and still sideline every woman in it, and a film built around a single strong woman can fail. Read a result as a question about the cast and its conversations, not as a verdict on the story. For a writer, the useful version runs on the draft rather than the finished film. Note which characters speak to each other and about what, and who drives a scene rather than reacting to it. Inkwell's Bechdel Plus skill runs the Bechdel–Wallace test alongside five other representation lenses, cites the scenes and lines each result rests on, and reads a character's identity only from what the script states. ## Official sources & context Sources reviewed Oct 7, 2026 - [Merriam-Webster — Bechdel test](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bechdel%20Test) - [Bechdel Test Movie List — the rules and a film-by-film database](https://bechdeltest.com/) [Run Bechdel Plus on a draft](https://www.inkwell.software/skills/bechdel-plus) ## Common questions ### What are the three rules of the Bechdel test? A work passes if it has at least two women, who talk to each other, about something other than a man. Many people add that the women must be named characters, as the Bechdel Test Movie List does. ### Who created the Bechdel test? Cartoonist Alison Bechdel published it in a 1985 strip of Dykes to Watch Out For and credits the idea to her friend Liz Wallace, which is why it is also called the Bechdel–Wallace test. ### Does passing the Bechdel test make a film feminist? No. The test checks that women talk to each other about something besides men. It says nothing about how well those characters are written: a pass can still sideline every woman in the story, and a fail can center one. ### How do I check my own script? List the scenes where two or more women speak, then read what they talk about. Bechdel Plus does this across a full draft and reports the scenes and lines behind each result, so you can see when a pass rests on a single exchange. ## Related terms - [Characterization](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/characterization): How a character becomes specific on the page — the traits, tactics, and contradictions that show up in choices, not a résumé of adjectives parked in an action paragraph. - [Protagonist](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/protagonist): The character whose pursuit organizes the story — the person whose want, decisions, and costs we track most closely, even if they are not morally "heroic." - [Antagonist](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/antagonist): The force that opposes the protagonist's pursuit — a person, institution, environment, or internal pattern that applies intelligent pressure and forces harder choices. - [Character arc](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/character-arc): How a character changes — or meaningfully refuses to change — across the story, measured in choices under rising pressure. --- Canonical page: