I have just read the most insultingly condescending post on here that I've read for a good long while. @Ambassadors have recently posted on their Conversation about the Bechdel Test, and I am frankly shocked. Genuinely.
Surely no-one writes stories any more where women aren't named, say fewer than six words to each other or share less than a chapter ("one minute of screen time," in the original test jargon; it's for films).
I am very pleased to say that all the women in my stories have minds, names and cognitive ability, can form meaningful sentences in actual languages sufficient to communicate with both each other and any men they might encounter, and take up every single one of my chapters.
They even manage to get themselves up in the mornings, hold down jobs, and remember to feed and hydrate themselves, between making the effort to name each other and say all of five words in conversation.
Are we really still fighting this battle in 2026? I'd have thought we'd be at least halfway up the hill by now. No?