What is the Bechdel Test?

Have you ever noticed how sometimes in films and tv shows, when two women are on screen together, they tend to talk about men? Whether it bothers you or not, you're definitely not the only one to notice this phenomenon. Back in 1985, there was a comic strip by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel that called out the normalization of this phenomenon in modern cinema. The three-part "test" explained in the comic strip was that one character of the strip would only see a movie if 1) there are two women in the movie who 2) talk to each other about 3) something other than a man. The punchline was that it was so rare for this to happen that hardly any movies passed the test. Because this strip's message became so popular, the Bechdel Test was named in her honor.