Does your music pass the Bechdel test?

Based on an essay by Virginia Woolf in 1985, cartoonist Alison Bechdel accidentally created one of the modern standards for gender discrimination in media in her usual comic book.

“The Bechdel test,” as it would later be called, started out as a joke. Could a movie achieve three seemingly achievable goals?

1. The film contains two women.

2. The women talk to each other.

3. Women talk to each other about something other than men.

At a glance, the Bechdel test is pretty straightforward. It’s pass / fail. Easy.

Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to do than you might think. Some of our favorite movies – “Guardians of the Galaxy”, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, “Shrek” – fail the Bechdel test.

The relevance of the Bechdel test has been debated, but honestly, why wouldn’t it be an easy measure?

Passing Bechdel’s test, one work shows that she includes (at least somewhat) a woman’s point of view distinct from the discussion and approval of men. And, because the media we consume tends to shape our perception of the world, it’s important to include women in media for more than what they mean to men.

The same applies to all forms of media. About two years ago I started to think about this in the context of the different music that I liked. I would surely like to support women in music.

According to “Pitchfork”, Bechdel’s musical test is modeled as such:

1. The song has a woman singing (and singing like herself or another woman.)

2. The song involves another woman, talks about women or talks to women.

3. The song has a central lyrical subject or theme unrelated to men.

To my amazement, I completely failed. The vast majority of the music I listened to was from men, and most of the women I listened to sang about men.

None of it was necessarily bad, but he sure missed the mark. Listening to only one voice or one musical story is like listening to only one source of information or dating only one type of person – that is not necessarily bad in self, but leads to a mentality and a set of actions that doom us to failure.

A 2020 study by USC’s Annenberg Institution Initiative found that in the top 900 songs of the past nine years, women made up 21.6% of all artists, 12.6% of all songwriters. and 2.6% of all producers. In addition, less than 1% of the songs were written only by women.

Even with notable women in music like Beyonce or Taylor Swift, there is no equal representation in music. How is it that women can occupy about 50% of the population, but only a fifth of the music industry?

At first glance, this can be difficult for some genres of music. Male and female voices sound different, and sometimes it looks different, so genres like rap, metal, country, or indie music can take on a different tone or vibe with a female voice.

However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t women in these genres that don’t compare to the typical sound you might enjoy. And on that note, why should a woman’s voice sound like a man’s to be considered good enough?

Plus, what does it mean to say you prefer the sound of a male voice over music?

And, frankly, it’s really just the bar on the floor. Bechdel’s test, in this format, doesn’t even include the music of people of color and minorities. There is no doubt that labels and the beast called the ‘music industry’ have been guilty of many injustices against women and artists of color, but does anything really change at the top if consumers don’t change? ?

It’s really easy to throw a daily mix on Spotify and think of nothing deeper, but our media consumption reflects and shapes our hearts. How do you let yourself be shaped by the music you listen to?