Alison Bechdel

• Born 1960-09-10

Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir Fun Home. Fun Home was subsequently adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015. In 2012, she released her second graphic memoir Are You My Mother? Bechdel published another memoir, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, in 2021. Her next graphic novel, Spent: A Comic Novel, was released in May 2025. She was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. Bechdel became Professor in the Practice, English and Film & Media Studies at Yale University in 2024. She is the creator of the Bechdel Test, a test determining female representation in movies. To pass the test, the movie must have two female characters that talk to each other about something other than a man. She credits the idea to her friend Liz Wallace, so the test is sometimes called the Bechdel–Wallace Test.