Women in Fridges and the Bechdel Test: Gauging how the ladies are doing in Storyland

Oh God the milk has soured!

Last weekend my brother told me about a term called "women in refrigerators." It was coined by comic book writer Gail Simone who found that a disproportionate number of female comic characters are killed, or maimed, or tortured, or raped, or de-powered, as plot devices for the male characters. The discussion was spurred by a Green Lantern episode where he comes home to find his girlfriend chopped up in the fridge.

I've been watching Buffy reruns lately, and this fridging thing made me think of Spike's attempted rape of Buffy. It doesn't change her at all, doesn't change the course of her story; its sole purpose is to trigger him on a quest. (I never really got that scene anyway, since rape often has to do with power and Buffy had equal or more power. In other words, could easily defend herself. It was very weird. Or... shitty writing. Fridging.)

And that led me off in a jaunt to read a bunch of articles about women in Joss Whedon's universes.

Anyway. I know this fridging business is something I'll notice from now on, in movies etc. I agree with one critic who said it's more likely something that happens to side characters rather than protagonists, and the overwhelming number of protagonists in comics are male. For example it's pretty common for The Girlfriend to get kidnapped in action movies.

On the other hand, it's happened to Wonder Woman in her own comics! So... the protag/side char thing doesn't Explain All.

This reminds me of another feminist tick I think of when watching movies: The Bechdel Test. This also comes from a graphic novel author. A story passes the test if...

1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man

So if I look at two movies I rewatched tonight, they both fail. #1 RED: There are two women, they talk to each other, but about men.  #2 TOOTSIE: There are two women, they don't talk to each other. Though weirdly there is our cross-dressing protagonist, and when he's dressed as a woman he talks to another woman, about something other than men. On the other hand, most Buffy episodes would pass.

It's not that every movie has to pass the Bechdel, or that there can never be raped or tortured characters in fiction; but these critiques exist to make us think about how often they happen. Which is to say: A lot.