How Liz Wallace’s “The Rule” Became Alison’s “Bechdel Test”

The Bechdel Test has become shorthand, a feminist seal of approval for movie goers who care about broadening roles for broads. Alison Bechdel’s papers at Smith College’s women’s history collection offer a fascinating glimpse into her creative process making Dykes to Watch Out For, including an installment in 1986 titled “The Rule” that spawned her most far-reaching contribution to culture. 

Bechdel’s first drafts tended to be notes scrawled on a storyboard, no images yet, with marginalia like her lunch order (“bean burrito”) noted on . . .