The Bechdel Test

of

Ancient History

What is the Bechdel Test?

A litmus test unveiled in the web comic “Dykes to Watch Out For” and named for the creator of said strip. It has since become a sociological tool to determine how inclusive a movie is of women characters.

The Rules:

1. The work in question must contain two women who . . .

2. Speak to each other about . . .

3. Something other than a man.

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Why the Test?

Recorded history tends to favor men.

Like, a lot.Image source

Why the Test?

And we’ve been fortunate to have examples of women who have achieved power and notoriety throughout history.

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Why the Test?

But have you noticed how many of those women are famous for who they married or what sons they bore?

Exceptional Women

History is rife with women who fought like men, from the lowliest foot soldier, to the queen commanding the army. But those are stories of solitary, exceptional women participating in the world of men.

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Why the Test?

If there were any women in ancient history who pass the Bechdel Test, would we even know about it?

We may not know what exact conversations or relationships took place, but we can look for women who reached out to other women.

Let’s do this . . .

The Original Vietnam Vets

In the first century AD China was near the beginning of its thousand year occupation of Vietnam.

Specifically, it was 247 years into the occupation and none had tried to overthrow it.

Enter the Trưng Sisters

Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị were born into a military family and learned martial arts, warfare, and strategy from an early age.

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You and Whose Army?

In 39 AD, these sisters were able to kick the Chinese out of their village.

The two sisters working together, built an army of mostly women.

Kind of gives a new meaning to “fighting like sisters.”

Were They Any Good?

Though ultimately defeated, the Trưng sisters didn’t go down without first:

• Taking 65 Chinese citadels.• Liberating the kingdom.• Keeping the Chinese out for two years.

Today

These ladies are symbols of Vietnam’s independence.

They’ve been honored with statues, parades, a national holiday, and in the names of streets, schools, and a city district.

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Queenly Power

In the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire straddled the world and Justinian I sat atop it with his wife, Theodora.

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If I Ruled the World

In one of the most egalitarian marriage/rulerships recorded, Theodora made many government decisions.

Many of her decisions made other women’s lives better.

Like How?Theodora

• Closed brothels and prohibited forced prostitution

• Gave mothers guardianship of their children

• Gave women property and divorce rights

• Instituted a death penalty for rape

• Forbade the murder of a woman who committed adultery

TodayYou may know her better as Saint Theodora and as a

pioneer for women’s rights.

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Ancient Activism

In 42 BC the leaders of Rome needed tax money for a civil war and they knew where to get it: from 1,400 women of the Roman aristocracy.

These women, who had no representation in the government and no input or control, were nonplussed.

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Enter the OratorHortensia, as one of the wealthy elite, was literate

and well-versed in the art of rhetoric. The women chose her to register their complaint with the senate.

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A Snippet of Her Speech:

"You have already deprived us of our fathers, our sons, our husbands, and our brothers, whom you accused of having wronged you; if you take away our property also, you reduce us to a condition unbecoming our birth, our manners, our sex. Why should we pay taxes when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the state-craft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful results? 'Because this is a time of war,' do you say? When have there not been wars, and when have taxes ever been imposed on women, who are exempted by their sex among all mankind?

Did It Work?

The men reacted about how you’d expect: they tried to dismiss the uppity women, threatening to have them removed.

The crowd outside didn’t like that.

The tribunal backpedaled, promising to have a decision in 24 hours.

The Result

A qualified success, the tribunal agreed to tax only 400 women, along with men.

Hortensia was praised as having the spirit of her late father, a well-known orator in his time, speaking through her, though sadly he hadn’t any male heirs.

Today

Her father . . . who? Old Hortalus isn’t nearly as well-remembered as his smooth talking daughter, who became the first woman in Rome to directly address a political complaint to its rulers.

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Word Association Time

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words “Isle of Lesbos?”

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You Said “Sappho” Right?

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Platonic Love

Born around 630 BCE on the Isle of Lesbos, Sappho was famous for her lyrical poetry; Plato even called her the tenth Muse.

No doubt, she’d be cool with that.Image Source

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Sadly, most of her works have been lost. But we know it was pretty fiery stuff, demonstrating passion for people of both genders. Whether these encounters were autobiographical, we may never know, though she was known to slip some self-references into her work.

A Sample:

What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,Who was it now that must feel my allurements, Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,

Who wronged thee Sappho?

For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it Even reluctant.

Today

It’s impossible to know Sappho’s sexual orientation from her poetry, but Victorian sensibilities pegged her as homosexual, from which we’ve gained the terms lesbian and Sapphic love.

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Today and TomorrowThanks to modern technology and progressive

values, women today have greater influence in the world than at any other time in history. But there have always been women in history who relied on and stood up for one another.

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Why It Matters

“I do not long to be the Exceptional Woman. When I find myself in a space in which I am the only woman, I do not feel satisfied, nor do I feel insecure: I feel contemptuous that there aren't more women there. I do not want to compete with other women in a way that suggests there is only room for one of us. I want to lift up other women, and be lifted up by them, and blaze trails in the hopes that many more will follow behind. “ — Melissa McEwan

CREDITSSoundtrack: Help I’m Alive by Metric

TV Tropes on The Bechdel Test

On the Trưng Sisters

The Empress Theodora

PDF on Hortensia

The Poems of Sappho

The inspiration for this project was the final quote by Melissa

McEwan of Shakesville.

Check the links for the images throughout this presentation

for further information.