Im Comic wird der so genannte Bechdel-Test, auch als Bechdel/Wallace-Test oder Bechdel-Gesetz bekannt, thematisiert: Bechdel verweist auf ihre Freundin Liz Wallace für die Erfindung des Tests, der zuerst 1985 im Comic-Strip „The Rule“ auftaucht. Eine Person sagt in diesem Comic, dass sie nur Filme sehe, auf die die folgenden Bedingungen zutreffen:

- Es spielen mindestens zwei Frauen mit,

- die sich miteinander unterhalten,

- über etwas Anderes als einen Mann

Obwohl der Bechdel-Test immer wieder kritisiert wurde (zum Beispiel gibt es frauenfreundliche und emanzipatorische Filme, die diese Kriterien nicht erfüllen, und reaktionäre Filme, die das schaffen), halte ich persönlich diese Maßstäbe für nicht verkehrt. Wenn ich eine Frau wäre, wäre ich durchaus genervt darüber, wieviele Filme diese simplen Kriterien nicht erfüllen (siehe etwa hier). In meinen Augen ist die mediale Präsentation von Frauen eines der wenigen Felder, wo der Feminismus noch sinnvoll ist.

Andererseits ist es aber symptomatisch für unsere Gesellschaft, dass es einen solchen Test der "Geschlechterfreundlichkeit" des Mediums Film bislang nur für Frauen gibt. Das möchte Nikita Coulombe gerne ändern. Coulombe ist Mitarbeiterin von Philip Zimbardo, einem der weltweit bekanntesten Psychologen, und stellt nun ihren Vorschlag, einen Bechdel-Test für Männer einzuführen, auf der Website A Voice for Menvor:

For far too long, men have been cast as duds, yet doing so has clearly been profitable, thus pressure to change such negative stereotypes will need to come from the outside. Of course this will only happen when people are willing to recognize gender biases affect men, too, or how earnestly young men need more positive male role models to look up to in the media.

What would a male version of the Bechdel Test look like? In our book, Man (Dis)connected, social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and I describe a possible option we call the "MacGyver Test" (named after the popular 90s television adventure series) that a film or television show passes if it meets any of these criteria about its male characters:

- The absence of the mother is not required for the father to be portrayed as a competent dad.

- An honest, hard-working man is in a successful or leadership position and is not portrayed as a hapless loser.

- The female protagonist shows interest in male protagonist before he is the hero.

- The male protagonist solves problems in creative ways, and only uses violence as a last resort to carry out his goals or mission.

The list of media that pass these modest criteria would no doubt be a short one.

Another way to raise awareness around the portrayal of men in the media would be to swap the male and female roles in movies and television shows, and then re-examine the plots.

Wie dies aussehen könnte, veranschaulicht Coulombe am Besipiel des Disney-Zeichentrickfilms "Frozen", was sie zu dem Fazit führt:

Now imagine a movie where a prince felt entitled to use a hardworking woman whose only possessions were her sled and reindeer, which she uses to eke out a living, to go rescue his brother and after she voluntarily busts her butt to help him he goes back to his life without a second thought. Audiences would be up in arms! We would think "what’s wrong with him? Why can’t he get his act together?" Yet that thought doesn’t even cross our minds while watching Frozen. Instead, we think Anna is quirky and adventurous. By the way, Frozen does not pass the MacGyver Test...

When two out of five children are being born to single moms (the rate is one out of two for women under 30 years old), a third of boys are growing up in father-absent homes, and boys with fathers are only spending half an hour a week in one-on-one conversation with their fathers vs. 44 hours in front of a television or computer screen (see source 8 below), we need to ask ourselves what impact the negative media portrayals of men are having on them (as well as young women).

Is it possible for the idea of men being men responsibly to make its way back into popular culture?

Beitrag erschien auch auf: genderama.blogspot.de