“Two women walk into a bar and talk about the Bechdel test…” (bar joke)
“A guy walks into a bar…” is a typical form of what has been called the “bar joke.” A joke about the Bechdel test is:
“Two women walk into a bar, and talk about the Bechdel test.”
The Bechdel test asks if a work of fiction (such as a movie or a novel) that features at least two women talking to each other has them discuss something other than a man. The two women walk into a bar and discuss the Bechdel test, so they pass the test.
“Two women walk into a bar and discuss the Bechdel Test” was cited on Twitter on February 26, 2013.
Wikipedia: Bechdel test
The Bechdel test (/ˈbɛkdəl/ bek-dəl) asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added.
Only about half of all films meet these requirements, according to user-edited databases and the media industry press. The test is used as an indicator for the active presence of women in films and other fiction, and to call attention to gender inequality in fiction due to sexism.
Also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, the test is named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, in whose comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For it first appeared in 1985. Bechdel credited the idea to a friend, Liz Wallace, and to the writings of Virginia Woolf. After the test became more widely discussed in the 2000s, a number of variants and tests inspired by it have been introduced.
Twitter
actually, I
@biorhythmist
Two women walk into a bar and discuss the Bechdel Test.
11:05 PM - 26 Feb 2013
Twitter
Jack Darcy
@OQJack
Two women walk into a bar, and talk about the Bechdel test.
11:29 AM - 25 Jun 2013
Business Insider
Explanations To 15 Jokes Only Smart People Can Understand
Dylan Love
Jun. 26, 2013, 11:01 AM
(...)
Two women walk into a bar and talk about the Bechdel test.
It’s funny because: The Bechdel test is a measure of gender equality in the media. A piece of media is considered to pass the test if it includes at least two women who talk to each other about something besides men. This joke passes the test.
It’s on this list because: The media is self-referential.
Slate
JUNE 28 2013 9:03 AM
An Idiot’s Guide to the Reddit Thread, “What’s the Most Intellectual Joke You Know?”
By Katy Waldman and Will Oremus
(...)
From user DrColdReality: “Two women walk into a bar and talk about the Bechdel test.”
Why it’s funny: Because “Bechdel test” is actually the name of a guy the first woman is dating.
Salon
MONDAY, JUL 1, 2013 07:15 PM EDT
The 10 nerdiest jokes of all time
Courtesy of a Reddit thread, these will make you the toast of your next philosophy study group
THERESA FISHER
(...)
4. Here’s a zinger for when drunken bar banter inevitably turns to talk over film/TV roles for women:
“Two women walk into a bar, and talk about the Bechdel test.”
reddit
(Nerdy joke) Two chicks walk into a bar… (self.Jokes)
submitted July 9, 2014 by van_gopher
Two chicks walk into a bar. One says to the other,“Have you ever heard of the Bechdel test?” The other says,“Yeah, my boyfriend was telling me about it the other day.”