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What is Bechdel Test? Writer Hanna Rosin SLAMMED for criticizing Hulu's 'Fire Island'

Rosin took to Twitter and wrote that the LGBTQ rom-com gets 'an F- on the Bechdel test in a whole new way'

Writer Hanna Rosin has been slammed for her criticism of the Hulu film 'Fire Island', which stars Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang and Margaret Cho. The film narrates the story of a group of queer best friends vacationing in Fire Island Pines, which is a gay-friendly hamlet in New York.

Author and editorial director for audio at New York Magazine, Rosin took to Twitter and wrote that the LGBTQ rom-com gets “an F- on the Bechdel test in a whole new way.” “Do we just ignore the drab lesbian stereotypes bc cute gay Asian boys? Is this revenge for all those years of the gay boy best friend?” wrote Rosin in the now-deleted tweet.

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What is the Bechdel test?

The Bechdel test, simply put, is an informal way of evaluating bias against women in films and other media. A work passes the Bechdel test if it 1) has two (named) women, who 2) talk to each other about 3) something other than a man, according to Dictionary.com. 

The Bechdel test aims to address gender inequality in media. The concept was created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel and her friend Liz Wallace back in 1985. Keeping their names in mind, the test is often also referred to as the Bechdel-Wallace test.

A website called bechdeltest.com maintains a list of movies that pass or fail the test. As per the statistics, just under 58% of movies meet all three criteria of the Bechdel test. The website says, "The Bechdel Test, or Bechdel-Wallace Test, sometimes called the Mo Movie Measure or Bechdel Rule is a simple test which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel's comic, the name of which Google won't let me put on this page for inciting hate, in a 1985 strip called The Rule."

Rosin admits her tweet was "careless and thoughtless"

Rosin faced sharp criticism after her tweet went viral. Writer Esther Tseng said, "you don't have to tweet everything you think. you can instead think about the ways in which you center yourself in situations because you feel entitlement and examine how you can become a better person." Singer-songwriter Simon Curtis, who is gay, wrote, "how do you think a gay Asian “boy” in the US feels having literally never EVER seen themselves in a movie? Are you really that self absorbed, so unable to step outside of yourself for one moment, that you can’t see that maybe it’s not *supposed* to be about you?"

Soon after the backlash, Rosin deleted the tweet and admitted what she wrote was "careless and thoughtless". "I deleted a tweet that many of you rightly pointed out was offensive. I’ve read your responses and I hear you. My tweet was careless and thoughtless. Truly. The movie was telling a story about queer AAPI men, whose experiences don’t show up enough in movies or anywhere else," she wrote. "What I had to say was beside the point, not to mention a buzzkill on a fun summer movie. It's a cliche but the fact that I didn't see it coming means I have a lot to learn." She added, "The last thing I want to do is pit members of my community against each other. I sincerely apologize to those who were hurt by my words."