By Joan Tabachnick*
I first heard of the Bechdel-Wallace Test in 1985 in a comic strip
called “Dykes to Watch Out For” by the artist who eventually wrote the book for
a successful Broadway play called “Fun Home”.
In the strip called “The Rule”, one of the female characters explains to
another woman character that she only goes to a movie if it satisfies these
three very simple requirements:
●
The movie
has to have at least two women in it,
●
who talk
to each other,
●
about
something other than a man.
I recently watched a film titled
Rafiki (which means friend in Swahili) about two women growing up in
Kenya. In a TED talk, the film’s director, Wanuri Kahiu spoke
about the Afro-bubblegum movement which has its own test to change the
narrative about the way Africa is portrayed in the movies. The movement was started to push against the
danger of a single narrative about Africa - one that tends to focus on the
extreme poverty, the spread of diseases such as HIV and the political strife
throughout the continent. According to
Kahiu, the intention of the movement is to promote a “fun, fierce, and
fantastical representation” of Africa and change the way that Africa is
perceived around the world. To qualify
as “Afrobubblegumist Art” art about Africa must:
●
show at least two healthy Africans
●
who are financially stable (and not in need of
saving) and
●
who are “having fun and enjoying life.”
Because of Kahiu’s inspiring talk, the danger of a single story was
very much on my mind when I was asked to give a 25-minute recorded talk about
how to talk about child sexual abuse.
The narrative about child sexual abuse is that all victims are forever damaged,
and that the sex offender is a predatory monster who we are almost helpless to
stop. This single narrative does not recognize the wide diversity of
circumstances that lead to abuse, it does not offer insights into how to see
these behaviors in people we love, nor does it offer any insights how to
prevent sexual abuse before a child is harmed.
Beyond naming the problems with the existing narrative, I also knew
it was essential that we modeled talking about a topic no one wants to talk
about. In my 30 years of doing this
work, I am constantly reminded that adults need to know how to talk about
sexual abuse – if we expect a child to be able to tell what happened to them,
adults need to feel comfortable using these words, can say the proper names for
body parts, and know what questions to ask.
They also need a sense of hope that they can make a difference in the
lives of people they care about.
Modeling the conversation is the best way to demonstrate how to talk and
how to be “askable” to our friends, families, and other professionals.
Luckily Pamela Mejia, Head of Research and principal investigator at
the Berkeley Media Studies Group, had the same idea, and joined me for the
discussion. We then asked Karen Baker,
the executive director of PCAR (and former ATSA board member, prevention
committee co-chair, and founder of the Gail Burnes Smith Award) to join us to
bring in the perspective of survivors as well.
We were then lucky to have Rebecca Fix from Johns Hopkins as our moderator
who kept the conversation going
Our goal was to model how to have conversations about CSA and focus
on the real stories rather than the typical trope of the “monster lurking at
the edge of our playgrounds” or the updated version of the “monster stalking
your child online…” Pamela offered some research about how the media portrays the people
who cause the sexual harm and reinforces the dominant narrative by focusing on
strangers outside of the family, typically someone with dozens if not hundreds
of harmed children in their wake. Karen
shared some real-life examples of how families can talk about these behaviors
and the boundary crossing, especially before anyone is harmed. And together we spoke about how the current
portrayal of people who engage in sexually problematic behaviors means that we
don’t see boundary crossing and other early signs of abuse in the people we
love.
So what does this have to do with the Bechdel Test?!?
My favorite part of the panel discussion was the challenge to each
other and the audience: What would the Bechdel Test for child sexual abuse look
like? If we could control the narrative
of Hollywood, what would we want to see, even in our minimum standards? While we did not narrow this down to just
three criteria, we think as a starting point that fictional stories about child
sexual abuse should feature:
·
Talking: Two characters are able to
talk about CSA, have a conversation (not yell or scream about it). And then when faced with the knowledge that a
child has been harmed, the character is able to ask for help and is portrayed
with an ally – they don’t have to do it alone.
·
Positive movement: the person harmed might be
portrayed as feeling the harm but also feeling that life is not over and they
are able to move forward) or the person who caused the harm is seeking help and
changing their behaviors.
·
Health: There is some mention of
body autonomy and respect for children (including teenagers). Or even better, there is a conversation about
healthy sexual behavior or sex education.
·
Ending: The movie could portray a
different ending, other than the criminal justice system. In fact, that the final scene of the movie is
not punishment and hurt and abuse in the system but there is a possibility of
hope or healing (end like a children’s book).
·
Bonus: Person who caused the harm
is someone the film led the audience to care about, and when their abusive
behavior is found out they are held accountable AND people in the narrative
continue to care about them.
To us these are just a few of the ways that
we would want to start to change the narrative.
So we want to ask, what would be your Bechdel Test for this issue? Let us know!
* Special thanks to Karen Baker, Pamela Mejia and Rebecca Fix for
their important contributions to this evolving conversation.
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