Do you have more than one female character?
Do they talk to each other?
About men?
Actually, I don't entirely get this and seem to be the only one who doesn't. Why do the three things count separately? I read it as 'do your female characters talk together about things other than men?' Decent enough test, though I'd add '/their children's minor achievements' after 'men'.
But are these questions actually to be taken separately?
So if you only have one female character, your WIP passes/fails the test? *Feeling a bit thick here.* Why does it matter whether your female characters talk to each other rather than talking only to men? Can they actually fail a test purely on the first two questions? Seems harsh. I mean, I get that women can't talk together about men unless there's more than one woman present and that they must open their mouths in order to speak, but how come a story can't (?)fail/pass(?) if one female character is blethering man-woe stuff to her male friend for the entire story?
OK, my WIP has three female characters (it's set mainly in a workplace in a patriarchal society where women are discouraged from working, or else there would no doubt be more women taking part). Two women talk to each other - and, yes, it's mainly about their mutual male and about things I consider horribly stereotypically female (frying pans, darning socks, making teacakes, that sort of thing - this limited conversation is the result of patriarchal society-incuced brain mush). The third woman associates with men and women, former colleagues whom she has formed an underground movement with. They talk mostly about a planned uprising and about creating a better world. She's the saviour of the story, though she isn't the MC. So does my WIP pass the Bechdel test? Thing is, I didn't make my saviour character female to make a 'strong woman' point. I based her on Emma Goldman, who was undoubtedly a strong person due to her tenacious individualism and her care of others.
I'm fascinated by the way our roles are limited by the imposition of gender expectations, but I really think gender is mostly artificial. When I hear the question 'What makes a strong woman?', I think 'What makes a strong man? What makes a strong human being?' A strong woman, to me, is someone who doesn't conform to the gender role assigned to her
simply because it has been assigned. She does what she wants to do. If it's raising babies or kicking ass, let it be because that's her true inclination. Otherwise, she can stick two fingers up and do something entirely different.